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GMO mosquitoes (1 Viewer)

Terminalxylem

Terminalxylem

Footballguy
Have been approved to be released in FL and TX next year, to combat Dengue and Zika virus: 

The genetically modified male mosquito, named OX5034, was altered with a special gene that inhibits the survival of their female offspring when they mate with wild female mosquitoes. The males feed on nectar and aren't a carrier for diseases. Only the female mosquito bites for blood, which she does before maturing her eggs.

When the new males grow up, they mate with more females, which would decline the number of Aedes aegypti.
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Thoughts?

 
I’m not a big fan of messing with nature but I’m also not a big fan of mosquitoes. 
 

The article I read noted that they have already released billions of these in test trials

 
Ron Swanson said:
This never ends well. As much as I'd like to get rid of mosquitoes they are a part of the food chain and ecosystem.
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I agree with this.  I hate mosquitoes, but my first thought was I'd love to get rid of them but what will be the affect on the ecosystem.  If they're still as yummy and nutritious to a frog and anything else that eats them, then I'm for it.  If it damages any of their predators, it can have a ripple effect in the ecosystem.

 
Ron Swanson said:
This never ends well. As much as I'd like to get rid of mosquitoes they are a part of the food chain and ecosystem.
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I agree.  I thought I read somewhere (maybe even here) that there are certain species of mosquitoes that are more likely to carry diseases.  If less harmful species will fill the ecosystem void maybe things will work out, but it is a delicate balance and has the potential to go very wrong.

 
nirad3 said:
This is why living in Austin was so awesome. 

The bats would come out at dusk and eat BILLIONS of mosquitoes.  
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One way to endear yourself to people is to point out when they are wrong. Bat's don't actually eat many mosquitoes that is an old wives tail.

Although watching a large swarm of bats is pretty neat.

Further bat research has shown that in the wild, mosquitoes often make up only a small percentage of bats' diets, with some studies showing mosquitoes made up less than one percent of the overall diet, with some showing as high as three percent.

Many experts believe that the bats, especially larger ones, prefer larger insects like beetles, moths or caddisflies that provide more calories per bug.

"If you had to survive off of eating bugs, you wouldn't eat a mosquito," Carter said. "There's nothing to them. They're just some legs and some wings. Mostly [bats] are going to be eating other insects."
https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2016/08/do_bats_really_control_mosquit.html
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We're unintentionally wiping out millions of species all the time via our effect on climate, etc. I think it'd be okay to wipe out just one species on purpose. (Okay, two species, since we've already intentionally wiped out the virus that causes smallpox, which I don't think too many people consider to have been a mistake.)

 
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MTskibum said:
One way to endear yourself to people is to point out when they are wrong. Bat's don't actually eat many mosquitoes that is an old wives tail.

Although watching a large swarm of bats is pretty neat.
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Huh, yeah it was told to me by many that the Austin bats ate mosquitoes by the pound  :lol:   

Oh well.  Still love Austin.  :coffee:

 
The permit, which lasts for two years, requires Oxitec to “monitor and sample the mosquito population weekly.”

“EPA has also maintained the right to cancel the (permit) at any point during the 24-month period if unforeseen outcomes occur,” according to the release.
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What happens if they find out something went terribly wrong within those 2 years?  Do these things have a kill switch?  Can the genie be put back in the bottle?

ETA:  I see they have already been released in Brazil.

 
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If there's one thing that the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. Expands to new places and crashes through barriers. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But... uh well, there it is.

 
The Gator said:
If there's one thing that the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. Expands to new places and crashes through barriers. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But... uh well, there it is.
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Is that a jurrasic park quote?  

 
Has nobody seen all these movies where people mess with nature?  Lol

Seriously, every time somebody introduces something to kill one thing or curb that thing, something replaces it and it's usually worse.   Not a fan of this. 

 
Shutout said:
Has nobody seen all these movies where people mess with nature?  Lol

Seriously, every time somebody introduces something to kill one thing or curb that thing, something replaces it and it's usually worse.   Not a fan of this. 
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We probably would not exist as a species today without the introduction of something that "messed with nature" and took out a lot of predators...

 
Maurile Tremblay said:
We're unintentionally wiping out millions of species all the time via our effect on climate, etc. I think it'd be okay to wipe out just one species on purpose. (Okay, two species, since we've already intentionally wiped out the virus that causes smallpox, which I don't think too many people consider to have been a mistake.)
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And carrier pigeons

 
I have mixed feelings, but if there is one species I'm willing to sacrifice on the altar of hasty science, its a frigging mosquito

 
Ive read a few articles which describe how eliminating mosquitoes from the food web really wouldnt hurt anything.  Im too lazy to find them, but they are out there.

 
WDIK2 said:
I agree.  I thought I read somewhere (maybe even here) that there are certain species of mosquitoes that are more likely to carry diseases.  If less harmful species will fill the ecosystem void maybe things will work out, but it is a delicate balance and has the potential to go very wrong.
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Aedes aegypti is the vector for a bunch of diseases. It remains to be seen if another species will fill the ecological void if they are genetically exterminated, though it seems reasonable to expect that would happen. But make no mistake, disease-carrying or not, female mosquitoes will still bite.

 
Terminalxylem said:
Aedes aegypti is the vector for a bunch of diseases. It remains to be seen if another species will fill the ecological void if they are genetically exterminated, though it seems reasonable to expect that would happen. But make no mistake, disease-carrying or not, female mosquitoes will still bite.
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Of course, but there will be an issue if we try to eliminate things simply because they are annoying.

Asian beetles were introduced to control crop pests.  They bite.  Minute pirate bugs bite hard, but are beneficial to crops.  They make it almost unbearable to go out in the fall around here at times.

 
WDIK2 said:
Of course, but there will be an issue if we try to eliminate things simply because they are annoying.

Asian beetles were introduced to control crop pests.  They bite.  Minute pirate bugs bite hard, but are beneficial to crops.  They make it almost unbearable to go out in the fall around here at times.
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Agreed. IIRC, A aegypti had been nearly eradicated from the Americas due to DDT, just to be replaced by A albopictus, which doesn’t carry diseases as effectively. Only recently had aegypti roared back, bringing dengue and Zika with it. It also carries yellow fever and chikungunya, which thankfully haven’t established themselves in the US (yet).

Without invoking Jurassic Park or vaguely alluding to unintended consequences, can someone explain a specific concern with the technology employed in GMO mosquitoes? 

 
WDIK2 said:
Of course, but there will be an issue if we try to eliminate things simply because they are annoying.

Asian beetles were introduced to control crop pests.  They bite.  Minute pirate bugs bite hard, but are beneficial to crops.  They make it almost unbearable to go out in the fall around here at times.
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Where?

 
MTskibum said:
I think this is a good idea. Imagine if they can eliminate malaria eventually.
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Different mosquito, but that's in the works, too.

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.
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JAA said:
Ive read a few articles which describe how eliminating mosquitoes from the food web really wouldnt hurt anything.  Im too lazy to find them, but they are out there.
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I recall the same thing when I read about this project a few years ago

 
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Terminalxylem said:
Without invoking Jurassic Park or vaguely alluding to unintended consequences, can someone explain a specific concern with the technology employed in GMO mosquitoes? 
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We might blow our cover with the aliens we kept from destroying the Earth by convincing them that mosquitoes were an endangered species?

 
I wonder what happened to OX0001 thru OX5033?

If this messes with the dragonfly population, I am going to be pissed. :angry:   Top 5 insect IMO.

 
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There are 112 genera in the mosquito family and around 3500 different species, and Florida has like 80 of them.  I doubt eliminating or severely limiting the numbers of one of those species will have any scary ecological effects.

And I know this is beside the real point and rationale for trying to get rid of them, but the mosquitoes in this Aedes genus are particularly annoying, because they're out and biting during the day (especially earlier in the morning and later in the evening or if it's cloudy out).  It really sucks working out in the yard and getting bitten by mosquitoes. 

 
WDIK2 said:
I wonder what happened to OX0001 thru OX5033?
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Well, I'm not sure about any others, but we do know about OX513A, since that was the one they were initially going to use in Florida and that was used pretty successfully in Brazil and some other places.  If I understand correctly, that one basically kept all offspring from getting to adulthood.  The new and improved model OX5034 has the same effect on female offspring but lets the new males grow so they can keep passing on the modified genes to future generations.

 
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