Genetically Altered Mosquitoes Released into the Wild
November 12th, 2010What happens to the bats, dragonflies, bird and other creatures that eat the GM mosquitoes?
Via: New Scientist:
An outdoor trial of mosquitoes genetically engineered to sabotage Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread dengue fever, has been declared a success by scientists in the field.
…
Oxitec breeds millions of males carrying an altered gene called tTA which they pass down when they mate with females. The lethal gene overcommits the gene-reading machinery of larva and pupae, preventing them from growing properly and causing them to die before adulthood, breaking the insects’ life cycle.
In the six months of the trial, the researchers released males in batches of 50,000. A total of 3.3 million were released.
Related: Bill Gates Funds Research Into ‘Flying Syringe’ Mosquitos to Deliver Vaccines
Research Credit: anothernut
Not science. It is flagrant, irresponsible arrogance.
Tampering with the ‘master’ copy of the gene pool makes absolutely no sense. Anyone with even the most basic grasp of math, science or engineering should recognise this.
Herd these self-anointed planet-saviours into a capsule and launch it into the sun. That’s one experiment I would happily sponsor.
🙁