Slashdot Mirror
Fighting Mosquitoes With GM Mosquitoes
doug141 writes "Scientists are releasing genetically modified male mosquitoes that produce flightless female offspring. The male offspring go on to wipe out another generation of females. This is similar to the way screwworms were eradicated in the U.S., except with nature itself making more of the modified males. Field trials are already underway."
My question isn't so much "what could possibly go wrong", but rather "What right gives you to make such a decision for the whole world to live by".
The issue for me is that these scientists are, making decisions that should be evaluated well before they act, and not just by them, but by a larger audience. We don't have the ability to pull back should this go wrong. All you have to do is look at Africanized Honey Bees to know what happens when science goes wrong.
Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn't stop to think if they should. -Dr. Ian Malcolm:
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.