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We’ve managed to eradicate malaria in many parts of the world without any consequences, sure other strains may mutate but so far they haven’t. If they do we’ll

We’ve managed to eradicate malaria in many parts of the world without any consequences, sure other strains may mutate but so far they haven’t. If they do we’ll figure out how to deal with them when that happens. Malaria isn’t the first parasite we’ve eradicated some of them we’ve eradicated globally and hopefully it won’t be the last. The biggest problem isn’t the how but it’s how to do it in Africa where the infrastructure and the stability of governments across the entire region makes it a hard task to accomplish.

Fomite 8y ago
We've never eradicated a parasite globally. We've knocked out two viruses, smallpox and rinderpest, but genuine parasites are a taller order.
- dogma1138 8y ago
  We’ve eradicated the Guinea worm just recently or have effctively done so at least with no new cases reported.
  - Fomite 8y ago
    I'll admit I'm pessimistic, but I think it's premature to officially call it eradicated, though admittedly, it's close. Though it's also a way easier target than malaria.
UncleEntity 8y ago
> We’ve managed to eradicate malaria in many parts of the world without any consequences... As far as I know we've never eradicated anything by modifying genes which is the part most people are concerned with. Sure, drain the swamps and/or use whatever methods worked in the past but think twice before releasing mosquitos into the wild which have the unfortunate side effect of turning crocodiles into Godzilla with a single bite. I've seen the movies and <<spoiler alert>> it doesn't turn out well.
- dogma1138 8y ago
  Scientifically illiterate people are scared of GMOs in other news water is wet. Also in several places malaria was eradicated using engineered mosquitos sure we didn’t use gene editing but rather much more coarse tools like radiation. We’ve been producing GMO for 15 millennia if anyone thinks that throwing sperm at the wall or irradiating seeds is somehow not genetic engineering they need to get their facts in order.

Fomite 8y ago

We've never eradicated a parasite globally. We've knocked out two viruses, smallpox and rinderpest, but genuine parasites are a taller order.

dogma1138 8y ago
We’ve eradicated the Guinea worm just recently or have effctively done so at least with no new cases reported.
- Fomite 8y ago
  I'll admit I'm pessimistic, but I think it's premature to officially call it eradicated, though admittedly, it's close. Though it's also a way easier target than malaria.

UncleEntity 8y ago

> We’ve managed to eradicate malaria in many parts of the world without any consequences... As far as I know we've never eradicated anything by modifying genes which is the part most people are concerned with. Sure, drain the swamps and/or use whatever methods worked in the past but think twice before releasing mosquitos into the wild which have the unfortunate side effect of turning crocodiles into Godzilla with a single bite. I've seen the movies and <<spoiler alert>> it doesn't turn out well.

dogma1138 8y ago
Scientifically illiterate people are scared of GMOs in other news water is wet. Also in several places malaria was eradicated using engineered mosquitos sure we didn’t use gene editing but rather much more coarse tools like radiation. We’ve been producing GMO for 15 millennia if anyone thinks that throwing sperm at the wall or irradiating seeds is somehow not genetic engineering they need to get their facts in order.