Malaysia Releases 6,000 Genetically Modified Mosquitoes into the Wild
67 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Over the protests of environmental groups and NGOs, Malaysia has released 6,000 genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild, hoping to drive down incidents of mosquito-borne dengue fever. It’s the first experiment of its kind in Asia, but naturally everyone isn’t thrilled with the idea of releasing altered DNA into the ecosystem.
Dengue fever is a particularly nasty bug found in tropical and subtropical climes like Malaysia’s, causing nausea, muscle and joint pain, fever, headaches, rashes, and sometimes death if left untreated (in Malaysia it killed 134 people last year). The experimental mosquitoes, all male, were engineered to produce offspring that quickly die in hopes that shortening life spans will thin the population of Aedes species (dengue fever is carried by females).
The experiment was conducted less to see if the GM mosquitoes’ offspring would die off earlier and more to see how the 6,000 mosquitoes themselves would fare in the wild. That also happens to be the sticking point for environmental groups and locals who are incensed that the Malaysian government went ahead with the experiment over their protests. Tweaking genomes, critics say, could lead to unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences.
So how did the genetically modified Aedes males fare? We don’t know yet, as the results are still being analyzed. If it turns out they were able to mingle with their unmodified cousins without generating any adverse consequences it would be huge for advocates of this kind of gene tinkering. Mosquitoes bear all kinds of illness all over the world—most notoriously malaria—and making adjustments to mosquito genomes has long been proposed as a potential solution.[/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-01/malaysia-releases-6000-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-wild[/url]
oh god
zombies incoming
I have a feeling this won't last long before something goes wrong.
Oh boy, I hope this doesn't have negative effects.
Gotta man up, tighten your belt, roll up your sleeves and face the odds if you ever want to progress.
That's awesome!
I really hope it works
uh-oh
It's to make insects die fast, somehow I don't think this a good idea.
On another note:
[QUOTE]Tweaking genomes, critics say, could lead to [B]unforeseen[/B] and uncontrollable [B]consequences.[/B][/QUOTE]
Why is genetic engineering so cool?
Oh look, people fearing things they don't understand.
6,000 mosquitos is practically nothing though, they're probably the lowest thing on the food chain next to grass so everything that sits in the "Small animal" niche eats them so something tells me the modified insects won't have much of an impact on the existing population.
At first, I thought, "releasing more mosquitoes in to the wild doesn't help with getting rid of them", but then I thought about it more. It makes sense to have mosquitoes that produce shorter living offspring possibly outnumber, or at least be at competion with the current population.
What the fuck actually happens though seems to be not 100% clear. Hope they have fun with that. :haw:
People who are fearmongering of this can simply wrap themselves in plastic wrap and remain there until they black out, thus avoiding any undue attacks by mosquitoes.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;27714955]People who are fearmongering of this can simply wrap themselves in plastic wrap and remain there until they black out, thus avoiding any undue attacks by mosquitoes.[/QUOTE]
You could always burn Styrofoam. Just wave it around yourself and you'll be fine too.
Do it inside a plastic wrap just to be safe
I support this 100% percent, but only if done with extreme caution. The world is our dominion, though I say this not in a crazy fundamentalist christian kind of way. Fuuuuuck mosquitoes
Fuck you mother nature!
Wait, Malaysia can genetically modify insects? I thought they still lived in caves over there.
And the genetic modification is probably just the mosquitoes painted red or some shit.
[QUOTE=Mikesword221;27714755]I have a feeling this won't last long before something goes wrong.[/QUOTE]
This has been in research since 1978, and in field practice since 2003. So far, it's been completely safe, nearly reducing all cases of mosquito borne illnesses to nil.
-fucking broken images-
Shit is about to happen!
I don't think fast-dying mosquitoes are going to be very successful if they die so soon they can't reproduce.
20 Years Later:
Earth is overrun by mosquitoes the size of a small car. I, for one, welcome our new bloodsucking overlords.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;27714833]On another note:[/QUOTE]
holy shit
ep 3 will be set in malaysia and will be based around killing 6000 gigantic beat-like flies.
The modification should be self-limiting as offspring with shorter lifespan is unlikely to get as much mosquito babes as the vanilla ones.
If this works, we're well on our way to a better world. A gene that reduces the population by 80% in trials sounds just fine to me.
[quote]but naturally everyone isn’t thrilled with the idea of releasing altered DNA into the ecosystem.[/quote]
I'm not thrilled with releasing more fucking mosquito into the ecosystem. We should be trying to kill these fucking things.
[QUOTE=RR_Raptor65;27714868]Oh look, people fearing things they don't understand.
6,000 mosquitos is practically nothing though, they're probably the lowest thing on the food chain next to grass so everything that sits in the "Small animal" niche eats them so something tells me the modified insects won't have much of an impact on the existing population.[/QUOTE]
Mosquitoes are low on the food chain and when you fuck with the bottom of the food chain you end up fucking with everything above it should something go wrong
we should make mosquitos that make vaccines, so when they suck our blood we can be like "thanks bro" and they'll all be like "no problem".
I totally agree with this, back when I lived in Malaysia there were mosquitoes everywhere.
Like, it wasn't even a question, it was just a facet of life. Mosquito bites all day, errday.
[QUOTE=Mikesword221;27714755]I have a feeling this won't last long before something goes wrong.[/QUOTE]
As the past is shown us, whenever genetically altered things are released into the wild, something will probably go wrong.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.