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GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

bbc.co.uk

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Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#51

Post by ashildr »

throwaway13337 wrote: post #17

Predictable negativity from the comments here ignores that over one million people die of malaria per year. Not using what we can against something this horrible is a choice, too. And one that has the greater of consequences. It's easy to poke holes in things from the sidelines. That action is actively causing us to drag our feet and kill a lot of people. It should also be noted that mosquitoes are not depended on as…

- Something has to be done.

- This is something.

- Therefore it has to be done.

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#52

Post by afarrell »

afarrell wrote: post #2

I wonder how much ecological damage is done by humans trying to protect their communities from disease borne mosquitos. I grew up with parents that urged me to prevent pools of standing water, but don’t lots of non-mosquito insects need standing water to breed?

I realize I could have made my point more explicit: I suspect that we should do this so that we can remove the incentives for humans to spread pesticides and do other habitat-damaging things.

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#53

Post by afarrell »

petre wrote: post #29
afarrell wrote: post #2

I wonder how much ecological damage is done by humans trying to protect their communities from disease borne mosquitos. I grew up with parents that urged me to prevent pools of standing water, but don’t lots of non-mosquito insects need standing water to breed?

You can populate pools of standing water with fish that eat mosquito larvae like Gambusia affinis , Phoxinus phoxinus etc. https://pondinformer.com/pond-fish-that-eat-mosquito-larvae/

In practice, I don’t have the time. Someone with easy access to the supply chain for that fish-stocking might though.

How many mosquito control agencies is that?

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#54

Post by kevingadd »

Juliate wrote: post #25
lwhi wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember the lessons learnt from Jurassic Park

Here being HN, I don't even understand if this is a sincere or ironic remark?

Probably half and half. Crichton's writing always has some scientific roots even if it's pseudoscience (and some of his books have a real obvious agenda). He usually is tapping into an overstated but real fear, and I think Jurassic Park is firmly rooted in correctly fearing man's tendency to leap into something without fully understanding the risks if they see major benefits.

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#55

Post by ceejayoz »

gdy wrote: post #41
throwaway13337 wrote: post #17

Predictable negativity from the comments here ignores that over one million people die of malaria per year. Not using what we can against something this horrible is a choice, too. And one that has the greater of consequences. It's easy to poke holes in things from the sidelines. That action is actively causing us to drag our feet and kill a lot of people. It should also be noted that mosquitoes are not depended on as…

It's worrying that you had to use a throwaway account to write this comment. Something very bad is happening to the freedom of speech.

It’s a four year old account with 1300 karma.

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#56

Post by ahje »

Juliate wrote: post #25
lwhi wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember the lessons learnt from Jurassic Park

Here being HN, I don't even understand if this is a sincere or ironic remark?

"Life finds a way" is probably one of the more important lessons to be had from sci-fi books/movies.

Edit: For the record, I am serious. I'm not saying that this isn't a good idea, but simply assuming the fungus won't evolve and attack new hosts is naive. It needs to be monitored and controlled very, very tightly. Imagine if it somehow started escaping and attacking the already strained bee population or something.

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#57

Post by tway111 »

zapita wrote: post #49
keyfl wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is stopping 3rd world countries from doing that?

Third world countries have already financed the draining of European swamps. It’s the wealth stolen in Asia, Africa and America that made those public works projects possible in the first place. The reason former colonies haven’t been able to do the same at home is because their society and economy are permanently crippled by colonization.

Now those are some strong claims to be backed with some nice fat sources.

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#58

Post by pygy_ »

zapita wrote: post #49
keyfl wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is stopping 3rd world countries from doing that?

Third world countries have already financed the draining of European swamps. It’s the wealth stolen in Asia, Africa and America that made those public works projects possible in the first place. The reason former colonies haven’t been able to do the same at home is because their society and economy are permanently crippled by colonization.

Not sure why you're being downvoted.

Colonization, was brutal, self-serving, and its economic consequences are still felt to this day (especially when neocolonialism through private corporations and puppet governments is still a thing).

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#59

Post by craigsmansion »

The previous magic bullet against Malaria was called Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT.

DDT worked very well, initially, but its effects and consequences were intractable and long-term. It's still deployed to various degrees of effectiveness, but usage is far more complex than the initial promise of getting rid of Malaria.

A GM fungus 99% kill rate sounds good, but for insect populations that might not be enough. You likely can't use it again to kill 99% of the 1% left, and so on.

DDT is a chemical. You can stop using it to mitigate some of the unforeseen side effects. How can one retrieve or stop GM fungi in the wild? What patterns of resistance will emerge?

With DDT we got "lucky". It turned out to be overall effective when combined with guidelines and different approaches, but it never rooted out malaria completely by itself in one fell swoop.

Creating natural enemies of a pest by genetic modification is a valid approach, but not something to deploy wide-scale at the first hint of success.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT#Malaria_control

Re: GM fungus can rapidly kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, study suggests

#60

Post by sergioisidoro »

This is scary. Not because GM or mosquito populations. This is scary because we don't know enough of fungi role in the environment. Yes, we know this species infects the mosquitos but what else? What other roles does it have?

And with fungi this is especially dangerous because spores get literally everywhere and are hard to eliminate!

Unless we can ensure the fungus is engineered to not generate viable spores on a second generation this is a recipe for disaster.

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