In California, an Army of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Awaits Release (msn.com) 55
The U.S. government recently gave California approval to release millions of genetically engineered mosquitoes bred by British biotech company Oxitec, reports the Los Angeles Times:
Oxitec, a private company, says its genetically modified bugs could help save half the world's population from the invasive Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can spread diseases such as yellow fever, chikungunya and dengue to humans. Female offspring produced by these modified insects will die, according to Oxitec's plan, causing the population to collapse. "Precise. Environmentally sustainable. Non-toxic," the company says on its website of its product trademarked as the "Friendly" mosquito.
Scientists independent from the company and critical of the proposal say not so fast. They say unleashing the experimental creatures into nature has risks that haven't yet been fully studied, including possible harm to other species or unexpectedly making the local mosquito population harder to control....
Nathan Rose, Oxitec's head of regulatory affairs, noted that the company found its mosquito reduced the population in a Brazilian neighborhood by 95% in just 13 weeks. So far, Oxitec has released little of its data from that experiment or from a more recent release in the Florida Keys. It hasn't yet published any of those results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal — publications that scientists expect when evaluating a new drug or technology....
Among scientists' concerns is that releasing the genetically modified mosquitoes into neighborhoods could create hybrids that are hardier and more dangerous to humans than the state's current population.... An EPA spokesperson said regulators expected that mosquitoes with the corporate genes "would disappear from the environment within 10 generations of mosquitoes because they are not able to reproduce as successfully as local populations." To prove this, the agency has required Oxitec to monitor neighborhoods for mosquitoes that have DNA from its engineered insects until none have been found for at least 10 consecutive weeks.
One bioethicist at Harvard Medical School told the Times that California has never had a case where this breed of mosquitos had actually transmitted disease, and argued that America's Environmental Protection Agency was "not a modern enough regulatory structure for a very modern and complicated technology."
After the U.S. government's approval, the genetically-engineered mosquitors still face several more months of scientific evaluation from California's Department of Pesticide Regulation.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the link
Scientists independent from the company and critical of the proposal say not so fast. They say unleashing the experimental creatures into nature has risks that haven't yet been fully studied, including possible harm to other species or unexpectedly making the local mosquito population harder to control....
Nathan Rose, Oxitec's head of regulatory affairs, noted that the company found its mosquito reduced the population in a Brazilian neighborhood by 95% in just 13 weeks. So far, Oxitec has released little of its data from that experiment or from a more recent release in the Florida Keys. It hasn't yet published any of those results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal — publications that scientists expect when evaluating a new drug or technology....
Among scientists' concerns is that releasing the genetically modified mosquitoes into neighborhoods could create hybrids that are hardier and more dangerous to humans than the state's current population.... An EPA spokesperson said regulators expected that mosquitoes with the corporate genes "would disappear from the environment within 10 generations of mosquitoes because they are not able to reproduce as successfully as local populations." To prove this, the agency has required Oxitec to monitor neighborhoods for mosquitoes that have DNA from its engineered insects until none have been found for at least 10 consecutive weeks.
One bioethicist at Harvard Medical School told the Times that California has never had a case where this breed of mosquitos had actually transmitted disease, and argued that America's Environmental Protection Agency was "not a modern enough regulatory structure for a very modern and complicated technology."
After the U.S. government's approval, the genetically-engineered mosquitors still face several more months of scientific evaluation from California's Department of Pesticide Regulation.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the link
Re:Horse pucky (Score:5, Insightful)
As far as I am concerned, blood-sucking mosquitoes don't have a right to exist. Normally I prefer to leave wild animals alone, but these are a direct threat to me (and everyone else). They survive by violating us, and put us at risk for terrible diseases in the process. I feel zero guilt doing "whatever it takes" to protect myself and mine from these monsters.
Incidentally, I feel the exact same way about ad banners, which is why I use blocking software without any guilt.
Humans have driven plenty of animals to extinction, for reasons far more selfish than "we don't like dying of the diseases they cause." As far as I am concerned, these mosquitoes have got to go.
Best option, I think, would be to genetically engineer mosquitoes that don't need to suck blood at all. I imagine producing such a mosquito is a whole heaping lot easier said than done....but at least then the ecological niche that blood-suckers fill could still be filled.
Re:Horse pucky (Score:5, Informative)
The targeted mosquitoes are an invasive species. So if they are wiped out, native insects can fill the vacated niche.
EPA are morons (Score:2, Interesting)
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Re: Horse pucky (Score:2)
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They're not "filling a niche."
They're a tiny tiny tiny percent of the insects they're in a niche with.
People are fucking stupid and don't spend any time in the field identifying wildlife, or reading about what the wildlife is. They just heard about niches, and some grade-school stuff about "each creature has a niche" and they repeat it, without any attempt at comprehension of what of an ecological niche is.
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Best option, I think, would be to genetically engineer mosquitoes that don't need to suck blood at all. I imagine producing such a mosquito is a whole heaping lot easier said than done....but at least then the ecological niche that blood-suckers fill could still be filled.
There are over 3,000 species of mosquito. Out of these, only 200 bite humans. There is no need to develop a new mosquito - just eliminate the bloodsuckers in a series of gene drives, and the ecological role of mosquitos will be unaffected.
Furthermore, the Aedes Aegypti species that is the target of this initial gene drive is not a native species. Eliminating it would just restore the mosquito part of the ecosystem to its original uninvaded state.
Mozzies also pollinate plants (Score:1)
What could possibly go wrong with this live experiment?
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Re:Mozzies also pollinate plants (Score:5, Informative)
These mosquitos are invasive species, so no.
Re: (Score:2)
"These mosquitos are invasive species, so no."
So the border agents will forbid them from crossing into countries where they are native?
Cool!
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Re: Mozzies also pollinate plants (Score:2)
Study after study after study (Score:5, Insightful)
This has been studied TO DEATH. Study after study after study by experts from two dozen universities.
There is no other species that relies on Aedes Aegypti at all.
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"Various academics quoted in the story wrung their hands, and complained about the ethics of people doing things without involving them. "
No, they are part of public oversight that should happen when control of a species can wide-ranging knock on effects. This company is another attempt at private industry attempting to get a gov. branded monopoly. Ronald Reagan would be proud. And if the company were really serious about it, they could try it in a red state where they don't give a rat's ass about the envir
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This is just ignorant.
I can't figure out why people are so triggered by what I said. Do you comprehend what "public oversight" even means? It doesn't mean the pubic gets to see the data. Just read the article to understand what they're whining about. Oh, right, reading, , that's why people are triggered. Instead of trying to understand what the issues are, and what the complaints actually were, people just read the headline and superimpose cliches that are popular in the circles. Just knee-jerk + armchair
They will do it anyway. (Score:2)
They will do it anyway while ignoring you, then if anything bad happens they will claim there was no way anyone could have known.
Neither way will they be accountable.
Life (Score:3)
Fly, my pretties, fly! (Score:2)
YOLO (Score:2)
Do it. You know you want to. Just let them go and claim it was an unplanned release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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I do not understand. In this scenario, do the Democrats or Republicans represent the mosquitos?
Re: (Score:2)
It sounds like a fever-dream to me. I don't think those are supposed to actually make any sense.
Case example: Larry Elder was already well established to be extreme, and so he had zero actual chance.
Pretending to be shocked by that defeat is just political bullshit. If the republican-in-charge morons would run an actual moderate, they might be surprised at their subsequent success.
Re: This already happened (Score:1)
I don't know, that was just another one of those posts I make when I'm bored. Maybe cause somebody to get enraged and open themselves up so that I can proceed to verbally brain fuck them. If you haven't brain fucked before, you ought to try it. The person you're fucking ends up conflicted because they know they've just been raped, but at the same time that was by far the best fucking they've ever had and part of them is wanting more. Most of the time you never see them again, but sometimes they come back fo
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The EPA just needs to (Score:2)
hold Oxitec's beer so they can open the door to the damn cage.
You though conspiracy theorists were bad before... (Score:2)
Now every mosquito bite is going to be a magnetizing mind-control cancer-aids nanovirus.
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Oh good, maybe they'll stay at home more!
aedes aegypti is a non-native species (Score:5, Informative)
If we kill off Aedes Aegypti in California it will make no difference to the ecosystem.
Aedes Aegypti is not native to the western hemisphere, but it has been here for a few centuries due to the Europeans bringing it on their ships.
It is a recent invader to California as it was first detected in California in 2013, but it's believed that it had been there for a few years before being detected. It plays no fundamental role in the ecosystem.
There are hundreds of species of mosquitoes, but only a few are blood-suckers and disease vectors. We could kill all the bloodsuckers and it will matter no more than when we killed off the dusky seaside sparrow.
Mod parent comment UP! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Killing off the disease spreading mosquitoes will mean more people. Historically, more people have not been helpful to ecosystems. I suppose it's been good for corn, wheat, cows, chickens, etc., but for everything else, not so much.
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What a short-sighted comment. The mosquitos provide food for birds. You may have heard of them. . . fly a round a lot, sing now and again, you can't miss'em outside where they tend to live.
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What a short-sighted comment. The mosquitos provide food for birds. You may have heard of them. . . fly a round a lot, sing now and again, you can't miss'em outside where they tend to live.
Please learn how to read for comprehension before posting again.
We're not talking about wiping out all of the hundreds of species of mosquitoes. Only Aedes Aegypti is the target.
Release the Kraken! (Score:1)
We just need more spiders (Score:2)
Re: We just need more spiders (Score:2)
Isn't this how super hero stories start? (Score:2)
Seriously, what could go wrong?
What else do mosquitoes do? (Score:2)
Long term benefits? (Score:2)
While this method may be effective in reducing the mosquito population in the short term, does it work in the long term?
I searched for news about the long term effects after the Brazil experiment, but couldn't find anything. I remember reading an article which said that after some years (2?) the mosquito levels were back nearly to what they were before, but I couldn't find that now. Maybe someone else knows of it, or maybe I mis-remember. Or perhaps there's some new information now about how well it works i
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And you have just discovered the company's business plan. Do it this year, and ask for more money 3 years hence.
We need to see the Florida data (Score:5, Funny)
Would I be correct to assume the Florida experiment was carried out at Mar-a-lago, a location which has already proved congenial to blood-sucking parasites?
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No, the blood sucker still lives there. So if it was tried, it failed.
really? California? (Score:1)
and seriously... did we not learn out lesson with the killer bees?