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Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

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Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#51

Post by Cieplak »

Maybe it's time to deploy some DDT...

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201...

Rachel Carson never called for the banning of pesticides. She made this clear in every public pronouncement, repeated it in an hourlong television documentary about Silent Spring, and even testified to that effect before the U.S. Senate. Carson never denied that there were beneficial uses of pesticides, notably in combatting human diseases transmitted by insects, where she said they had not only been proven effective but were morally “necessary.”

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#52

Post by douche »

Cieplak wrote: post #51

Maybe it's time to deploy some DDT... http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201... Rachel Carson never called for the banning of pesticides. She made this clear in every public pronouncement, repeated it in an hourlong television documentary about Silent Spring, and even testified to that effect before the U.S. Senate. Carson never denied that there were beneficial uses of pesticides, notably in co…

DDT worked too well... I swear that bugs just eat Sevin and Rotenone and grow stronger.

I had an uncle who had a closely guarded stockpile of DDT he bought before it started being restricted.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#54

Post by Frondo »

mitchtbaum wrote: post #49
danieltillett wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don’t even need to drive all mosquitoes to extinction, just the species that carry human diseases. If it is really so important to people that they survive then we could put some on an island as a kind of zoo.

> If it is really so important to people that they survive... I very much like where you're going with this... > then we could put some on an island as a kind of zoo. wait, what??

The mosquitos, I think he meant.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#55

Post by mitchtbaum »

danieltillett wrote: post #50
mitchtbaum wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CRISPR-Cas9 is an amazing simple system that has worked in every species tested. But how could we put it into practice? I only saw gene-level mechanics in that article. Please show me a machine that could do this at scale. > modern life is a successful attempt to control nature How so? I imagine 2,400 mothers in Brazil might have another story.

>But how could we put it into practice? I only saw gene-level mechanics in that article. Please show me a machine that could do this at scale Figure 1C is what you need to look at. This is real mosquitoes, not genes. I think the problem is you don’t understand what a gene driver system is and how it works (it is complex genetics so there is no shame in this). The wiki article [1] is not great, but the original articl…

> The problem was until now we didn’t have a good system to actually make these drivers, we do now.

Link? Again, please show me a machine that can operate at scale or even a simple demo with an inlet, a re-engineered mosquito, and an outlet. (preferably without insulting me)

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#56

Post by blisterpeanuts »

mitchtbaum wrote: post #43
danieltillett wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In regards your three points 0. CRISPR-Cas9 is an amazing simple system that has worked in every species tested. It really is not an issue to generate gene drivers for every species we want to go after. 1. How do you know it is ineffective? Do you understand how a gene driver system works? Arguments against attempting to control nature are rather weak - modern life is a successful attempt to control nature. 2. This i…

> CRISPR-Cas9 is an amazing simple system that has worked in every species tested. But how could we put it into practice? I only saw gene-level mechanics in that article. Please show me a machine that could do this at scale. > modern life is a successful attempt to control nature How so? I imagine 2,400 mothers in Brazil might have another story.

There is a trial going on in Brazil right now using genetically modified males that cause the next generation to die. It has already reduced the Aedes aegypti mosquito population in one Brazilian suburb by 95%.[1]

If it can be shown that this approach doesn't lead to some horrible side effect, it holds great promise for reducing if not wiping out this invasive species to the Americas.

1. http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/dengue-fighting...

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#57

Post by Alex3917 »

Cieplak wrote: post #51

Maybe it's time to deploy some DDT... http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201... Rachel Carson never called for the banning of pesticides. She made this clear in every public pronouncement, repeated it in an hourlong television documentary about Silent Spring, and even testified to that effect before the U.S. Senate. Carson never denied that there were beneficial uses of pesticides, notably in co…

> Rachel Carson never called for the banning of pesticides.

It never has been banned for combatting human disease, so I don't see your point. (Except in a few places like the U.S. where several species were going extinct from extreme overuse.)

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#58

Post by blisterpeanuts »

danieltillett wrote: post #19
rewqfdsa wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to make mosquitoes extinct, just like we made smallpox extinct.

We don’t even need to drive all mosquitoes to extinction, just the species that carry human diseases. If it is really so important to people that they survive then we could put some on an island as a kind of zoo.

Actually, we should wipe out only the 200-odd species that feed on blood. We can leave be the other ~1800 species.

Some biologists say we could wipe out all mosquitoes and it would make little difference to the ecology; there are enough substitute prey items. But I don't even care about that. Genocide them now!

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#59

Post by maaku »

themartorana wrote: post #37
danieltillett wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes these approaches have potential - the problem with them is the cost is much higher than using a CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system. From the BBC article "As the mosquito only lasts a generation, it is necessary that the environment is continuously fed by new GMOs until it reaches the extermination.” This costs a lot of money and would not be able to implemented in most countries. If a country can’t afford to spray the…

Have we ever on-purpose driven another species to extinction in order to save ourselves?

Just about every large predatory animal ever.

Re: Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage

#60

Post by SwellJoe »

Frondo wrote: post #54
mitchtbaum wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it is really so important to people that they survive... I very much like where you're going with this... > then we could put some on an island as a kind of zoo. wait, what??

The mosquitos, I think he meant.

Well, the people who like mosquitoes can go, too.
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