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I'm much more concerned because this is a species that is very closely tied to human interactions. Having -potentially- genetically modified organisms sucking
by virtue3 5y ago
I'm much more concerned because this is a species that is very closely tied to human interactions.
Having -potentially- genetically modified organisms sucking my blood and introducing who knows what into my blood stream is non-ideal.
We've also got an incredibly bad record of fucking with ecological systems: See basically all of austrailia (Cane Toads, European Rabbit, Feral Goats, etc).
- bedobi 5y agoIf you think getting rid of invasive species is good, then you should have no problem getting rid of this invasive mosquito species.
- virtue3 5y agoI'm just pointing out we don't have a great track record of introducing a species to positively affect ecosystems. > Now, a team of independent researchers analyzing an early trial of Oxitec’s technology is raising alarm—and drawing fire from the firm—with a report that some offspring of the GM mosquitoes survived and produced offspring that also made it to sexual maturity. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/09/study-dna-spread-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-prompts-backlash https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/09/study-dna-spread-gen... Mosquitos lay a lot of eggs. > Typically, a female only needs to mate once, and after this is done, she can lay eggs for the remainder of her life. Most female mosquitoes can produce between 50 and 500 eggs in their first brood. Subsequent broods may have fewer eggs, but a single female mosquito may produce up to 10 broods throughout her life. I'm not convinced this is the best solution. Bring back the anti-mosquito lasers :/