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Gene Drive Turns Mosquitoes Into Malaria Fighters (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: The war against malaria has a new ally: a controversial technology for spreading genes throughout a population of animals. Researchers report today that they have harnessed a so-called gene drive to efficiently endow mosquitoes with genes that should make them immune to the malaria parasite—and unable to spread it. On its own, gene drive won't get rid of malaria, but if successfully applied in the wild the method could help wipe out the disease, at least in some corners of the world. The approach "can bring us to zero [cases]," says Nora Besansky, a geneticist at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, who specializes in malaria-carrying mosquitoes. "The mosquitoes do their own work [and] reach places we can't afford to go or get to."
Our antibiotics are nearly dead... no longer work because of specific genes.. see what I'm getting at
I got dibs on the movie rights.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Given how little we understand about the complexity of existing gene interactions and how they actually work, this whole concept seems a tad risky and unpredictable.
I'm all for wiping out malaria but I've got a bad feeling about this. Its probably just that the summary doesn't give any links or real details about what this "gene drive" is. But if its anything even remotely like what I think it is then this is playing with the lock on Pandora's box.
I'm probably wrong and this is one of those times I really hope I am.
Time will tell.
a controversial technology for spreading genes throughout a population of animals
Yawn... it's called sexual intercourse. I saw a documentary on it once.
if it were in the hands of a caring, mature humanity. In the hands of a greedy pharma industry not so much...
The newest thing in Slashdot posts: don't even include an article. Nobody reads them anyway, so why bother? More professionalism from Dice.com staff.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
It's the only way to be sure.
is to get rid of the mosquitoes directly by using selfish gene elements like segregation distorters. But imagine the "what could possibly go wrong" comments if you tried to even suggest this.
How about the genetic "disorder" of sickle-cell anemia? How will they react to the new DNA in the mosquitoes? How about the predators of mozzies, how will their genetic makeup change? Hell, how will malaria change and evolve with this?
Horizontal gene transfer, a beloved of those defending GMOs by claiming "This is ENTIRELY natural!" will occur here too.
If the genes killed the mozzies in a few dozen generations (e.g. the sterilisation genes, by the way, what happened to that, hmm?), the scope for such genetic outreach is limited. Here the insects won't die out and will evolve as everything else evolves, and this genetic change will remain a feature to be exploited without thought by natural processes we cannot model or control.
No John, You are the cows.
Just cement those bigotries in good and tight. We don't ever want to find ourselves mistaken, do we! So just keep being a kneejerk moron and make ridiculous, and unsupported (never mind irrelevant: what the hell would be wrong donating to greenpeace for fuck's sake?!?!?!).
Because keeping those bigotries in mind rather than looking at reality will ensure you never find out how wrong you are.
You fucking idiot.
If you don't know what the risks are how can you do the assessment?
And if, as you do here, you WILL NOT EVEN LOOK other than to go "Oh, well, everything is risky!" (why not take a massive dose of crack, hmm? Why not play russian roulette for a $10 bet, "there's risk in everything", so no reason not to!), how the hell would you even scope out what sort of risk it would be?
You're like one of those christian fundamentalists so SHIT SCARED of dying that you WILL NOT concede ANY worry or uncertainty about how right your religion is, and prefer to go "Well, EVERYONE believes in a god, why would that happen if there was no god, hmm?".
"but it is a safe bet you would change your tune if it was your child facing malaria."
It's a damn safe bet that you're too fucking dumb to realise that it's a bit too late when your child is facing malaria. And we already have treatments and cures for it.
Hell, if my child was facing malaria, I'd likely be a person who has Sickle Cell anemia, therefore genetically saved. I might be pissed off that we have to face anemia, though, in this "solution" to facing malaria.
You're DEFINITELY too dumb to realise that neither of you respondents have addressed the question. If there's a risk, and I delineated a risk, how the fuck is telling me there's a risk of an utility or relevance if you don't give a figure of that risk?
No, best just to mouth empty rhetoric because your white ass may face malaria, and any fucking expense or risk to take is WORTH it, because YOUR life is so damn worthwhile...
Bit by a genetically modified Mosquito. her comes the next Supervillain!
Malaria kills approx. 672k people/year worldwide (WHO: http://www.who.int/gho/malaria...).
Malaria cases per year, also very high in human cost, are much higher in number: 207M. AIDS has about 2x the death rate per year.
Maybe try this out on an island population of anopheles mosquitoes?
--PeterM
Mosquito bites are irritating, but as long as they don't spread disease they are endurable. Till the malaria pathogen mutates to find a new vector it would work.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
And richer populations have fewer kids. If you're not living in an economically depressed malarial hellhole, you can afford birth control and set up a good economy.
Believe it or not, public health and improving people's economic status decreases birth rates.
Personally, I'd rather see worldwide populations limited by birth control and the naturally reduced birthrate that seems to ensue from better economic conditions than populations limited by war, famine, and pestilence.
--PeterM
I love throwing Malaria in the face of busy-bodies who try to lay down accusations of privilege. I'm glad they've discovered an effective strategy for fighting it, but now SJWs have an easier time justifying their fixation on polyamorous cis-gender adult-baby equal-opportunity access to purchase golden retriever prosthetic dildos.
Obviously I have mixed feelings about this development.
And as to "millions of people", how about the crushing poverty and starvation? So many more, I guess you must be pouring money down there, right?
Oh, no, you're not, this is just a "Won't someone think of the CHILDREN!" BS rant.
Dengue fever is another killer disease transmitted by mosquitos. It would be nice if they could create a population of mosquitos that carry neither deadly disease.