GMO Mosquitos is not a new show on FX, but rather reality that may be coming to the Florida Keys in the very near future. Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that is responsible for the spread of the Zika virus, has been found in Florida, and thus the push to get these genetically modified mosquitoes released has become of utmost priority, for some.
Oxitec, the British producer of the GMO mosquite, is pushing for the release as well. CEO, Hadyn Parry said, “This mosquito is non-native to the US and difficult to control, with the best available methods only able to reduce the population by up to 50 percent, which is simply not enough.”
The rising risk of a mosquito infestation and disease outbreak presents an opportunity for one British firm, Oxitec, which has developed a method for breeding Aedes aegypti that kills mosquito larvae, AP reported.
According to Oxitec’s website, the process involves injecting a “lethal gene” into either the male sperm or female egg that eventually kills the offspring, according to Truth and Action.
However, not everyone is on board, as some residents of the Keys have collected 160,000 signatures to petition against the release. There has been bitter opposition by those who are staunchly againt the “genetic modification industry”.
Read more regarding the release of the insects and those fighting against it on the next page.
This is how the Zombie Apocalypse starts.
Too bad my ex just left there, lol…
No worries, this is just like the Africanized Honey Bee….everything will be just…..
Let’s see….they are altering DNA by artifice, so…..yes, this is a categorically bad idea…fundamentally playing with the very secret of all carbon based life with an elementary knowledge of the real consequences.
No, GMOs are not a good idea despite what Monsanto and other commercial and government interests think, say or do.
As long as their are mosquitoes, which is probably forever….there will be mosquito borne diseases. It is axiomatic.
That is no reason to pretend we should be experimenting with altering DNA.
It has already caused damage when the consequences turned out differently than science agreed.
It has been tried myriad times!
It has commercial appeal. That does not make it a good or even viable idea. It is an answer from one source that stands to profit from it. Do they necessarily know the consequences and do they care in the same way that people that will be affected do?
Haha….nice. Regular mosquitos will do just fine and continue to spread disease.
This idea…is plenty stupid already, but…thanks for that.
Putting in the OT for Monsanto, Stan?
What could possibly go right?
To argue support of something that is really just a guessing game is absurd. For all the science on earth cannot yet tell you the true outcome of such things. Nature finds ways around obstacles. Five ten years from now we could have a mutant strand that kills off a plant or ….. Bees are in danger right now because of mans interference with nature. Hey lets just clone everyone we can work it out later.