"While genetically female, the transformed insects have mouths that resemble male mosquito mouths. That means they can't bite and so can't spread the malaria parasite. In addition, the insects' reproductive organs are deformed, which means they can't lay eggs."
This is awesome. It's one of those things that makes you feel like you live in the future. Preventing the spread of Malaria, Zika, West Nile, a bunch of other things... and saving our dogs from heart worms! Not to mention avoiding all the cancer and neurological illnesses we've had to endure thanks to chemicals in repellants we had to use...
I'm sure there are consequences for killing off all the mosquitoes, and we'll have to deal with those... but I for one can't wait to deal with those problems instead of mosquitoes.
> I'm sure there are consequences for killing off all the mosquitoes, and we'll have to deal with those... but I for one can't wait to deal with those problems instead of mosquitoes.
Nobody is proposing killing all the mosquitoes, and I doubt it would be possible to do so with the techniques being investigated. Only the specific species of mosquito that carry specific parasites are being targeted. You will not see a reduction in mosquito numbers, as the population of other mosquito species will grow to fill the void.
Or nothing will happen at all. I think I've been reading about tests and trial releases of generically modified mosquitoes for decades, but nothing as far as even discussing the mass releases needed to eradicate the malaria parasite and the disease. And almost nothing unfortunately on the other mosquito born illnesses you cite.
> and I doubt it would be possible to do so with the techniques being investigated
the doublesex gene targeted by this gene drive is similar in all insects, so if this works we'll have a powerful tool not only against mosquitos, but also against all agricultural pests, which is very exciting.
> I'm sure there are consequences for killing off all the mosquitoes, and we'll have to deal with those... but I for one can't wait to deal with those problems instead of mosquitoes.
I’m not sure we know the scale of these problems. Historically, messing with the ecological food web like this has often caused more harm than good, so I think it’s worth it to be more careful than this.
Consider the Cane Toad problem in Australia as a case in point. Introduced in 1935 to control a beetle that attacked sugar cane, it became a huge ecological disaster. It also failed to solve the original objective.
It appears the toads have evolved longer legs so they can travel faster and further.
The big problem with the toad is that they are poisonous. Native larger animals eat them and die, which reduces biodiversity and leaves the toads free to grow and expand.
This is awesome. It's one of those things that makes you feel like you live in the future. Preventing the spread of Malaria, Zika, West Nile, a bunch of other things... and saving our dogs from heart worms! Not to mention avoiding all the cancer and neurological illnesses we've had to endure thanks to chemicals in repellants we had to use...
I'm sure there are consequences for killing off all the mosquitoes, and we'll have to deal with those... but I for one can't wait to deal with those problems instead of mosquitoes.