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96% suppression of the dengue mosquito in Brazilian trial
- contingencies 13y agoThey were allowed to release something like this in the wild? This is like playing god. If you kill all the mosquitos, nature cannot recover. They may be pests for us, but they are still a critical part of the biosphere. The true impact of this activity will not be felt for some time. It harks back to Mao's devastation of the birds.
- gus_massa 13y agoThey are probabbly targeting Aedes aegypt. It's original location in Africa, so if they can eradicate it from Brazil they will restore the natural balance.
- contingencies 13y agoMoscamed announced that they had achieved a 96% reduction of the adult mosquito population in the target area. That sounds like all mosquitoes to me.
- gus_massa 13y agoA few lines below that line, a more complete quote appears: > The effect on the local population of the dengue vector* was dramatic: analysis of eggs laid in specially designed ‘ovitraps’ showed that the number of viable ‘wild-type’ eggs laid in the trial areas was reduced by 91-95%, while adult trapping showed a reduction in the local adult population of an estimated 96%.* They are releasing OX513A ( http://www.oxitec.com/health/our-products/aedes-agypti-ox513a/ http://www.oxitec.com/health/our-products/aedes-agypti-ox513... ). It's a variant of Aedes aegypti, so it mates only with Aedes aegypti and only that type of mosquitoes is affected. The first assertion is misleading, but it's only a simplification / edition error / marketing hype.