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Perfect way to breed resistant mosquitos.
by relix 15y ago
Perfect way to breed resistant mosquitos.
- krosaen 15y agohopefully they'll become resistant by not being attracted to the bait, and as a side effect, no longer attracted to humans?
- TeMPOraL 15y agoThe bait has nothing to do with the need for blood. It's a food source they need.
- narag 15y agoIIRC, only females are parasitic. If you poison males, the population will be reduced for the next generation... or the surviving males will have extra work :-)
- krosaen 15y agoright but they're presumably attracted to humans via some mechanism, just saying I hope it's the same mechanism for which they're attracted to the nectar so that if the population becomes resistant to the poison by no longer being drawn in by the nectar, they are also no longer drawn to humans.
- clarkevans 15y agoThe article says boric acid (used for cockroach as well as ant control) is relatively safe for humans, cheap, effective, and “it kills in so many ways that there’s never been resistance to it."
- relix 15y agoNext line "Some authorities think there never will be." It's still possible they'll get resistant one way or another. The article claims 10% survived. This doesn't mean they're resistant to the dye/boric acid, it probably just means they never tried the bait. It's possible they'll become resistant to the bait (i.e. the bait won't attract them anymore).
- jws 15y agoThey used different toxins in different tests, a modern bacterial toxin targeting mosquitos, and then simply boric acid, about which they say: … and it kills in so many ways that there’s never been resistance to it. Some authorities think there never will be. Maybe it will select for mosquitos that will avoid the fake nectar, but that can be rotated and the mosquitos need to feed on nectar. They inadvertently tested the boric acid on the local human population when they used fermented juice in the bait pitchers. It proved largely harmless to humans who drink jugs of random, poisoned alcohol they find laying around.
- relix 15y agoThat's true. I think they'll much faster start smelling and becoming repulsed by boric acid, however, than they will start avoiding fake nectar. Which is practically the same as being resistant.
- burgerbrain 15y agoSo we'll have created an effective insect repellant. Awesome.
- pinko 15y agoI'm not qualified to judge whether or not it's true, but if you actually read the article, they address this concern directly: Boric acid is much less expensive than Spinosad. It is also about as harmless to humans as table salt is. It is a chief ingredient in Silly Putty. Dr. Schlein said he had heard that some Malians sampled the alcoholic bait brew, with no ill effects. But it kills insects that eat it. It is common in cockroach control; when a thin layer is spread on floors, cockroaches take it in when they preen their feet. “You can buy it by the truckload,” Dr. Christensen said. “And it kills in so many ways that there’s never been resistance to it. Some authorities think there never will be.”
- mun2mun 15y agoYou are absolutely right. Every test results like this don't focus on other 10% that survived the test. Same is true for cockroaches, rats too. Animals with high breeding rate can be controlled but not eradicated that easily.