Scientists hope to control mosquitos populations with mutants

[Hydra009]

Linky

Scientists are coming up with a several different mutant-based plans to control mosquito populations.  The one the article describes is a mutant that when released to the wild, breeds unviable offspring.  Another produces mosquitoes that can't fly.  And yet another, the one that I'm really excited about, is the one where the mutants breed only males.  When they're put with wild mosquitoes they skew the sex ratio way to the male side and in a few generations the mosquitoes go all Children of Men. 

Needless to say, I am excited - no, ecstatic - about these recent developments.  If successful, its effects would be enormous.  Something like this could very well save millions of human lives and dramatically reduce the healthcare hardships in many nations.  This could be right up there with polio and smallpox eradication, imho.

As an aside, it's actually somewhat strange how little the mosquito-related deathtoll is on the public's agenda.  Jaws had people soil their swimsuits for decades and sharks are actually relatively harmless.  People are also more scared of snakes and spiders, even they don't even come close to  mosquitoes.  Come on, people.

As hopeful as this news is, this has also gotten GM critics in a tizzy about the perceived effects of "frankenbugs".  They would presumably also disagree with me on the goodness of polio vaccination, so their opinion will be taken under advisement.  But there's also some skepticism from liberals:  it might not work (presumably, the researchers involved are a better judge of this than reporters), more deliberation is needed (which is precisely what the scientific community and various governments are doing at this very moment), and it might have unforeseen harmful ecological effects (an actually good point).

I've broached this sort of topic before, and a lot of people raised ethical and practical issues about intentionally eradicating a single species among the thousands of mosquito species.  I have looked into it, and it while there would be some ecological fallout, it would be fairly minor and easy to recover from.  It wouldn't be the end of the world.

[Sargon The Grape]

My only concern is potential ecologic fallout, but as you said it probably won't be anything too major.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk. Titty sprinkles.

[Icarus]

"Alphey believes the concept could be applied at scale" I have great concerns with this statement.

[Mermaid]

"Alphey believes the concept could be applied at scale" I have great concerns with this statement.

What are your concerns?

[Icarus]

What are your concerns?

The scale, the mosquitoes in each trial are being individually modified. It's is fine for a small scale laboratory but gets incredibly expensive on a massive scale. They do mention being able to do it on a large scale but I think they're underestimating the sheer numbers of mosquito's they'd have to release to cause any statistically significant decrease in the population. African countries need these modified mosquito's the most but funding being allocated to the welfare of the people is limited, and is already being stretched by their many other problems.

Quote from article:
"Many experts think that suppressing a wild population that is so mobile will not work and may cause actual harm, no one knows for sure but it is certainly irresponsible not to consider the risk."

Mosquitoes having a mobile population is also a big concern because they can propagate in most stagnant water. This project is basically a money sink that could potentially reduce the population of mosquitoes. We don't know if dumping say $10,000,000,000 into producing these mosquitoes would reduce the population in a region of Africa by 1% or 10%.

[Mermaid]

There have been sterile male release programs for I think decades. I think the population dynamics have been studied extensively, people way smarter than me have done all that math. While many experts don't think it will work, many apparently do, since this is a recurring theme in publications. I went to a Tropical Medicine conference a few years ago and there were quite a few talks on this topic. Someone presented a paper and my eyes crossed before I could make any sense of it.

[Icarus]

I'll take a look at some recent publications.

Edit: Found some papers on the topic from the early 1970's so they have been doing this for over 40 years.

[Nam]

Florida could use this. We're the #1 state of mosquito's: http://www.pestcontrol.us/blog/2013/06/the-10-worst-states-for-mosquitoes/

Did you know that Orange County, FL used to be called Mosquito County?

We're #1! We're #1!

-Nam

[Mermaid]

One of the things that strikes me at these trop med conferences is now difficult it really is to control mosquitoes. You'd think they would not be that hard. Mosquitoes are extraordinarily vulnerable in both their larval and adult stages, and sensitive to most insecticides and insect growth regulators that we manufacture in developed countries by the ton--I had my whole colony in the lab wiped out by an infinitesimal quantity of a chemical called pyriproxyfen. I am talking parts per billion in the water.

But getting the funding and the access to the regions most hard-hit by mosquito-borne illnesses, and there are several deadly ones, is not as simple as one would think. So many complicating factors.

[SGOS]

What would a camping trip in the North Woods be like without mosquitoes?  They're part of the ambiance, and often keep the conversation going when you run out of other things to talk about.  Imagine baiting your fishing hood without having to pause to slap a mosquito?  Hell, you might as well stay home and watch Bass Masters on TV.

But seriously, some of these diseases that mosquitoes carry are not a joke.

[Solitary]

Mosquitos are the most deadly species alive.

http://www.mosquito.org/mosquito-borne-diseases
Mosquitoes cause more human suffering than any other organism -- over one million people worldwide die from mosquito-borne diseases every year. Not only can mosquitoes carry diseases that afflict humans, they also transmit several diseases and parasites that dogs and horses are very susceptible to. These include dog heartworm, West Nile virus (WNV) and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). In addition, mosquito bites can cause severe skin irritation through an allergic reaction to the mosquito's saliva - this is what causes the red bump and itching. Mosquito vectored diseases include protozoan diseases, i.e., malaria, filarial diseases such as dog heartworm, and viruses such as dengue, encephalitis and yellow fever. CDC Travelers' Health provides information on travel to destinations where human-borne diseases might be a problem.

[Mermaid]

And now we have a new mosquito-borne virus in the US. Say Hello to the Latest Mosquito-Borne Virus: Chikungunya

https://www.yahoo.com/health/say-hello-to-the-latest-summer-mosquito-virus-92172129772.html

[stromboli]

Oh, the irony. Rachel Carson, the author of "Silent Spring"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring

brought about the banning of DDT throughout the world. Much later, after years of non use, it was decided by some of the same people that although DDT was dangerous because of its widespread and haphazard use, it was also the #1 weapon against Malarial mosquitoes, used judiciously. I personally don't know, and frankly don't like pesticides in general. But it seems we lack the ability to do things judiciously. We go whole hog whenever we come up with a new chemical thing, like Thalidomide or Prozac. Silly us.

[Hydra009]

And now we have a new mosquito-borne virus in the US. Say Hello to the Latest Mosquito-Borne Virus: Chikungunya

https://www.yahoo.com/health/say-hello-to-the-latest-summer-mosquito-virus-92172129772.html

Yes.  Just read about that.  9 new cases in North Carolina so far this year.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Back in the 80s Black Flag had a product known as Roach Enderâ,,¢ .. Now in 1985 I moved my family into a house that at the time was infested with roaches (we were broke and had to move on very short notice because the apartment building we lived in had been condemned for structural problems) Anyway, I bought several cans of Black Flag Roach Enderâ,,¢ and within about 6 months the house was free of roaches and in the following 10 years I never saw another roach and neither did any of my immediate neighbors. Shortly after getting rid of the roaches that product was taken off the market and the only reason I could come up with was because it worked. It was said to sterilize all the males. Why would they take it off the market? My guess is that Black Flag and every other roach insecticide manufacturer decided we need lots of roaches to ensure them a healthy profit margin for years to come. Getting rid of roaches would put them out of business. I know that in the 10 years we lived there after the roaches were gone I never had to purchase any kind of roach killing product and haven't found one that works since.