Dengue feverandchikungunyaare two terrible diseases with no treatment and no vaccines available . If you compress one of these diseases carried by theAedes aegyptimosquito — a mintage not native to the U.S. but sometimes find in the more tropic regions of the country — you just have to hinge on it out . With this in judgment , theFlorida Keys Mosquito Control Districtthinks it has a resolution : Release genetically modify mosquitoes to pop offAedes aegypti , starting with a neighborhood of Key West .
I ’m in the Florida Keys right now , volunteering at a nonprofit urban farm , so I ’m super concerned in what ’s going on here . I ’ve get to speak with people on both English of the GM - mosquito issue , as well as residents who do n’t know what to consider , which has only propelled me far down this rabbit hole of interest . Here ’s what I ’ve observe out .
What ’s a GM Mosquito ?
Oxitec , a British party , has been ferment on these GM mosquitoes for years . The idea is that only maleGMAedes aegyptimosquitoeswill be unloosen to copulate with distaff non - GMAedes aegyptimosquitoes . Male mosquitoes do n’t bite , so humans are , in theory , dependable from being bite and have the GM DNA get into our blood stream . Oxitec ’s mosquitoes are modified with a DNA cocktail ofE. colibacteria , the herpes virus simplex virus , red coral and cabbage . It ’s projected that 0.03 percent of mosquito released will be distaff — so , a very small margin of error here — anda snack from a GM mosquitowill cause the same chemical reaction as the bite from a non - GM mosquito .
The materialisation from the GM males and natural female die before reaching adulthood , pink down the population . I ’m curious to know what will happen when the GM male mate with those few GM females — the same outcome , I go for , or we ’re populating the earth with GM mosquito .
Why the Florida Keys ?
While these diseases are terrible and rampant in some parts of the humankind , they are n’t prevalent here in the U.S. Key West saw an outbreak of dengue pyrexia in 2009 and 2010 with 88 hoi polloi contracting the disease topically . It has n’t been seen here sinceNovember 2010 , though . Chikungunya , on the other helping hand , has never been acquired in the U.S ..
Even with these relatively few cases to be concerned with in the Florida Keys , the FKMCD insist the waiver of GM mosquito are for the world ’s safety . A warming climate and always - expanding global locomotion are unfold tropical disease farther afield , andKey West , being the southernmost U.S. city , may experience these issues sooner rather than later . I ’m always wonder what other shock are around the crease , though .
Pollinator problem
Just like we ’re see in other fields of pest - control , theAedes aegyptiare becoming pesticide resistant to four of the six chemicals currently used . At first coup d’oeil , I understood that the GM mosquitoes would trim back pesticide being used to control the mosquito population . As you recognise , when you go around spraying pesticide to control a hemipteran , other hemipterous insect around it are affected , too , so hearing about an option to pesticide made me perk up my ears . If a GM mosquito could markedly reduce pesticide habit , possibly this is n’t the bad idea ever .
After talking with Michael Welber , active with theFlorida Keys Environmental Coalition , I come to empathize that theAedes aegyptimosquitoes are only one of 45 specie of these nettlesome buggers in the Keys . The GM mosquito will control theAedes aegypti , but pesticide spray will continue to convey on for the rest .
Some house physician and visitor are happy about the pesticide manipulation because it does control the mosquito population , which is a nuisance , to say the least . If these GM mosquitoes are released , we ’ll not only have GM mosquitoes , but we ’ll still have serious chemical pesticide . There will be a recess in pesticide spraying , though , because the mosquito control district wo n’t be able to spray after the GM mosquitoes have been released , otherwise they ’ll defeat the GM mosquitoes before they ’re able to run out their reproduction tariff . This will give other mosquitoes a chance to ramp up their populations .
More Mosquitoes
Reducing the population of just this one mosquito species finger a little futile considering there are so many other species out there . And getting rid of one can get to the room access for another to move in , like theAsian Panthera tigris mosquito , which also carries chikungunya and dengue . If that happens , I guess a GM rendering of this mosquito will have to be free , too . Subhead : Superbugs Creating Superbugs
Last week , I wrote about antibiotic - resistant bacterium being released fromconcentrated creature - feed operations . Theseantibiotic - resistant bacterium are a material concernin the creative activity of GM mosquito , too . Tetracycline is used in the institution of the GM mosquito , which can conduct to the growth of antibiotic resistant bacterium in the GM insects ’ gut , which can be passed into the environment , other louse , and potentially animals and humans .
GM Success ?
Oxitec has already released 70 million of them in Brazil and the Caribbean and have not received any reports of reactions from mosquito bite or the celluloid DNA . Oxitec title that in Brazil and the Cayman Islands , more than90 percent of the target mosquitoes have been verify by the GM mosquitoes , thoughother reportssay Oxitec had no baseline population number to go by in making this claim .
The FDA ( andYou ) in Control
The Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine is mold with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency to resolve whether the GM mosquitoes are reverberate for the Keys .
Whether or not you dwell near the Florida Keys , you should be doing your part tokeep mosquito under controlon your own attribute . Any way that you help reduce this pest universe can assist keep the chemicals and GM bug out of your neighborhood .
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