Genetically Modified Mosquitoes...In Florida?
Idris
Posts: 2,317
Monday, 19 March 2007 (BBC) (GM mosquito 'could fight malaria'/dengue Fever)
A genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects.
It gives new impetus to one strategy for controlling the disease: introduce the GM insects into wild populations in the hope that they will take over.
(Details of the work by a US team appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.)
The researchers caution that their studies are still at an early stage, and that it could be 10 years or more before engineered insects are released into the environment.
"What we did was a laboratory, proof-of-principle experiment; we're not anywhere close to releasing them into the wild right now," co-author Dr Jason Rasgon from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, told BBC News.
"I think it will be 10 to 20 years before transgenic mosquitoes are released into nature. It's very difficult to predict what will happen when we release these things," he added.
"There is quite a lot of research that needs to be done, both in terms of genetics and the ecology of the mosquitoes; and also research to address all the social, ethical and legal issues associated with releasing transgenic organisms into the environment."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6468381.stm
(That was 2007...Now many (?) years later)
Genetically modified mosquitoes may soon be released in Florida
Sunday, February 12, 2012
In an effort to help eradicate dengue fever and the mosquitos that spread it, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) is seeking federal and state approval to release hundreds of thousands of genetically-modified (GM) mosquitos designed to kill off the natural Aedes aegypti variety of the fly throughout Key West, Florida.
The agency, which already routinely performs aerial sprayings of the area with anti-mosquito chemicals, believes it will save money in the long run by releasing the GM mosquitos. Rather than spend $400,000 or more a year to conduct the aerial sprayings, FKMCD says it would instead only have to spend $200,000 to $300,000 a year on the GM mosquitos.
If approved, the release of GM mosquitos in Key West will represent the first ever release of a GM creature in the U.S., and on a trial basis where scientists really have no idea what will happen. Like all other GMOs, it is unknown whether or not the GM mosquitos will have a detrimental effect on the environment or humans, or how killing of large amounts of mosquitos will disrupt the life cycles of natural ecosystems.
Similar trials involving the release of GM mosquitos have already occurred in both the Cayman Islands and in Malaysia, according to reports. In the Cayman Islands, Oxitec secretly released the mosquitos without approval, and did not notify the public that it was conducting a massive ecological experiment that could have potentially life-altering consequences until a year after the GM mosquitos were released
The mosquitoes were developed by Oxitec, a U.K. biotech firm that aims to fight dengue by releasing massive numbers of "genetically sterile" male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. When wild females mate with these transgenic males, there are no viable offspring; the hope is that, as a result, the mosquito populations will collapse.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/01/gm-mosquito-release-in-malaysia.html?ref=ra
http://www.naturalnews.com/034943_genetically_modified_mosquitoes_Florida_disease.html
Just thought I'd post this story, should be interesting to see what happens next. Or maybe we should try and stop this? Or Maybe it's all alright? "Life finds a way"? (video below :P )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWeMvrNiOM
A genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects.
It gives new impetus to one strategy for controlling the disease: introduce the GM insects into wild populations in the hope that they will take over.
(Details of the work by a US team appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.)
The researchers caution that their studies are still at an early stage, and that it could be 10 years or more before engineered insects are released into the environment.
"What we did was a laboratory, proof-of-principle experiment; we're not anywhere close to releasing them into the wild right now," co-author Dr Jason Rasgon from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, told BBC News.
"I think it will be 10 to 20 years before transgenic mosquitoes are released into nature. It's very difficult to predict what will happen when we release these things," he added.
"There is quite a lot of research that needs to be done, both in terms of genetics and the ecology of the mosquitoes; and also research to address all the social, ethical and legal issues associated with releasing transgenic organisms into the environment."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6468381.stm
(That was 2007...Now many (?) years later)
Genetically modified mosquitoes may soon be released in Florida
Sunday, February 12, 2012
In an effort to help eradicate dengue fever and the mosquitos that spread it, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) is seeking federal and state approval to release hundreds of thousands of genetically-modified (GM) mosquitos designed to kill off the natural Aedes aegypti variety of the fly throughout Key West, Florida.
The agency, which already routinely performs aerial sprayings of the area with anti-mosquito chemicals, believes it will save money in the long run by releasing the GM mosquitos. Rather than spend $400,000 or more a year to conduct the aerial sprayings, FKMCD says it would instead only have to spend $200,000 to $300,000 a year on the GM mosquitos.
If approved, the release of GM mosquitos in Key West will represent the first ever release of a GM creature in the U.S., and on a trial basis where scientists really have no idea what will happen. Like all other GMOs, it is unknown whether or not the GM mosquitos will have a detrimental effect on the environment or humans, or how killing of large amounts of mosquitos will disrupt the life cycles of natural ecosystems.
Similar trials involving the release of GM mosquitos have already occurred in both the Cayman Islands and in Malaysia, according to reports. In the Cayman Islands, Oxitec secretly released the mosquitos without approval, and did not notify the public that it was conducting a massive ecological experiment that could have potentially life-altering consequences until a year after the GM mosquitos were released
The mosquitoes were developed by Oxitec, a U.K. biotech firm that aims to fight dengue by releasing massive numbers of "genetically sterile" male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. When wild females mate with these transgenic males, there are no viable offspring; the hope is that, as a result, the mosquito populations will collapse.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/01/gm-mosquito-release-in-malaysia.html?ref=ra
http://www.naturalnews.com/034943_genetically_modified_mosquitoes_Florida_disease.html
Just thought I'd post this story, should be interesting to see what happens next. Or maybe we should try and stop this? Or Maybe it's all alright? "Life finds a way"? (video below :P )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWeMvrNiOM
0