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West African Village Weighs Using Genetically Modified Mosquitoes In Malaria Fight (scientificamerican.com)
New submitter omaha393 writes: A public engagement campaign is underway in the hopes of convincing Burkina Faso residents to allow the release of genetically modified mosquitoes to combat deadly mosquito-borne pathogens. GM mosquitoes rely on a technology called "gene drives." Different gene drives offer different solutions, typically leading to subsequent broods being sterile, predominantly male, resistant to infection or nonviable due to toxic traits. Researchers in this case are only in the preliminary stages of releasing sterile males but hope to begin wider releases of GM mosquitoes in about 6 years.
Burkina Faso is not the only country to pursue GM mosquitoes in efforts to prevent disease. Brazil has become a testing ground for wide release, and last fall voters in Florida Keys approved measures to begin releasing GM mosquitoes to fight the spread of Zika. Both the WHO and the U.S. FDA have approved the technique, but skeptics are critical of the method.
Burkina Faso is not the only country to pursue GM mosquitoes in efforts to prevent disease. Brazil has become a testing ground for wide release, and last fall voters in Florida Keys approved measures to begin releasing GM mosquitoes to fight the spread of Zika. Both the WHO and the U.S. FDA have approved the technique, but skeptics are critical of the method.
Then I suggest you learn English properly.
Weighs can also mean considers the importance of different parts of a decision.. IE. Weighs the factors in a decision.
As it clearly does here smart arse.
More importantly.. Perhaps someone should tell them actual tests of these modified mosquitoes have failed, as not surprisingly it turns out that the changes mutate out again very quickly as survival is actually dominant.
Who would have thought.
"what if birds don't like to feed on the GMO mosquitoes, or fish don't like their larvae?"
Because there are no liberal birds or fish. They will go on eating what they have been used to eating in their environment, since the GMO version does not taste any different.
But you're missing the whole point of gene drives, which are to in a short time eliminate the target species. So long as there are other prey species for the birds and fish to move on to, no problem. Fish flies, damsel flies, there is a plethora of substitute species out there. In any case, only a small fraction of the 3,000 mosquito species even bite humans. Eliminating them all would not even cut into the supply of mosquitos in the environment, since the species remaining after the gene drive would just populate to fill the gap..