750 Million Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Approved For Release In Florida Keys 104
A plan to release over 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes into the Florida Keys in 2021 and 2022 received final approval from local authorities, against the objection of many local residents and a coalition of environmental advocacy groups. The proposal had already won state and federal approval. CNN reports: Approved by the Environment Protection Agency in May, the pilot project is designed to test if a genetically modified mosquito is a viable alternative to spraying insecticides to control the Aedes aegypti. It's a species of mosquito that carries several deadly diseases, such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. The mosquito, named OX5034, has been altered to produce female offspring that die in the larval stage, well before hatching and growing large enough to bite and spread disease. Only the female mosquito bites for blood, which she needs to mature her eggs. Males feed only on nectar, and are thus not a carrier for disease.
The mosquito also won federal approval to be released into Harris County, Texas, beginning in 2021, according to Oxitec, the US-owned, British-based company that developed the genetically modified organism (GMO). The Environmental Protection Agency granted Oxitec's request after years of investigating the impact of the genetically altered mosquito on human and environmental health. "This is an exciting development because it represents the ground-breaking work of hundreds of passionate people over more than a decade in multiple countries, all of whom want to protect communities from dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and other vector-borne diseases," Oxitec CEO Grey Frandsen said in a statement at the time. However, state and local approval for the Texas release has not been granted, said Sam Bissett, a communication specialist with Harris County Public Health.
The EPA permit requires Oxitec to notify state officials 72 hours before releasing the mosquitoes and conduct ongoing tests for at least 10 weeks to ensure none of the female mosquitoes reach adulthood. However, environmental groups worry that the spread of the genetically modified male genes into the wild population could potentially harm threatened and endangered species of birds, insects and mammals that feed on the mosquitoes.
The mosquito also won federal approval to be released into Harris County, Texas, beginning in 2021, according to Oxitec, the US-owned, British-based company that developed the genetically modified organism (GMO). The Environmental Protection Agency granted Oxitec's request after years of investigating the impact of the genetically altered mosquito on human and environmental health. "This is an exciting development because it represents the ground-breaking work of hundreds of passionate people over more than a decade in multiple countries, all of whom want to protect communities from dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and other vector-borne diseases," Oxitec CEO Grey Frandsen said in a statement at the time. However, state and local approval for the Texas release has not been granted, said Sam Bissett, a communication specialist with Harris County Public Health.
The EPA permit requires Oxitec to notify state officials 72 hours before releasing the mosquitoes and conduct ongoing tests for at least 10 weeks to ensure none of the female mosquitoes reach adulthood. However, environmental groups worry that the spread of the genetically modified male genes into the wild population could potentially harm threatened and endangered species of birds, insects and mammals that feed on the mosquitoes.
Next year, 100M birds die (Score:1)
What are the birds going to eat?
Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:5, Funny)
What are the birds going to eat?
Starting in 2021? Humans...
Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:5, Informative)
Re: Next year, 100M birds die (Score:2)
Mosquitos aren't that much of a nutrient package for birds either, even if it's something. But can we do the same thing with ticks? Those buggers carries a lot of shit too, lymes, encaphelitis and parasites.
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Ticks bite regardless of sex, making a mass-release of genetically-engineered ticks potentially problematic.
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Not at all. You misunderstand how this is supposed to work.
The males are engineered to produce only males when they reproduce. So the next generation suddenly becomes way more male than female.
This means less females to breed in total, and more likelyhood that they will mate with males engineered to make more males. Over a couple of generations, the mosquitoes largely die out, because there aren't enough females to sustain the population.
Even if the males were biters this would still happen. The only differ
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I don't misunderstand a thing. They still bite. You'd be temporarily increasing the local tick population on a grand scale. While male ticks don't bite to engorge, they still bite, making them potentially problematic. Over the long run, yes, you get rid of a lot of ticks. Maybe all of them. But in the short run, it would make the woods an uncomfortable place to be.
Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:5, Informative)
In fact, it's worth mentioning that the species of mosquito that bites humans is an invasive organism everywhere outside of Africa, and as such eliminating it could actually benefit the ecosystems it has invaded, allowing native species to flourish without the invasive competition for nectar.
Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:5, Informative)
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Okay, point - there are a few other species that will bite humans, but only Aedes aegypti targets humans as their primary prey.
Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:4, Informative)
In Iceland, we have native swarms of "mosquitoes" in specific locations that form great clouds, but they're really (non-biting) midges - filter feeders that only land on you because you're a convenient place to land. All of our biting species are introduced.
Any programme to eradicate them wins my vote 100%.
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Also:
Aw, go on, tempt fate... there's still over four months of 2020 left ;)
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We CAN'T reduce the mosquito population in 2020. What would the upcoming Plague Of Frogs eat?
The locusts!! There will be plenty of locusts for the frogs.
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What are the birds going to eat?
What will the bats eat? Bats are kind of important and they LOVE mosquitoes, especially full ones.
Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:5, Informative)
What are the birds going to eat?
They'll eat whatever they were eating before Aedes aegypti arrived.
Aedes aegypti is a recent arrival to the American continents. It is believed they came with the Europeans.
Besides, there are not any birds that have mosquitoes as their primary food source. Mosquitoes are tiny and not a good source of food for birds. The primary eaters of mosquitoes are those fish that eat the larvae.
Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:5, Insightful)
What are the birds going to eat?
They'll have 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes at their disposal
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Midges. Gnats. Flies. The multiple mosquito species that a). don't bite animals and b). aren't targeted by this release. You know, the usual stuff.
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"What are the birds going to eat?"
Male mosquitoes, they are sweeter, they feed on nectar.
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They both feed on nectar. The female only goes for blood to get enough protein to make eggs.
Also, there won't be any male mosquitoes of this species left here after a few rounds of mating. Plenty of other species of mosquito, though.
Re:Next year, 100M birds die (Score:4, Informative)
TFA: "Even though Aedes aegypti is only 1% of its mosquito population"
I'm sure the birds will be fine if 1% of the mosquitos in the keys fail to breed, and the other 99% fill in that void.
Can we do this next year? (Score:5, Funny)
2020 hasn't exactly been kind to us...
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You say that as if 2021 was any better. Believe me, it wasn't.
Sent from 2037.
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At least we know some of humanity lasted to 2037. That may be a step up.
Re: Can we do this next year? (Score:1)
Sent from 2057
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You say that as if 2021 was any better. Believe me, it wasn't.
Sent from 2037.
Do you imply that the POTUS didn't change in 2021?
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What if 2021 and on will be worse than 2020? :(
What could possibly go wrong? (Score:1, Insightful)
So what is going to happen to the birds, spiders, frogs, snakes, lizards, and multitudes of other animals that depend on these insects to survive?
This is such a crazy act of human arrogance I do not know where to begin.
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not a single species, including the mosquitofish is in any danger due to the release of these GM mosquitos!
That article is an alamist piece of junk that has chosen to confuse genociding ALL species of mosquitos with the limited goal of eliminating a single invasive non-native species of disease bearing mosquito in the US. Even if that species Aedes-Egytii were to disappear globally, including in it's home range, there are other non-disease bearing mosquitoes that would fill their niche. (which you do mostly state, but linking to that article makes your post a very mixed message).
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
1. So far as is known, the number of species that require this particular mosquito is zero.
2. There is a generous reserve of this mosquito in nearby states; the mosquito isn't going to go extinct, even in Florida.
3. The sterile male technique has already been used successfully for fruit fly infestations in California, and no reasonable person is complaining.
Claiming that this is "a crazy act of human arrogance", is in the realm of self-important human stupidity.
No, about 20% are (Score:5, Informative)
> 1) Do we know for certain that a genetically modified male will be sterile 100% of the time?
No, about 20% or so, not 100%. We don't care about the exact number. Since the basic reproduction rate is well below 1.0, there will be fewer and fewer with each generation.
If 50% survived and reproduced, 100,000 in the first generation would become 50,000 in th second, 25,000 in the third, 12,500 and fourth, etc. Since it's somewhere around 20%, to get the number for the each generation, divide the previous generation by five.
> They are going to study the population for 10 weeks to make sure the female larva die off. Will they study the male population and make sure they are in fact sterile?
Yes, unfortunately they'll be counting and seeing the numbers drop significantly every few weeks, so this won't result in any long-lasting change at this stage. Maybe in a later stage they'll let the males reproduce in order to get rid of this one invasive species of African disease-carrying mosquito. The other 3,500 species are bad enough.
> This thing gets out and permanently alters this mosquitoes DNA and there is no going back.
That's why they are making sure R is below 1.0. Too bad.
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> 1) Do we know for certain that a genetically modified male will be sterile 100% of the time?
No, about 20% or so, not 100%. We don't care about the exact number. Since the basic reproduction rate is well below 1.0, there will be fewer and fewer with each generation.
If 50% survived and reproduced, 100,000 in the first generation would become 50,000 in th second, 25,000 in the third, 12,500 and fourth, etc. Since it's somewhere around 20%, to get the number for the each generation, divide the previous generation by five.
> They are going to study the population for 10 weeks to make sure the female larva die off. Will they study the male population and make sure they are in fact sterile?
Yes, unfortunately they'll be counting and seeing the numbers drop significantly every few weeks, so this won't result in any long-lasting change at this stage. Maybe in a later stage they'll let the males reproduce in order to get rid of this one invasive species of African disease-carrying mosquito. The other 3,500 species are bad enough.
> This thing gets out and permanently alters this mosquitoes DNA and there is no going back.
That's why they are making sure R is below 1.0. Too bad.
I think the most amusing part is the certainty of your tone.
"That's why they are making sure R is below 1.0." - Your quote
"The EPA permit requires Oxitec to notify state officials 72 hours before releasing the mosquitoes and conduct ongoing tests for at least 10 weeks to ensure none of the female mosquitoes reach adulthood." - Article quote
Why make the study when you already know everything?
"That's why they are making sure R is below 1.0." - Your quote
Are we conflating DNA with R?
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That does not sound exactly right. A male actually can fertilize a huge number of eggs, and the number who survive is more based on how many the ecosystem can support. So pretty much the same number of mosquitoes the first generation. However this generation will be overwhelmingly male (as almost all the females died). In that case the number of eggs laid next year may be significantly less. It also sounds like they are not really relying on the population going down, just that there are far fewer females w
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There are thousands of different species of mosquito, so I'm not sure the number of those that are Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquitoes) is ecosystem limited.
I think it has more to do with if aegypti outbreeds all of the native species. If not, I think the native species will fill the ecological niche for mosquitoes in the area.
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I think you are right, other mosquitoes should replace at least some of them so there will actually be fewer each generation. There will still be the same total number of mosquitoes but fewer of this species, and far fewer of the female of this species.
The op was wrong about the males being sterile. They are absolutely *not* sterile, if they were this would be bred out of the population in one generation. Making sure it kills the opposite sex of the gene carrier actually makes it pretty difficult to breed o
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OX5034 does not create sterile males. They create males that can continue to breed and spread the mutation, generation after generation until all the females have died out.
There's no going back - if lucky, we eradicate an invasive species from the entire continent where it never belonged in the first place. There are plenty of other species of mosquito. This will not affect food chains that depend on mosquitos.
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Informative)
It's an invasive species. It does not belong in the florida keys. Does that help you with a starting point?
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It's an invasive species. It does not belong in the florida keys. Does that help you with a starting point?
"This mosquito originated in Africa,[2] but is now found in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions[3] throughout the world.[4]"
I guess humans are an invasive species too =/
Re:What could possibly go wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
“Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we... are the cure.” – Agent Smith
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“Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we... are the cure.” – Agent Smith
well played
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Governor must have commuted their sentences (Score:3)
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They probably estimate it from known weight.
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"seven hundred forty-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-one
seven hundred forty-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-two
seven hundred forty-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-three..."
"Hey dude! You want a coffee?"
"I'm good,. I'm just counting here...oh dang it!
one
two
three..."
Don't be obtuse .. the counter would have one of those clicky things...
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Don't be silly - the clicks might startle the mosquitoes, and once they're in flight you'd never tell them apart.
LESS impact than spraying a megaton of poison! (Score:5, Informative)
If the alternatives are genetically modified mosquitoes (as described in the article) vs. tons and tons of poison sprayed everywhere, I'll take the genetically modified mosquitoes.
Insecticides are bad. Malaria, dengue, yellow fever, chukungunya are worse. Genetically sabotaged mosquitoes to get rid of both widespread insecticide spraying and all those diseases? Waaaay better.
Definitely the far lesser of the evils here.
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excess human filth
You really shouldn't talk about yourself that way.
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Sir, do you think that spraying tons and tons of poison into the environment is not playing with some species genome? Or rather, the genome of every species exposed to that poison, including humans?
Ever heard of pesticide resistance? By dumping all these toxins, at the very least we're "playing with species genomes" by pushing them to evolve resistance--to our great detriment because the poisons used (and other related poisons) stop working.
Furthermore, there's mounting evidence that all that pesticide sp
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Which of those three alternatives do YOU like best?
Well, personally, I like the "laser fence" that is a bunch of tiny directed-energy AA batteries on posts. But that could be as much because it's awesome as that it kills mosquitoes.
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We still don't know for sure, won't likely know for sure, how GMO crops will affect the overall ecosystem.
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Sorry, no sleep for you. The remote possibility exists that some RANDOM modification to a lifeform's DNA that happens ENTIRELY SPONTANEOUSLY without any human intervention whatsoever is going to propagate out into the entire ecosystem and trash it completely in 20/50/100 years.
The scenario above, to put this in perspective for you, is millions or billions of times more likely to happen than that this human-made sabotage to one particular invasive species mosquitoes genome is going to contagiously spread and
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The remote possibility exists that some RANDOM modification to a lifeform's DNA that happens ENTIRELY SPONTANEOUSLY without any human intervention whatsoever is going to propagate out into the entire ecosystem and trash it completely in 20/50/100 years.
What you speak of is what some would refer to (and the insurance industry btw) as an 'Act of God' and is nobodys' fault; bad luck for us if it happens.
The scenario above..
Evolution tends to self-balance. Sure, you can throw some small artificial change at it, and evolution will chuckle and toss it in the bin. However you throw something too big at it, you may destroy that balance. Four words: human-caused global warming. That example may not be biological, but it's a system that would tend to self-balance which we have now thr
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> How about something that specifically targets that one species and leaves all the others alone? If we're so damned clever why can't we do that instead?
Don't you see that this gene mod delivers EXACTLY what you just asked for?
I won't call you a luddite, but I will say that I think you are VERY bad at weighing the relative risks. if we do nothing, very high risk of epidemics of malaria and other disease.
Spraying broad spectrum insecticide is standard practice and it is ham fisted exactly as you criticiz
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Don't you see that this gene mod delivers EXACTLY what you just asked for?
NO, it DOESN'T. You're modifying a SPECIES not creating a SUBSTANCE. You can stop using a SUBSTANCE but once you release your GMO into the world it's PERMANENT. Don't you see that?
I won't call you a luddite, but I will say that I think you are VERY bad at weighing the relative risks.
I beg to differ. Perhaps you're just not looking at all the possibilities.
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Sir, do you think SUBSTANCES do not force genetic modifications on a population?
Your postulated very selective pesticide is far more likely to lead to a genetically modified mosquito population. Let me explain how--but this is a real thing and humanity has caused this unintended consequence hundreds if not thousands of times.
You introduce a poison into a population. Either new or pre-existing genetic mutations lead to some measure of resistance. The individuals with some measure of resistance overwhelmin
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long-term side effects of playing with some species' genome.
The whole species would die out on this continent before we had enough mutations on the new genes to cause any problems. The odds are heavily in our favor on this.
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A long as there are "natural" males surviving, the species will not die out.
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"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"
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Facepalm (Score:1)
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Re: Fucked up beyond belief. (Score:2)
Are you really so fucking Ameritarded, that yoh don't see that this will not magically be contained to one area of the planet?
Also, YOU are disease-spreading! YOU are death-spreading wherever your species sprawls to. Do you think that justifies a literal ethnic cleansing on a species level against you??
Or would fixing it in you be a wiser idea? Hm? You full-retard insane American extremist-selfish psychopath prick(s)!
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Which is better? Spraying them with pesticides or ensuring they are never bred in the first place?
So do they also kill West Nile virus? (Score:2)
Because there is a resurgance of that disease here in California. And scince they didn't learn from the disasterous experiment with bugs that Brazil pulled back in the 20th century, this can hace some very costly repercussions.
Sure it will stay in those mosquitos? (Score:2)
It sounds good on the face of it but I would really like to know what is the possibility and potential means by which this gene could jump into other organisms? Such as another insect or fish eating the larvae or pregnant female mosquitos.
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What are the possibility and potential that your cat's soft hair gene will jump into other organisms? What are the potential and possibility that the genes for sense of smell in moles will spread to other animals?
That's not how it works. You have to have sex to spread genes. Sex that leads to viable offspring.
This gene specifically does not lead to viable offspring. It ain't spreading. That's the entire point.
And birds who eat mosquito don't make half-bird, half-mosquito babies.
Even postulating the ex
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you should kinda get the idea that it ain't spreading anywhere.
Seems you are as stupid as your parent.
Supposed, you could get it via eating. Then your offsprings would die in "larvae" state. That is most certainly not what you want ...
So: it would not "spread" but would affect you. In other words, supposed it would spread to dragonflies, who eat mosquito larvae - dragon flies would die out, too.
However, you are right: it does not spread out by eating.
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Genes do not jump by eating something ... how would that be possible? Seriously?
What could go wrong? (Score:2)
This sounds like the premise for an apocalyptic B movie.
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Crony patent kickbacks? There are cheaper ways (Score:2)
They used to use sterile fly treatments using flies dosed with radiation to make them sterile. For instance with agricultural pest medfly. That seems like the much less dangerous way to go, I think they are using this dangerous genetic technology because a company can make more profit because it is patented whereas the radiation treatment technology used for decades is cheap and readily available. There are kickbacks and cronyism here somewhere because this is not the most cost effective way to do things I
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I think also this sterility did not really work. There were always non-sterile ones and they quickly repopulated. This scheme I think is relying on the fact that it does produce mosquitoes (the male ones) that will compete for resources with any non-modified versions of the flies.
Humans should be at the top of the food chain (Score:2)
Mosquitoes that bite humans (only a few species bite humans --3% of the mosquito gene pool), Botflies (they lay eggs under skin that hatch into worms), Chiggers, Ticks, Fleas, Lice, Bedbugs, Scabies, Sand flies, Gnats, Horse flies (especially green headed flies), Deerflies, Black flies.
Also, the wholesale elimination of these would do wonders for decreasing the quantity of pesticides used in the world today. Might help save all the other insects that
How is a possible that (Score:1)
How is a possible that the Environment Protection Agency can approve a psychopathic plan for species genocide, this does not appear to be Environment Protection.
That's a bugged out idea... (Score:1)