In one tightly controlled, intensely humid space, mosquitos are hatched, nurtured, fed a combination of goat’s blood and fish food, then bred. Afterward, lab technicians destroy the females they have created and release the males to pursue their only real purpose in life: to find females in the wild and mate with them.
Eggs fertilized by those genetically modified males will hatch normally, but soon after, and well before the new mosquitos can fly, the fatal genes will prevail, killing them all. the goal is both simple and audacious: to overwhelm the native population of Aedes Aegypti and wipe them out, along with the diseases they carry.
A new, controversial means to wipe out dengue and malaria by wiping out their carriers (at least in the Americas, where mosquitos are not native). Full story in the New Yorker.
10 Responses
Oh no, the donors are back. Why do they give out mosquito nets in places where there is no malaria. Is it to decrease the local fish population in the dams. It is all a bit strange. One of my friends surmised that they had a lot left over from some program in a malaria area so they have decided to just give them out here even although it is not a malaria zone. Who is the manager of this sort of thing. But maybe the mossies are heading this way and it is a preventive solution. For myself, if the babies don’t get bitten then that is good enough.
As for this breeding program I am sure it is in the bin by now or is this form of GM OK. Imagine if a killer gene was put in bulls and they were secretly let loose on the cows of America. No more beef. It is a veggie plan. Try it out on the mosquitos and then if it works try it on the cattle herds of Kansas. No more big macs. Don’t think too much about these things. You can go mad thinking where science can end. Killer genes in pollination of plants.
RT from #YouthHealthSuperstar @NonoDevRookie The mosquito A-bomb http://t.co/fA5IX0H0
The mosquito A-bomb http://t.co/u2buT073
Clearly, these people have never seen Jurassic Park.
nonostante tutto, questo mi fa un po’ paura http://t.co/zon7D69K #chrisblattman #newyorker #mosquito
Havent we tried similar experiments with non native species and genetically modified plants? Usually doesn’t go well. The fl keys is dealing with this issue now…
John
http://www.backyardbugpatrol.com
The Mosquito A-Bomb via Chris Blatt via @NewYorker http://t.co/GPzb81Cp
The mosquito A-bomb http://t.co/NRBfBVim
The mosquito A-bomb http://t.co/GgzBffz5 RT @cblatts
Destroying #dengue & #malaria through a mosquito A-bomb? http://t.co/2Vzz9uD0 via @cblatts & @NewYorker Is this sic-fi or possible?