Millions of genetically modified mosquitos could be released

[darnkatz]

I... no. :?

Millions of genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in Florida Keys
By Jennifer Kay AP Scientific Research Diseases and Illnesses Food and Drug Administration

Millions
of genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in the Florida
Keys if British researchers win approval to use the bugs against two
extremely painful viral diseases.

Never before have insects with modified DNA come so close to being set loose in a residential U.S. neighborhood.

"This
is essentially using a mosquito as a drug to cure disease," said
Michael Doyle, executive director of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control
District, which is waiting to hear if the Food and Drug Administration
will allow the experiment.

Dengue
and chikungunya are growing threats in the U.S., but some people are
more frightened at the thought of being bitten by a genetically modified
organism. More than 130,000 people signed a Change.org petition against
the experiment.

Even potential boosters say those responsible
must do more to show that benefits outweigh the risks of breeding
modified insects that could bite people.

"I think the science is
fine, they definitely can kill mosquitoes, but the GMO issue still
sticks as something of a thorny issue for the general public," said Phil
Lounibos, who studies mosquito control at the Florida Medical
Entomology Laboratory.

Mosquito
controllers say they're running out of options. With climate change and
globalization spreading tropical diseases farther from the equator,
storm winds, cargo ships and humans carry these viruses to places like
Key West, the southernmost U.S. city.

There are no vaccines or
cures for dengue, known as "break-bone fever," or chikungunya, so
painful it causes contortions. U.S. cases remain rare.

Insecticides
are sprayed year-round in the Keys' charming and crowded neighborhoods.
But Aedes aegypti, whose biting females spread these diseases, have
evolved to resist four of the six insecticides used to kill them.



Enter
Oxitec, a British biotech firm that patented a method of breeding Aedes
aegypti with fragments of genes from the herpes simplex virus and E.
coli bacteria as well as coral and cabbage. This synthetic DNA is
commonly used in laboratory science and is thought to pose no
significant risks to other animals, but it kills mosquito larvae.

Oxitec's
lab workers manually remove modified females, aiming to release only
males, which don't bite for blood like females do. The modified males
then mate with wild females whose offspring die, reducing the
population.

Oxitec has built a breeding lab in Marathon and hopes to release its mosquitoes in a Key West neighborhood this spring

.FDA
spokeswoman Theresa Eisenman said no field tests will be allowed until
the agency has "thoroughly reviewed all the necessary information.

"Company
spokeswoman Chris Creese said the test will be similar in size to
Oxitec's 2012 experiment in the Cayman Islands, where 3.3 million
modified mosquitoes were released over six months, suppressing 96
percent of the targeted bugs. Oxitec says a later test in Brazil also
was successful, and both countries now want larger-scale projects.

But
critics accused Oxitec of failing to obtain informed consent in the
Caymans, saying residents weren't told they could be bitten by a few
stray females overlooked in the lab.

Instead, Oxitec said only
non-biting males would be released, and that even if humans were somehow
bitten, no genetically modified DNA would enter their bloodstream.

Neither claim is entirely true, outside observers say.

"I'm
on their side, in that consequences are highly unlikely. But to say
that there's no genetically modified DNA that might get into a human,
that's kind of a gray matter," said Lounibos.

Creese says Oxitec
has now released 70 million of its mosquitoes in several countries and
received no reports of human impacts caused by bites or from the
synthetic DNA, despite regulatory oversight that encourages people to
report any problems. "We are confident of the safety of our mosquito, as
there's no mechanism for any adverse effect on human health. The
proteins are non-toxic and non-allergenic," she said.

Oxitec
should still do more to show that the synthetic DNA causes no harm when
transferred into humans by its mosquitoes, said Guy Reeves, a molecular
geneticist at Germany's Max Planck Institute.

Key West resident
Marilyn Smith wasn't persuaded after Oxitec's presentation at a public
meeting. She says neither disease has had a major outbreak yet in
Florida, so "why are we being used as the experiment, the guinea pigs,
just to see what happens?"

[keyslover]

I didn't see this and just posted.

WTF? The scary part is it has already been done elsewhere. I just see a bad sci fi movie coming true.

[blink]

The diseases they are trying to get rid of don't sound pleasant, but I can't help feeling uncomfortable about this.

[chedifuen]

I just don't see how this could go wrong :/

[aMrsin09]

This is what they are trialing down here

www.eliminatedengue.com/australia/faqs

[lg28]

This seems wrong on so many levels.

[hi725]

I am uncomfortable with anything GMO, but if it can irradiate insect borne illnesses without dousing everything in harmful chemicals, I think I might prefer it.

I might have a horse in this race though, because I have severe allergic rations to mosquito bites and when warm weather hits, I either have to stay inside, or bathe myself in crap that makes me glow in the dark. If this works, I will give them permission to set these hybrid little bastards free in my backyard.

[rupertpenny]

I thought I had dengue a few months ago (it's endemic where I live) and after a cursory Google search I was freaked out enough that being bitten by Frankenstein Mosquitos scares me less.

[Cicero]

Dengue scares the ever loving crap out of me. It's no joke and it is deadly.

This sounds like a better option than what they did to keep it at bay in KL--which was weekly fog the common areas of condo buildings and public places with insecticide. Something tells me that people would flip just as much if they were suddenly dealing with a chemical fog being released cry wide on a frequent basis.

[pt716]

I am probably alone in this, but I actually think this is pretty cool.

[ringstrue]

This sounds more planned out and thought out. I think my only question is how long the dead offspring cycle could theoretically go on? I'd hate for bird or other populations to suffer from lack of food with too much unbalancing going on.

[miesl]

Jan 26, 2015 8:17:52 GMT -5 pt716 said:

I am probably alone in this, but I actually think this is pretty cool.

GMO mosquitoes, tropical diseases, or massive amounts of regularly applied pesticides?

Yeah, I think I'll take the mosquitoes. However, is it really just the one species of mosquito that spreads this stuff? Because if it isn't, then you are looking at pesticides and GMO mosquitoes...

[mrsdewinter]

I'm convinced I had West Nile virus once, and now I live in FL, so I'm pretty sure I will be the unlucky soul who gets chikungunya.

So I might be OK with mosquitoes genetically modified to kill themselves.

[josieposy]

My only issue is that they only want to release males. I mean we all saw Jurassic Park.

[Cicero]

Jan 26, 2015 8:24:53 GMT -5 ringstrue said:

This sounds more planned out and thought out. I think my only question is how long the dead offspring cycle could theoretically go on? I'd hate for bird or other populations to suffer from lack of food with too much unbalancing going on.

Only one kind of mosquito carries diseases like malaria and dengue. I'm not a scientist so I could be way off on this but I don't think Mosquitos cross breed (wouldn't all Mosquitos be able to carry certain diseases if they did?). Assuming this is the case, killing off only one species would not decimate the entirety of the mosquito population.

[Cicero]

Is this the same program or a similar but different one?

GMO mosquitoes released in Rio last September.
m.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29356232

[hi725]

Jan 26, 2015 8:19:32 GMT -5 incogneato said:

Also, I am very pearl clutchy about messing with the food chain, but I would be totally willing to try out just killing out all mosquitos and ticks. Worth the risks! GAHD, I HATE THOSE LITTLE BUGGERS!

Omg, if they did this with ticks, I would be eternally grateful. I've had Lyme twice an I live in fear that my kids will get it, it's awful where I live.

[Mashara]

I remember reading the tests on this awhile back. The trial seemed well thought out and worked well. Plus, in that area the mosquito spreading the targeted disease wasn't even endemic to the locale. So getting rid of the bigger, badder mosquitoes just allowed the other mosquito species to repopulate.

[aprilsails]

I'm not a huge fan with messing with animal populations and invasive species, but I'm even less of a fan of large scale pesticide use.

My biggest concern, other than the obvious potential effects on people, is what happens to birds and other animals who will eat the GMO mosquitoes? Have studies been done on that? I don't think the article referenced anything.

[secretlyevil]

pandce.proboards.com/thread/413530/gmo-bugs-released-fl

[zelda25]

Law of unintended consequences. We'll never fucking learn.

[aprilsails]

Jan 26, 2015 10:52:48 GMT -5 nursecramer said:

Jan 26, 2015 10:39:19 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

I'm not a huge fan with messing with animal populations and invasive species, but I'm even less of a fan of large scale pesticide use.

My biggest concern, other than the obvious potential effects on people, is what happens to birds and other animals who will eat the GMO mosquitoes? Have studies been done on that? I don't think the article referenced anything.

What do you mean? Are you worried about the birds' food supply or that eating the different mosquitoes might somehow be harmful?

Possible damage from eating the mosquitoes. I understand that a reduction in the mosquito population will only effect the one breed of mosquitoes, and there is generally more than enough of them out there. I am wondering about unintended effects on other populations.

I'm sure they've looked into it, but was surprised that it wasn't mentioned in the article.

[cattledogkisses]

I think the words "genetically modified" automatically spook people a little. Some genetically modified things are bad (see: Monsanto), but some genetically modified things can be good. I haven't done enough reading on this particular example to be able to categorize it, but it could turn out to be a good alternative to dousing everything in pesticides.