Gene-altered mosquitoes could be used vs. dengue
Gene-altered mosquitoes could be used vs. dengue
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — Mosquito control officials in the Florida Keys are waiting for the federal government to sign off on an experiment that would release hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes to reduce the risk of dengue fever in the tourist town of Key West.
If approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it would be the first such experiment in the U.S. Some Key West residents worry, though, that not enough research has been done to determine the risks that releasing genetically modified mosquitoes might pose to the Keys' fragile ecosystem.
Officials are targeting the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes because they can spread dengue fever, a disease health officials thought had been eradicated in the U.S. until 93 cases originated in the Keys in 2009 and 2010.
The trial planned by mosquito control officials and the British company Oxitec would release non-biting male mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to pass along a birth defect that kill their progeny before reaching maturity. The idea is that they will mate with wild females and their children will die before reproducing. After a few generations, Key West's Aedes aegypti population would die off, reducing the dengue fever risk without using pesticides and at relatively a low cost, the proponents say. There is no vaccine for dengue fever.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/science/article/Gene-altered-mosquitoes-could-be-used-vs-dengue-4095457.php#ixzz2EO8RDLIQ
= new reply since forum marked as read
what could go wrong?
This is yet another dangerously crappy mutant idea right out of the degenerate realm of RepubliThink, Inc. and skewball, screwball Scientific Materialism.
Don't watch because there isn't anyone you can call to get back the 92 minutes of your life you will waste on this.
