4 ms·
While I would love to see tick-borne disease wiped out, I just don't think that wiping out ticks is the right way. Instead, how about wiping out the parasites t
by bdamm 8y ago
While I would love to see tick-borne disease wiped out, I just don't think that wiping out ticks is the right way. Instead, how about wiping out the parasites that are borne by these ticks?
It's a never ending cascade of special eradication. Today, ticks and mosquitoes carrying life threatening agents. Tomorrow, perhaps rats, cats, mice, sparrows, bed bugs, termites, and any other organism that we find inconvenient? How about certain kinds of humans, perhaps we can terminate people that are cognitively impaired? Wielding the rod of genocide seems like a poor choice.
- waserwill 8y agoThe difference is that while animals like mosquitoes have many offspring and are sexually reproducing, many of the microscopic parasites are not… The gene drive requires sexual reproduction to spread and produce sterile mosquitoes. Huh, maybe this will open an opportunity for sex-non-obligate mosquitoes infected by Wolbachia, if those are even produced by their interaction
- bdamm 8y agoYour answer sounds like "because we can".