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The issue with most current mosquito control (https://www.wired.com/2016/06/zika-mosquitos/ https://www.wired.com/2016/06/zika-mosquitos/) and actually most ins
by soundwave106 8y ago
The issue with most current mosquito control (https://www.wired.com/2016/06/zika-mosquitos/ https://www.wired.com/2016/06/zika-mosquitos/) and actually most insect control in general is that, historically and even heavily today, they generally involved chemicals (pesticides). Pesticides in general are not insect specific, and can have some rather serious effects on the environment, other animals, and even maybe humans. They also only tend to be effective against mosquitoes for, say, a couple decades or so before mosquitoes develop resistance, and a new one has to be deployed.
I definitely would personally welcome research on efforts to more specifically target the mosquito and the mosquito alone. Chemical based insect control isn't going to go away in the absence of alternatives, meaning that, should an alternative, mosquito specific approach be developed, it probably will have much less "knock on effects" to the ecosystem compared to what we are already doing.