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EPA Approves Release of Bacteria-Carrying Mosquitoes To 20 States (nature.com)
schwit1 writes: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the use of a common bacterium to kill wild mosquitoes that transmit viruses such as dengue, yellow fever and Zika, Nature's news team has learned. On November 3rd, the agency told biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate that it could release the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis into the environment as a tool against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Lab-reared mosquitoes will deliver the bacterium to wild mosquito populations. The decision -- which the EPA has not formally announced -- allows the company, which is based in Lexington, Kentucky, to release the bacteria-infected mosquitoes in 20 U.S. states and Washington DC.
MosquitoMate will rear the Wolbachia-infected A. albopictus mosquitoes in its laboratories, and then sort males from females. Then the laboratory males, which don't bite, will be released at treatment sites. When these males mate with wild females, which do not carry the same strain of Wolbachia, the resulting fertilized eggs don't hatch because the paternal chromosomes do not form properly. The company says that over time, as more of the Wolbachia-infected males are released and breed with the wild partners, the pest population of A. albopictus mosquitoes dwindles. Other insects, including other species of mosquito, are not harmed by the practice, says Stephen Dobson, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and founder of MosquitoMate.
MosquitoMate will rear the Wolbachia-infected A. albopictus mosquitoes in its laboratories, and then sort males from females. Then the laboratory males, which don't bite, will be released at treatment sites. When these males mate with wild females, which do not carry the same strain of Wolbachia, the resulting fertilized eggs don't hatch because the paternal chromosomes do not form properly. The company says that over time, as more of the Wolbachia-infected males are released and breed with the wild partners, the pest population of A. albopictus mosquitoes dwindles. Other insects, including other species of mosquito, are not harmed by the practice, says Stephen Dobson, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and founder of MosquitoMate.
Weren't we thaught in school not to mess with the ecosystems and let nature run its course? else we might risk exterminating some species by mistake?
For their next trick, free Ebola sandwiches!
Is that like Free Mandela tee-shirts?
(a) because breeding captive mosquitoes is not very difficult (though it's not pain free: mosquitoes require a blood meal to reproduce, which often involves a person sticking his/her arm in the cage)
(b) because if the "sterile males" are released in the right time and place, they outnumber the wild males, so *most* wild females mate with a sterile male; repeated a few times this can actually wipe out the wild population
(c) but as far as I know, separating captive males and females is not so easy
Source: I used to work in a tropical medicine institute (but not directly with any mosquitoes).
Wait what? Did you just equate genetically modified species being released into the wild with a non-binding international treaty to curb emissions? Wtf?
For the Nth time, the Paris climate agreement is non-binding. If for whatever reason your country does not care about the global climate, you're entirely free to ignore the Paris goals, shut your eyes and keep burning all the oil and the coal you want. There are no sanctions in the treaty for countries that do not meet their goals.
The point of the Paris agreement is to try to get everyone to do what they can to slow down the rate of emissions (and hence warming) to a point where the consequences are more manageable. The point is precisely to try to make sure nations don't get fucked by massive climatic changes.
Comparing such a project, which has a well understood basis in natural science (the greenhouse effect has been well understood for over a century and is demonstrable in a lab) and is based on the voluntary co-operation of nations for the common good of everyone (just like the closing of the hole in the ozone layer, which was also achieved by an international consensus and realization that continuation of past practices would have lead to serious harm for everyone) to an experiment where a single nation starts to release genetically modified insects is just plain dumb. We know that reducing emissions is good for everyone in the mid to long term, and we know this for a fact. We don't know that releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild will not have significant adverse effects.
I understand that this kind of strawman where the Paris treaty is seen as some kind of NWO tool to control what nations can do flies on facebook & al where people get their news from mainly reading headlines of blogposts, but I seriously expect people on this site to have a modicum more of insight into what the treaty actually says before going overboard with the tinfoilhat level of crazy.
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" -Alfred North Whitehead
The Zika-carrying mosquito is an invasive species in the US, and one that got there because of Human globalization and transport systems. Wiping out that subspecies is to restore balance not disrupt it.
By approving to only 20 states, do they really think the mosquitoes will not cross state lines? Or jump to Mexico or Canada? What if a country like N.Korea starts designing and releasing their own organisms in a "F the world" gesture - then will it be seen as a problem?
The Wolbachia bacteria already exists naturally in insects all over the world, including several species of mosquitoes. The bacteria inhibits reproduction of viruses like Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya in the mosquito, significantly reducing the risk of spreading the virus. This without using any kind of chemicals or genetic engineering. The World Mosquito Program has more information about Wolbachia: http://www.eliminatedengue.com...
(c) but as far as I know, separating captive males and females is not so easy
They should have the male work a full-time job while giving the female stay-at-home mosquito an unlimited wine-budget and a sense of superiority. That usually does it in the species I've observed.
The bacteria they're using already exists in nature and already infects mosquitoes. Nothing is being released that isn't already out there. All this conjecture about genetically modified organisms, hybrids, extinction, jumping species, etc. is just knee-jerk fear-mongering by people who have no clue what they're talking about.
It's targeting a specific species of mosquito, I think part of the effectiveness is reducing that species' competitiveness with other species of mosquito that fill the same niche in the environment.
End result, you'll still get bitten - but hopefully not Dengue.
Your tax dollars at work, breeding mosquitoes in the lab by the shit-ton.
Except for the ones that do form. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping mutant DNA; the mosquitos will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted Slashdot moderator, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground anti-DEET research labs.
There are no genetically-modified mosquitoes here. They are infected with a naturally-occurring bacterium. Please reduce the size of your tinfoil wardrobe.
Your tax dollars at work, countering mosquito born diseases after they've already infected the populace.
Wouldn't this strengthen the population that carries the viruses by eliminating the weaker carries, i.e. breeding out the weak and re-enforcing the stronger ones? I'm not a biologist or geneticist
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
Compared to treating babies born with microcephelia over their lifetime...seems like a drop in the bucket.
By approving to only 20 states, do they really think the mosquitoes will not cross state lines? Or jump to Mexico or Canada? What if a country like N.Korea starts designing and releasing their own organisms in a "F the world" gesture - then will it be seen as a problem?
I don't know that the concept is to have strict geographic borders. Any borders will be very fuzzy. But the highly focused control methods are not new. Bacillus thuringiensis I is also used to control Mosquitoes. And it does a great job, killing the larvae of just the mosquitoes (also fungus gnat and blackfly larvae) but that's it. In the pond in my backyard, we use it, and doesn't bother the frogs or fish one bit.
Bacillus thuringiensis K a version of the bacteria that goes after Gypsy moths. And it's approved for "organic" status.
Both completely natural, not man made and found on beaches.
And did you know that there are some species of insect that cannot reproduce without Wolbachia, the bacteria in question? It is a very common bacteria, it has the same effect in a male mosquito who picks it up randomly as in a purposely infected one.
We've learned a lot about pest control, and have gone far beyond early and clumsy efforts. While so many Slashdotters are still stuck in the 1960's Andromeda Strain world, we've been using these highly focused controls for many years. might as well rail on about vaccines.
tl;dr version. if Wolbachia is a problem, we're screwed already because it's ubiquitous. As for NK pulling some insect borne stunt, its them and everyone else. This isn't rocket surgery.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
how on Earth is going the EPA and US to control that such kind of hybrids
Well, first of all, these are not "hybrids". They are just regular mosquitoes carrying a bacteria that regularly infects mosquitoes already. So, done?
doesn't invade another countries like Canada or Mexico?
What the bacteria does is make the male mosquito sterile, so that when he mates with a female in the wild, instead of producing thousands of new mosquitoes they just make thousands of eggs that don't develop. I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry about the eggs migrating to other countries. And since male mosquitoes (the only ones being infected and released) only live about ten days, the risk of them travelling across borders seems fairly small. And if they do, their tenancy as illegal aliens of other countries will be quite short-lived. And, since the treatment they receive sterilizes them, they will have no foreign-born offspring disrupting the existing mosquito populations of other countries, taking their jobs, getting on mosquito welfare, or whatever.
Well - 1st off this species originated in tropical and sub-tropical Asia.. so the more arid western states probably do not have a mosquito problem to begin with. 2nd, southern states that do not experience prolonged sub-freezing temperatures probably have a much larger rate of infection. That right there condenses the areas that could use this "treatment".
They are only releasing the mosquitoes with the naturally occurring bacteria, they aren't really genetically modified. Think of it more as selective breeding aimed at controlling this aggressive mosquito.
I just got back from Japan - it wasn't nearly as bad this time but this breed is nasty. My son and I are pin cushions to them.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
My understanding is that they separate them at the larval stage and there is a size difference - basically pour some water through a sieve and one side has females and the other side has males. It's something like 99.9% effective.
Yeah, it's true that Northern states still have mosquitoes. I've even had someone jokingly tell me that the mosquito is even the state bird of Minnesota.
However, not all mosquito species actually carry the diseases that we'd like to prevent, and some of those species that are carriers don't inhabit northern states or aren't as prevalent on the west coast of the country.