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First 'Malaria-Proof' Mosquito Created

Posted by timothy on from the what-about-a-really-good-egg-cream dept.

Gisg writes "The University of Arizona team reported that their genetically modified mosquitoes are immune to the malaria-causing parasite, a single-cell organism called Plasmodium. Riehle and his colleagues tested their genetically-altered mosquitoes by feeding them malaria-infested blood. Not even one mosquito became infected with the malaria parasite."

5 of 261 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Needs just one more mod ... by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 5, Informative
    No need. There are already concepts designed to kill them with lasers all on their own:

    http://intellectualventureslab.com/?p=653

  2. Re:side effect by causality · · Score: 4, Informative

    Other people (like me) are concerned about this too, but don't parade around screaming government conspiracy about it. Maybe we tend to be a little more open minded about it too, making us reserve judgement until we get some indication as to whether it's going to have major ecological disadvantages that would outweigh the advantages such as making healthy food cheaper or eradicating malaria.

    As another poster has already said, the problem is the control that goes along with the patent rights.

    I'll mention another problem. The moment we can write code of non-trivial complexity that can be perfectly verified to be entirely bug-free is the moment I will begin to believe that genetic engineers who plan to release a modified creature into the wild can foresee all possible consequences of their creation. At least with computer code, we design the entire system from the ground up, both the hardware and the software, we have complete control over both, and still cannot guarantee that something will function as intended. Methinks that perfectly verifying no negative and unforeseen consequences with genetics will be more difficult still, since we discovered that system and did not design it and do not fully control it.

    Killer bees were an attempt to cross-breed two species of honeybee that normally would never be able to produce offspring. It was supposed to give us the hardiness of the African bee with the docility and honey production of the European bee. What we ended up with was a monster that has caused many highly unpleasant deaths. That wasn't malice on the part of the scientists. It was their inability to completely foresee what the result was going to be and how it was going to interact with an entire interconnected ecosystem of other species. There is precedent for wanting a bit more assurance than what has been offered prior to allowing such creatures in the wild.

    --
    It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
  3. Mozambique as a positive example? by Animal+Farm+Pig · · Score: 5, Informative

    I wonder where you've been in Mozambique... Costa do Sol doesn't count. I was a contractor in Manica province a couple of years back. I got malaria four times in one year. Every other international I knew contracted malaria. Mozambican colleagues were also infected often. We had treated nets, sprayed pesticides in our facilities, didn't let water stand, etc., etc.

    It doesn't work. Maybe you can point to some percentage decrease in an area, but people are still getting and dying from malaria. Relying on individual action (treated nets, spraying own facilities) or an on-going effort organized by the government (a national spraying campaign)... recipe for failure.

    I'm not saying we shouldn't take those kinds of actions-- any reduction is good. I'm saying that we should work towards total eradication of malaria. Ending poverty should put the material conditions in place, but maybe GM mosquitoes could help along the way.

  4. Malaria in Mozambique by ProfessionalCookie · · Score: 5, Informative
    I live in Mozambique (Pemba, Cabo Delgado) and we've got plenty of Malaria to go around. It's very, very common. And I'll look up the numbers for you...

    In Mozambique 2006, WHO reports:

    22 Million Suspected Cases
    7 Million Confirmed
    19 Thousand Dead
    Malaria instance rate went from 20% to 30% from 2001 to 2007

    And here's my citation: http://malaria.who.int/wmr2008/MAL2008-CountryProfiles/MAL2008-Mozambique-EN.pdf

    1. Re:Malaria in Mozambique by ProfessionalCookie · · Score: 4, Informative
      By the way, Mozambique is about twice the size of California with a population of about 22 million. Yes that means
      there was at least one reported fever that was suspected to be malaria related for every single person in the country.

      *Note some people are infected more than once per year and some not at all.