6 ms·

It is simply untrue that there are no other options. There are many options. GMO mosquitos are another unwanted product from Intrexon which specializes in GMO f

It is simply untrue that there are no other options. There are many options. GMO mosquitos are another unwanted product from Intrexon which specializes in GMO foods that failed in the market (GMO apples and salmon). I lived in the Keys during the first attempt at this trial and there is so much wrong with it, we put together a whole website at the time. This page talks about Wolbachia, a safer and already approved alternative: https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/10/16/wolbachia-ready-its-time-to-scrap-the-gmo-mosquito-test-now/ https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/10/16/wolbachia-read... Any mention of mosquitos in the Florida Keys should come with the disclosure that the FKMCD (Mosquito Control District) is the single best funded entity in the entire state of Florida. There is serious money to made here and Intrexon/Oxitec only has to sell to one customer at a time -- the District -- not the people who live there.

goda90 6y ago
From your link: "Oxitec’s GMO mosquitoes do not have any built-in disease suppression and they aren’t truly sterile, meaning Oxitec GMO mosquitoes can also bite human beings and transmit disease" But isn't Oxitec only releasing males? Male mosquitos don't bite.
- mimixco 6y ago
  See item #2 on this page: https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/5-way-the-media-lies-about-gmo-mosquitoes/ https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/5-way-the-medi... (that version has links... here's the text) 2. The Famous “Only Male Mosquitoes” Story That may be the goal, but it’s not the reality. At best Oxitec can sort out about 99.98% of the females. That sounds terrific until you realize that even the Key Haven test requires releasing over 14 million mosquitoes. The company expects to be able to come 3x a week for 22 months to tend to the breeding containers. Even the suggestion that the GMO mosquitoes are “bred to mate females” is misleading. In actuality, the GMO mosquito, crippled as it is by artificial DNA, does a poor job of mating. Unsurprisingly, wild type female mosquitoes don’t particularly prefer it. So Oxitec has to overwhelm the natural system with 5-25 times as many artificial mosquitoes as natural ones. The company’s tests in the Cayman Islands showed an effect on population only after massive, repeated GMO mosquito releases. The Oxitec GMO mosquito is its own Neverending Story.
  - Lukas_Skywalker 6y ago
    Even with 25 times as many „artificial“ mosquitoes, the 0.02% females remaining are probably still a tiny amount compared to the naturally occurring ones.
addison-lee 6y ago
Why can't they do both? Seems pretty short sighted to be against new technology for no good reason.
- mimixco 6y ago
  Because GMO mosquitos introduce unnecessary risks. This is the best summary that I wrote at the time: https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/5-things-you-must-know-about-gmo-mosquitoes/ https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/5-things-you-m... It's of note that the project is so unpopular in the Keys that they have had to move from a Keys-wide trial covering thousands of homes to an opt-in only test with 130 houses. In other words, the people who live there don't want to be part of the experiment.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - itake 6y ago
    > No one can know the effects of Oxitec’s artificial DNA entering the human bloodstream through mosquito bites I'm still not sure I understand the problem. This entire experiment feels like a much safer version of the time the USA released a massive amount of DDT to end polio transmission [0]. DDT is obviously horrible for humans, but now we also live in a country without polio. There are costs to everything. Nothing is perfect. Please provide better evidence than "having non-natural DNA in your blood is bad". [0] - https://academic.oup.com/envhis/article/22/4/696/4057684 https://academic.oup.com/envhis/article/22/4/696/4057684
    - mimixco 6y ago
      I wrote a whole website about this, so I'm not really down to debate it with you. There's a lot to read about this, including source documents from Oxitec and the FDA. You can draw your own conclusions from the evidence that's there.
      - selestify 6y ago
bpodgursky 6y ago
AquaBounty's GMO salmon hasn't "failed in the market"... it literally hasn't hit the market yet, but is still being actively developed, despite unending environmentalist lawsuits.
- mimixco 6y ago
  "Safeway, Kroger, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Target, and Aldi are among the retailers who will not sell [Intrexon's GMO salmon]." [0] [0] Source: https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/here-are-the-retailers-who-won-t-sell-aquabounty-s-gm-salmon https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/here-a...
  - bpodgursky 6y ago
    That article is from 2015. I would not interpret that as writ.
mgraczyk 6y ago
To summarize your blog, your biggest gripe is that it might not work, and that doing a test that may not work isn't worth the risk because "GMO bad". Jesus Christ, millions of people have malaria, it's a life-ruining disease. This is some of the worst luddite nonsense I've ever read.
- paul_f 6y ago
  I don't get the GMO-bad crowd. Before GMO crops, you would take seeds and irradiate them. Then plant them and see what interesting mutations happen. And somehow GMO is worse than that? SMH
- briefcomment 6y ago
  In the Florida Keys?
  - searine 6y ago
    Malaria used to be endemic all the way up to Maine. Improved sewage and later millions of gallons of pesticide fixed that. I don't think millions of gallons of toxic pesticides is the best solution. This is worth trying, and other similar experiments have shown it has been safe and effective.
- dang 6y ago
  You broke the site guidelines badly here. Please follow the rules, regardless of how wrong someone else is or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - mgraczyk 6y ago
    Sorry about that, thanks for the warning.
    - dang 6y ago
      Appreciated!

goda90 6y ago

From your link: "Oxitec’s GMO mosquitoes do not have any built-in disease suppression and they aren’t truly sterile, meaning Oxitec GMO mosquitoes can also bite human beings and transmit disease" But isn't Oxitec only releasing males? Male mosquitos don't bite.

mimixco 6y ago
See item #2 on this page: https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/5-way-the-media-lies-about-gmo-mosquitoes/ https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/5-way-the-medi... (that version has links... here's the text) 2. The Famous “Only Male Mosquitoes” Story That may be the goal, but it’s not the reality. At best Oxitec can sort out about 99.98% of the females. That sounds terrific until you realize that even the Key Haven test requires releasing over 14 million mosquitoes. The company expects to be able to come 3x a week for 22 months to tend to the breeding containers. Even the suggestion that the GMO mosquitoes are “bred to mate females” is misleading. In actuality, the GMO mosquito, crippled as it is by artificial DNA, does a poor job of mating. Unsurprisingly, wild type female mosquitoes don’t particularly prefer it. So Oxitec has to overwhelm the natural system with 5-25 times as many artificial mosquitoes as natural ones. The company’s tests in the Cayman Islands showed an effect on population only after massive, repeated GMO mosquito releases. The Oxitec GMO mosquito is its own Neverending Story.
- Lukas_Skywalker 6y ago
  Even with 25 times as many „artificial“ mosquitoes, the 0.02% females remaining are probably still a tiny amount compared to the naturally occurring ones.

addison-lee 6y ago

Why can't they do both? Seems pretty short sighted to be against new technology for no good reason.

mimixco 6y ago
Because GMO mosquitos introduce unnecessary risks. This is the best summary that I wrote at the time: https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/5-things-you-must-know-about-gmo-mosquitoes/ https://neveragainkw.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/5-things-you-m... It's of note that the project is so unpopular in the Keys that they have had to move from a Keys-wide trial covering thousands of homes to an opt-in only test with 130 houses. In other words, the people who live there don't want to be part of the experiment.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- itake 6y ago
  > No one can know the effects of Oxitec’s artificial DNA entering the human bloodstream through mosquito bites I'm still not sure I understand the problem. This entire experiment feels like a much safer version of the time the USA released a massive amount of DDT to end polio transmission [0]. DDT is obviously horrible for humans, but now we also live in a country without polio. There are costs to everything. Nothing is perfect. Please provide better evidence than "having non-natural DNA in your blood is bad". [0] - https://academic.oup.com/envhis/article/22/4/696/4057684 https://academic.oup.com/envhis/article/22/4/696/4057684
  - mimixco 6y ago
    I wrote a whole website about this, so I'm not really down to debate it with you. There's a lot to read about this, including source documents from Oxitec and the FDA. You can draw your own conclusions from the evidence that's there.
    - selestify 6y ago

bpodgursky 6y ago

AquaBounty's GMO salmon hasn't "failed in the market"... it literally hasn't hit the market yet, but is still being actively developed, despite unending environmentalist lawsuits.

mimixco 6y ago
"Safeway, Kroger, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Target, and Aldi are among the retailers who will not sell [Intrexon's GMO salmon]." [0] [0] Source: https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/here-are-the-retailers-who-won-t-sell-aquabounty-s-gm-salmon https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/here-a...
- bpodgursky 6y ago
  That article is from 2015. I would not interpret that as writ.

mgraczyk 6y ago

To summarize your blog, your biggest gripe is that it might not work, and that doing a test that may not work isn't worth the risk because "GMO bad". Jesus Christ, millions of people have malaria, it's a life-ruining disease. This is some of the worst luddite nonsense I've ever read.

paul_f 6y ago
I don't get the GMO-bad crowd. Before GMO crops, you would take seeds and irradiate them. Then plant them and see what interesting mutations happen. And somehow GMO is worse than that? SMH
briefcomment 6y ago
In the Florida Keys?
- searine 6y ago
  Malaria used to be endemic all the way up to Maine. Improved sewage and later millions of gallons of pesticide fixed that. I don't think millions of gallons of toxic pesticides is the best solution. This is worth trying, and other similar experiments have shown it has been safe and effective.
dang 6y ago
You broke the site guidelines badly here. Please follow the rules, regardless of how wrong someone else is or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mgraczyk 6y ago
  Sorry about that, thanks for the warning.
  - dang 6y ago
    Appreciated!