r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 19h ago
Biotechnology Burkina Faso says no to Bill Gates’ plan of creating modified species of mosquitoes
https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/burkina-faso-says-no-to-bill-gates-plan-of-creating-modified-species-of-mosquitoes/xyk7xm81.6k
u/irascible_Clown 18h ago
My ex did two years in the peace corps in Burkina Faso. From the conversations we had when she was there I can assure you that they need the mosquito problem fixed asap.
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u/Zetice 16h ago
Everyone is troare lap dog. In reality he has not accomplished a single thing since seizing power. Just another military ran country until someone else seizes power from him.
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u/irascible_Clown 16h ago
She was there during Blaise Compaoré reign back in 2011 and it seems like they have made no progress since then.
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u/Kryptonicus 14h ago
Don't be so quick to say no progress. There has been two successful coups and two unsuccessful coup attempts since 2011!
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u/EA827 12h ago
Hi Bill, yeah, hey Pennsylvania checking in here, we’ll take the mosquito thing. Thanks
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u/Smart_Spinach_1538 19h ago
Unfortunate. Distrust of the west can be misused by the people in power or they may genuinely distrust Gates proposal.
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u/the_Kell 18h ago
The project has been in effect in Burkina Faso since 2014(?, if I remember correctly from the article). But since Traore took over in 2022, he's been heavy on "no foreign influence or help."
It would be interesting to see the data on the project while it was active.
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u/Jealous_Response_492 18h ago
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u/Zephyr256k 17h ago
There's no actual data there, it's all just puff about what the project is and who's working with them.
Doesn't even link to any real data.→ More replies (2)26
u/jofra6 12h ago
I personally know people working on Bill Gates' project in West Africa, a malaria vaccine is actually in development. Yes, malaria is a parasite, but somehow it's in the works.
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u/Logical-Breakfast966 12h ago
I’m guessing mRNA? It really is refining what a vaccine can be. Too bad all the research funding got cut in the us
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u/jofra6 12h ago
Yeah, I don't know the specifics, but I understand that it's mostly/completely being funded by the Gates foundation... I imagine at one point the WHO/CDC was involved, but this was largely privately funded as I understood it.
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u/Zephyr256k 11h ago
No, RTS,S is a recombinant (not mRNA) vaccine.
It was developed primarily by GlaxoSmithKline in cooperation with Walter Reed and PATH.
Gates foundation has provided major support for the final phases of trials and distribution, but most of the research and development was done long before they ever got involved.→ More replies (1)94
u/Popular_Brief335 18h ago
So he is stupid?
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u/Nachooolo 17h ago edited 16h ago
He's a military dictator that expelled the French forces and hired the Wagner Group to fight jihadists. The jihadist control around 40% of Burkina Faso's territory and their attacks are intensifying.
So. Yes.
Edit: Yes. France is neo-colonial power.
But. Because life isn't binary. Traore can also be a military dictator whose is doing a horrible job at fighting the jihadists while also selling his country to the Russians (who are also doing a horrible job at fighting the jihadists).
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u/mulligan 16h ago
- Military dictator is bad
- Hiring the Wagner group, also bad
But you make it seem like expelling French forces is also bad, why?
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u/LiechWaffle 16h ago
Because they asked help from France to get rid of the jihadists. But they couldn’t do it so Russian propaganda made people starting to believe the French were on the side of the terrorists and that’s how Wagner took their place. So yes bad
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u/jofra6 12h ago edited 12h ago
There is evidence* that Russia was clandestinely aiding said jihadist groups, in multiple West African countries that have had coups d'état, aiding governmental opposition that then conveniently took power and hired Wagner to "help" secure their countries.
- See Popular Front episode "Investigating PMC Wagner's Mission in Africa".
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u/Nachooolo 16h ago edited 16h ago
More mixed. The French there were not as an occupation force, but to help the Burkina Faso goverment with the insurgency.
Of course, they were also there to impose French neo-colonial interest. But they were far better at fighting the jihadists than the Russians.
And the Russians aren't there pro bono either. So they replaced a neo-colonial power that was good at fighting the insurgency with another neo-colonial power that is bad at fighting the insurgency.
And, alongside this. This change happened because a coup changed a semi-democratic, corrupt government to a corrupt military dictatorship.*
*Edit: The coup that dissolved the goverment was done by Damiba. Traore did another coup months afterwards and replaced Damiba as the dictator.
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u/Moifaso 13h ago
Of course, they were also there to impose French neo-colonial interest.
In this case, the "neocolonial interest" was "we would like to not have ex colonies fall to jihadists and flood us with refugees"
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u/EconomicRegret 9h ago
No. France and its corporations have tons of economic/business interests and investments in Burkina Faso, in the Sahel, and West Africa in general, e.g. mining (gold, uranium, etc.), banking, agriculture,, industry, etc. And these terrorists are threatening their interests.
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u/Moifaso 7h ago edited 7h ago
Trade between BK and France is in the few hundreds of millions. That's a drop in the bucket. Like all the Sahel countries it's a desperately poor place with very few productive sectors. France doesn't even have that big a stake in the big industries - almost all foreign owned mining is British, Canadian, Australian, or Chinese owned.
Bottom line is that economic links do exist, but they're minor when compared to the cost of aid and a military intervention. BK and the other Sahel states are landlocked, very poor, and mostly trade with neighbors. Their value to France (and the value of their security) comes from cultural/diaspora connections, and from the significant number of French citizens live or have family there.
We're talking about countries with already very significant migrant/refugee flows to France. If a 2013 ISIS situation were to unfold in the Sahel, France would really feel it. That's the big concern, not the .3% of France's trade that passes through the region.
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u/bourton-north 16h ago
That is not the actions of a stupid person. Those might be the actions of a bad person, but not stupid.
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u/Zeikos 18h ago
Not necessarily, I doubt taking Gate's offer would be a free lunch.
Given Burkina Faso's recent efforts in building infrastructure and investing in local industry I would guess that they have internal plans in place and they don't like the tradeoff of taking aid from the US.112
u/Whatsapokemon 17h ago
It's literally a free lunch. The Gates foundation has been doing charity programs for decades.
Gates is the rare breed of people who actually wants to leave a positive mark on the world.
It's also not "aid from the US", it's a private charity.
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u/Loeffellux 16h ago
I'm taking an alternative approach to this issue. My problem is not that Gates is a secret villain but simply that good intentions don't automatically make for the optimal outcome.
I can't recall the specifics but the AstraZeneca corona vaccine was actually invented by Oxford University who pledged to donate the rights. They were then convinced by the Gates foundation to sell the rights to AstraZeneca instead.
I'm not saying there weren't real and understandable reasons for this like ensuring an orderly and safe rollout by a company that's well established in the industry and so on. But at the very least, this decision has had negative consequences for people living in poorer countries that often had to buy the vaccines for higher prices than richer countries. In the end, a lot of them had to wait for China's vaccine.
I'm also not saying that I can be sure that more people would've survived had the rights been granted for free like Oxford originally planned but at the very least it seems likely.
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u/Nauin 16h ago
Please educate yourself on Bill Gates before making statements like that. He's not as bad as most of the other billionaires but he is still plenty problematic and these charity donations more often than not completely destroy the economies and job markets of the places they're donated to.
Behind the Bastards has a multi-part series on Gates that goes into a lot of his history and what he has done to influence the world. Some good, a lot bad.
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u/dnyank1 18h ago
I doubt taking Gate's offer would be a free lunch.
Are you confused what a philanthropist is? or...
Gates is retired from business. Over the next 20 years he wants his wealth redistributed to the global poor.
He really is doing it all for free.
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u/DevilishlyAdvocating 17h ago
Altruism aside, aide can be problematic by giving developing nations a crutch that prevents them from developing the skills, economy or infrastructure to provide for themselves.
No opinion on this particular case but that can be the tradeoff of the "free lunch".
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u/Lonyo 10h ago
Trying to deal with malaria isn't exactly a crutch.
Polio was almost eradicated by concerned global effort. Smallpox was eradicated
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u/MrAngryBeards 16h ago
Also you really have to fully ignore the history of Africa to not see why one would be resistant to foreign aid, especially from ultra rich people from the US
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u/Happycricket1 17h ago
Apparently, people mistake Bill Gates for China.
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u/iamthewhatt 17h ago
Are you sure it isn't just people not trusting the global ultra rich after what we see happening right now?
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u/Ok-Self5588 17h ago
Insane thing to say when the IMF and World Bank exist. Chinas foreign aid comes with unitedly fewer strings attached than western aid but keep lying to yourself that China is the imperialist hellscape in this equation
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u/Dic3dCarrots 16h ago
Its the paradoxical enemy trope, belt and road is both a tragic economic blunder of the sad poor planned economy, and a hegemonic debt trap that the Chinese will use to steal what they will. Turns out theyre more 1950s American than anything else where they will work with any friendly regional power to develop their economic gosls even if that juices otherwise unsavvory political organizations. As long as the illicit activity doesnt happen on Chinese soil, they'll make any friendly want to be industrialist very wealthy, they just have to be willing to take direction from the ccp on global affairs and keep the local situation friendly, no matter how. China benefits from modernizing Brasils ports as much as Brasil does, the only loser is the US.
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u/Tha_Sly_Fox 17h ago
It’s charity, he’s saying no bc of politics. BF recently had a military coup to overthrow their government and they new leader uses the west as a boogeyman to blame all their problems on.
They kicked out western anti terrorism units and replaced them with Russian Wagner soldiers, though I believe it’s becoming Russian “African Corps” soldiers since Wagner is being slowly disbanded.
The west is far from perfect and I understand African distrust over former colonizers, however this was part of a larger series of military coups across the Sahel over the past 5 years with military dictators taking control and kicking out western partners then replacing them with Russian troops who reportedly split their time between suppressing the locals populations on behalf of the government and taking control of precious metal mines while local jihadis groups run rampant and unchecked.
Gates is an American whose charity has an association to the US government, BF made the case the entire west is evil and can’t be trusted, ergo no charity from the west even if no string attached.
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u/timbomcchoi 17h ago
When I was living in Ethiopia I saw so many people refusing to vaccinate themselves or their kids, because that's just Bill Gates trying to make them sick.
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u/HaLLIHOO654 16h ago
Effects of social media
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u/Pure-Drawer-2617 15h ago
Also the effects of the US actively doing fake vaccinations in third world countries in recent history, and doing it to black people on home soil as well. No wonder people don’t trust them.
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u/En_CHILL_ada 13h ago
Exactly. It's like everyone here has forgotten all of the history that these people have lived through. They have extremely rational and logical reasons to not trust western intervention or "charity."
I see a lot of people in this thread bringing up the jihadist problem Burkina is facing. Where did this spread of violent jihadism in north Africa come from again? Was it the western intervention in Libya? Libya was the most prosperous nation in Africa at the time. We turned it into a hell hole of warring jihadist militias.
If you look at all the other terrorist groups that the west and Israel have funded throughout post ww2 history (hamas for one example with current relavence) it's a pretty rational conclusion to think that maybe these terrorist groups were created by the west to destabilize the region and ensure that this wave of self-governance and anti-colonialism in Africa fails.
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u/WillingLake623 18h ago
Why would an Africa nation trust the west after they raped and pillaged and continue to rape and pillage the entire continent?
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u/nonhiphipster 18h ago
Because “The West” shouldn’t be confused with literially everyone in the western hemisphere of the planet
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u/AnEmptyBoat27 17h ago
Western oligarchs using their unmatched wealth to influence other governments for the benefit of capitalists has nothing to do with western capitalism
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u/Wompish66 18h ago edited 18h ago
The man who turned it down is a dictator that took over the country in a coup.
Not long after Russia's Wagner Group arrived.
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u/TXDobber 17h ago
And is currently losing a war to jihadists who are going around raping and pillaging villages, massacring soldiers, etc
While Traore sits in the capital, allowing Africa Corps (yes, Russia really named their Wagner replacement the fucking Africa Corps) to plunder the country for its gold, just as they are doing in Mali.
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u/Str0nglyW0rded 18h ago
Don’t worry, china is having its own hold my beer moment with Africa.
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u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 18h ago
Every western idiot goes straight to "b-but China" as if we dont have hundreds of years of documented European and American brutality far worse than anything China has ever done to an African nation. Which is basically just loans btw.
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u/bgg-uglywalrus 18h ago
Nah, see it's different because they were white and so you have to forgive them. /s
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u/MuyalHix 16h ago
Colonialism is funny.
A country can come in, destroy your culture and commit all the atrocities they want, but you are supposed to forgive them and never bring it up.
Then they get all angry when you choose to trade with someone else.
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u/justforthisjoke 18h ago
Yeah are people forgetting the forced administration of contraceptive shots on Rhodesians or the time the government of Israel lied to Ethiopian immigrants about being given a vaccine when they were being effectively sterilized instead?
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u/Famous-Nail-6987 18h ago edited 18h ago
Continues to? That’s Russia and China doing it now, which blows a hole in your retarded narrative…
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u/Clbull 19h ago
I think it's more like Ibrahim Traore doesn't trust the West...
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u/belizeanheat 18h ago
Why not trust his own internal science divisions then, who also support the effort?
This is purely posturing and politics
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u/Clbull 18h ago
I agree but also, there's a lot of distrust around GMOs in general, and the West and IMF have generally screwed Africa.
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u/Sryzon 14h ago
The West has been doing projects like this successfully in Central and South America for decades, though.
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u/Jensbert 9h ago
The ones screwing Africa are their leaders. Put every cent from foreign help or investment into their own pockets, neglect infrastructure,keep people uneducated and motivate them to have as many kids as possible. No way out for the people
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u/ashrafislit 18h ago
Why would he tho?
I mean the West never did any harm to Africa right?
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u/irishitaliancroat 17h ago
Its crazy how many people on this thread are saying hes dumb for not signing up for a western oligarch to mess around in his territory.
Even if bill gates was doing this out of 100% kindness of his heart, which we know he is not, it would be a total boy who cried wolf situation, and quite understandably.
Also bill gates has a bunch of very bizarre and troubling writing about how we need to keep Africans from over reproducing for the climate, even tho they have like a sliver of the impact of Americans.
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u/24675335778654665566 12h ago
which we know he is not
Why is he doing it?
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u/irishitaliancroat 10h ago
He is majorly invested in Monsanto and large corporate ag, oftentimes global majority countries become cheap testing grounds for new tech
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u/Puzzleheaded-Coast93 12h ago
This thread is just a bunch of Americans who don’t know anything about Africa.
Traore is not a military leader who overthrew a democratic government. Traore overthrew the previous military leader who had led a coup against the nominally democratic but still extremely corrupt government of Burkina Faso. Since Sankara’s death Burkina Faso has generally been ruled by a series of military dictators and corrupt “democratic” leaders, neither of which are particularly different in the eyes of the average African.
Bill Gates is pretty widely hated in Africa as a result of essentially using the content as a giant laboratory for vaccines, pesticides, GMOs, etc. with no oversight or regulation from corrupt governments. Not to mention blocking the COVID vaccine patents from being waived, resulting in thousands of unnecessary deaths.
Russia (and China) is far more positively viewed in Africa than the west because they have generally taken a far more cooperative approach with African countries, whereas the west uses the IMF and NGOs to keep African countries open to exploitation and reliant on foreign aid while preventing them from developing their own industries.
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u/Sensitive-Orange7203 4h ago
Russia has also been running massive anti west disinformation campaigns in the Sahel for years
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u/KeithClossOfficial 9h ago
In what world is Traore not a military leader lmao?
He was a member of the Army, was part of the officer group that organized the coup that installed Damiba, then overthrew Damiba along with many of those same officers later in the year
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u/jorumrat 15h ago
The level of misunderstanding in this thread is insane. There is a difference between Bill Gates the individual and the Bill Gates Foundation.
The foundation and the work it funds isn't a "US Billionaire", or "Western Capitalist Block" it ends up being projects by a global networks of experts. The Gates Foundation is a source of funding and grants to support work that aligns with it's goals - mostly the prevention or elimination of diseases, especially in developing countries.
I can give you an example of a typical scenario - CEPI is a global organization that works to help prevent disease through new or improved vaccine development. They use Gates Foundation money to help coordinate and fund healthcare projects and scientific work at various companies and organizations.
I had a meeting with CEPI a few months ago ,and they have funded many projects where I work.
The last meeting there was CEPI people from all over the globe including several from India and SE Asia.
This meeting was to discussed how Gates money could be used to help create new materials for vaccine development and potential logistics support and funding.
There conditions are you have to have a business case to show why it's a good use of the money, be trusted to deliver results, and have good audits of where the money was spent.
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u/tylagersign 14h ago
Thank you, also the lack of any critical scientific knowledge is baffling. This doesn’t kill all mosquitoes, only the Anopheles in that general area for a few generations until malaria is gone. They will return just without malaria. Birds and bats don’t live solely on mosquitoes (1-3% of their diet), mosquitoes are not a keystone species, if they disappear something else will take its niche.
This technology could be one of the greatest advances in public health in a long time but these smooth brains think bill gates himself is running around trying to take over the world by killing mosquitoes
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u/HBC_Hair 14h ago
The comments are astroturfed by accounts pushing russian propaganda.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/russias-growing-footprint-africa
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u/PropOnTop 19h ago
Good.
Let's invest more in Thoughts and Prayers.
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u/SteelMarch 19h ago
Except it had nothing to do with that and concerns about how it could impact their ecosystem and environment.
Countries tend to not like being testing sites for new and experimental things.
Concerning the program, ethical debates loom large. Some argue that targeting a species, even one as harmful as the malaria mosquito, for extinction raises profound ecological and moral questions.
“This technology is highly controversial and poses ethical challenges. We are saying that we should prioritize safe alternatives,” said Ali Tapsoba, spokesperson for a coalition against the project.
"This technology is highly controversial, unpredictable, and raises ethical concerns. More specifically, the impacts of gene-drive organisms on health and ecosystems remain unknown and potentially irreversible."
"Critics further highlighted that the modified mosquito strains originated in laboratories in Europe, raising questions of scientific neo-colonialism and external influence."
Much much more complicated.
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u/iwaterboardheathens 19h ago
Except it's not testing and they've been doing this for decades
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u/MerleLikesMullets 18h ago
Gene modified mosquitos are new. Groups have been releasing non gene edited sterile mosquitos in small quantities for research for decades but we use pesticides.
In Sarasota County, Florida, where seven of the eight locally acquired cases were identified this summer, containing malaria is still a matter of targeting the mosquitoes, both as adults and in the larval stage. Mosquito control teams say they have sprayed more than 470 miles with pesticides targeted at adult mosquitoes using trucks at night and have targeted swamps and canals with so-called larvicides to stop them earlier in their life cycle.
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u/jmizzle 18h ago
And that spray causes massive collateral damage to other species of insects that fly at night.
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u/spookymulderfbi 17h ago
Plus genetically modified mosquitoes replace the undesirable mosquitoes, keeping predators that eat them from going through a food shortage. They still have food, and it's not full of poison.
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u/Abedeus 16h ago
Are the mosquitos even that much of a "food source" for predators? Last I checked they don't make up that much biomass that their extinction would be noticeable.
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u/spookymulderfbi 16h ago
I'm definitely not an expert but from the articles I've read, I thought that was one of the main reasons that bioengineering less infectious or non infectious replacements was safer than outright elimination. E.g. even if it was 5% of an animal's food source, eliminating it without ensuring there is another source to replace that 5% could cause incremental changes in the food web etc. and we can't reliably predict the outcomes all the way up and down the food chain.
As a layman, that does seem to make more logical sense to me, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm missing something.
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u/Neve4ever 12h ago
The genetically modified mosquitoes in this particular plan are meant to interbreed with the "undesirable mosquitoes", and to pass on a genetic mutation that lowers fertility rates so that the species collapses. They aren't replaced.
Of course, that type of evolutionary pressure could lead to us seeing some weird shit when the "fittest" survive. And if it ends up crossing to "desirable mosquitoes" then we could end up seeing the collapse of all mosquitoes.
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u/CorruptedFlame 19h ago
You... don't know what you're talking about? This is literally done in America for decades now lol. It works.
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u/trisul-108 18h ago
The alternatives they are using are so much worse. Everything is being sprayed with insecticide which also harm other insects, animals and humans. The arguments you quote have no real substance, they are just excuses because someone decided to stop this project.
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u/Icedcoffeeee 16h ago
“This technology is highly controversial and poses ethical challenges. We are saying that we should prioritize safe alternatives,” said Ali Tapsoba, spokesperson for a coalition against the project.
If the "alternatives" were effective, this conversation wouldn't be happening.
Malaria cases would be zero or close to zero.
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u/BeardedDragon1917 19h ago
Traore is big on self-sufficiency for Burkina Faso, so if the solution has to be provided on an ongoing basis by the West, he isn’t going to be really keen on it. Accepting gifts from nations more powerful than yours often comes with strings attached, especially when you’re an African nation. You don’t need genetic modification to eliminate malaria/mosquitoes, and if they can do it themselves and build up a domestic pest-control industry in the process then good for them.
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u/RockOrStone 19h ago
That’s a big if
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u/general_bonesteel 19h ago
I have a prediction, they're not and malaria will continue to harm the country's people.
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u/BeardedDragon1917 19h ago
This genetic modification technology is very cool, but it is certainly not the only way of eliminating malaria in a country. Doing it themselves means that Burkina Faso will be developing their own economy, creating good jobs for their citizens, and avoiding future dependence on the United States. No matter what your attitude towards the west is, it should be clear by now that a country cannot depend on the foreign aid programs of the United States to fund its growth. As I said before, Traore is very big on building self-sufficiency in Burkina Faso, and he is also a outspoken anti-imperialist who views fighting the influence of the West and the IMF to be one of his top priorities.
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u/Vanaquish231 12h ago
Again such as what? What can Faso do to combat malaria? Actually fuck it let's swap the question, why would you choose to decline additional help. We are talking about lives here.
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u/Gastronomicus 16h ago
but it is certainly not the only way of eliminating malaria in a country
There is literally no other way to do it other than massive pesticide applications and draining wetlands, two very problematic western approaches that effectively destroy natural ecosystems and many beneficial organisms as collateral damage.
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u/Harvestman-man 11h ago
Massive pesticide applications won’t do it. That worked in the US since there wasn’t all that much malaria in the US to begin with, but Burkina Faso has been using DDT to control mosquitos for decades, and now there are DDT-resistant mosquito populations and malaria is still around.
Mosquitos evolve, they’re animals with fast reproductive cycles.
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u/Gastronomicus 10h ago
I agree, I'm mostly pointing to the methods that they do already use. Large-scale applications work better when the breeding habitats are also eliminated, which is what happened across the USA, though it was never nearly as entrenched there as it is elsewhere which made things easier.
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u/Jealous_Response_492 18h ago
The pesticide alternatives come with there own associated risks, hence the genetic modification being preferable.
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u/supreme_harmony 12h ago
This genetic modification technology is very cool, but it is certainly not the only way of eliminating malaria in a country.
Could you list these alternatives and how they are superior to the solution proposed by Gates?
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u/EconomicRegret 8h ago
Has any country developed because of chronic foreign aid? (Not talking about humanitarian/emergency aid in times of crisis).
All countries, including Western ones, that developed did so through investments from within and/or from abroad, and taxes with representation leading to better governmental spending. While donors require that their foreign aid money be used to buy products from their own countries, thus undercutting/bankrupting businesses in recipient countries. And that aid money makes recipients' government more caring about the donors, than their own citizens, while neglecting to raise taxes from them, thus not beholden to them.
Source: "Dead Aid" by Dambisa Moyo (a Zambian economist)
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u/deceitfulillusion 18h ago edited 17h ago
Traore is a good leader but clearly not a pragmatist. I’m not sure how realistic it is for Burkina faso to develop a domestic mosquito control industry in a fast and cost effective time period. It is genuinely impossible to get rid of mosquitoes in the conventional manner since they breed like flies (which they technically are) and they can breed basically anywhere with water lol, and have a laughably short incubation period meaning they grow from larvae to adult in like 5 days.
Not saying he should accept Bill Gates’s offer by itself, but historically leaders have never had a local plan B when they reject a plan A From an international party.
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u/Techygal9 17h ago
You do know the genetically modified mosquitoes are already used in the US? So it’s not an experiment out on Africa. I do agree that they should try to develop local scientists. So if he welcomes the gates foundation back if they fund a local lab using local scientists then I would say he is effectively leading.
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u/Rion23 15h ago
The problem with GMOs is that someone owns the patent. You have to continuously pay for the product, like crops. And with crops, of they happen to blow into your field and start growing, they can come after you and Sue you for using their product without paying for them.
Basically, they are selling subscriptions.
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u/Moifaso 13h ago
The problem with GMOs is that someone owns the patent. You have to continuously pay for the product, like crops.
1- This is also true for regular, "naturally" selected strains or hybrids. IP law doesn't just apply to GMOs
2 - If GMOs weren't "one and done" and could be sold once and then naturally replicate, they could spread on their own and outcompete natural vegetation. We really don't want that.
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u/Techygal9 14h ago
For gmo crops yes, this is a huge problem. For these mosquitos no they are not being patented in the same way. The techniques to create them are patented. So the method of making the male mosquitoes sterile or unable to reproduce female mosquitoes, the specific genes they use will be patented. But in this case the gates foundation is giving this away for free, like they do anti malarial medicine, mosquito nets, etc. If the leaders are worried about the patent and having access to the science they can make that a requirement for things to take place in Burkina Faso.
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u/C4ndlejack 18h ago
You don’t need genetic modification to eliminate malaria/mosquitoes
Yeah you can just ask them politely to leave. What the fuck kind of alternatives do you think there are that work well? If there were any, malaria wouldn't be this much of a an issue worldwide.
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u/googleduck 1h ago
These people have no actual solutions, their greatest joy in life is to be anti-West on every issue. No matter how many African corpses they leave behind it doesn't matter, as long as the evil "imperialist" west doesn't get a a "win".
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u/Remote_Cantaloupe 16h ago
It's just ethnonationalism repackaged as being "critical of The West" and African self sufficiency.
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u/Wompish66 18h ago
Traore is big on self-sufficiency for Burkina Faso
While welcoming Russia's Wagner Group. He's a a massive hypocrite.
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u/Opulent-tortoise 16h ago
Yeah Traore isn’t big on actually accomplishing things he’s big on talking a big game and exploiting anti-west rubes. Self-sufficiency is totally fine (and good!) but you have to actually do it and not just dismantle your own country while saying you’re doing it and becoming dependent on Chinese infrastructure and Russian mercenaries.
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u/Calm-Director-8896 19h ago
But they can't do it themselves. I know that by the fact they haven't done it yet.
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u/Stodles 18h ago
Maybe the fact that half the country is controlled by Al Qaeda/ISIS and they're focused on that has something to do with it...
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u/General_Session_4450 16h ago
Sounds like a good reason to accept outside help while they sort that issue out then.
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u/AccomplishedFail2247 16h ago
Ah, if only they hadn’t kicked out the French military that was fighting them then…
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u/illusivegentleman 18h ago
Traore is big on self-sufficiency for Burkina Faso
The same guy who relies on Russian mercenaries to maintain control of power in his ramshackle dictatorship?
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u/harambe_did911 17h ago
Im sorry but this is really fucking stupid. Everything you said is demonstrably false. Strings attached? What strings is bill gates attaching? Self sufficiency? Besides them selling their mining rights away to Russia sure i guess. Do it themselves? Do it then, why haven't they? Because they can't, that's why. Its so incredibly stupid to think that they are going to get rid of stagnant water and spray pesticides to the point thay its effective. They were offered free help to alleviate suffering of their people by a charity and he refused it because he'd rather cozy up to Russia than take care of his country. You're a Russian bot for trying to defend it.
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u/rimshot99 18h ago
Bill Gates looking to disadvantage Burkina Faso is ridiculous. If they want a lab to make this stuff there, I’m sure he’d give it to them to get this over the finish line.
I think a more straightforward reason is that Bill Gates is not corrupt enough for these African leaders.
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u/Fairy-Smurf 13h ago
Are Russia’s influence and mercenaries also part of this self-sufficient policy? Or does it only apply when the “gifts” can actually save hundreds of thousands of ordinary lives instead of lining the pockets of those in power?
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u/Medical_Sector5967 9h ago
Pretty soon you can probably just teach a random mfer how to make this happen
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u/Designated_Lurker_32 16h ago
Okay, so basically, he's refusing help to protect his fragile ego. It's like when your dad refuses to ask directions when he's obviously lost, but on a national scale where thousands of lives are on the line.
Fuck this guy.
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u/XonikzD 8h ago
Bring that money to Maine, Bill! We have west nile virus here now.
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u/PoSlowYaGetMo 7h ago
I guess scoring political points by playing into citizen’s paranoia is more important than saving lives. Sounds like him and RFK Jr should go bowling together.
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u/jinngeechia 6h ago
I'm from Singapore and we have been releasing Wolbachia infected male mosquitos. One of the tools we use to reduce Dengue clusters.
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u/Moleander 12h ago
Ok, this is rubbish. While Gates did support the initiative financially it was never his idea or his "plan". And if you read the article, you will realise that the science behind it has merit but the whole thing got big enough to be abused as a political bargaining chip.
Sometime the whole "its a billionair, so we hate him" stance gets as bad and blind as the whole Maga delusion.
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u/unicornbomb 14h ago
Hey bill, can you release a hoard of those near my home if they don’t want them?
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u/AdAfraid3543 6h ago
OK, so African leaders rejects science and technology while embracing authoritarianism... More news at 11?
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u/theaviationhistorian 8h ago
Political chicanery strikes again. Ibrahim Traoré has close ties with Russia, so he does his best to push away any Western "interference" no matter how altruistic it can be. Add that he's a military dictator, so the priority isn't on the wellbeing of his fellow citizens.
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u/Ornery_Argument9133 11h ago
I love how this dictator is being praised for not fighting malaria
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u/Expensive-Swan-9553 19h ago
It’s interesting to see the dedication in these comments to the idea:
1 bill gates plan is workable and it’s only roadblock is implementation
2 genetic manipulation is the path Burkina Faso must go to eliminate mosquito born illnesses
3 BF is saying no because they want diseases, which is obviously stupid on its face.
I wish for a better discourse because it’s an interesting topic and story unfortunately we’ve resigned the local discussion to giggling in our various biases.
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u/VvvlvvV 18h ago
Genetic modification of mosquitos has been proven to be effective at suppressing malaria in several attempts already.
Genetically modified mosquitos are the fastest and most accessible way for Burkina Faso to reduce the malaria burden, compared to other options.
Burkina Faso is accepting a large loss of life and quality of life due to wanting to handle malaria domestically.
The country can do what it chooses, but their are clear costs to this decision. The above is what is true according to the science and evidence. Burkina Faso can work towards local solutions, great. I'm thinking about how many people will die because of a lack of trust.
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u/FungalNeurons 13h ago
A good, recent review is available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41434-024-00468-8
We need to acknowledge that gene drives are very novel technology, and that once released they will spread throughout the entire species (and conceivably beyond via horizontal gene transfer). It isn’t unreasonable to express concern.
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u/Sankofa416 18h ago
Nicely summarized. In my opinion, the only program BF should accept is one with equal domestic staff and scientists. That is the only way to make it accountable to the local government and not the (wildly shifting) US political climate.
The US gov has been putting very public pressure on corporations to act politically, so the Gates foundation is not enough insulation for a decades-long project.
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u/Moifaso 12h ago
Nicely summarized. In my opinion, the only program BF should accept is one with equal domestic staff and scientists. That is the only way to make it accountable to the local government and not the (wildly shifting) US political climate.
The program was already partnered with a local health institute and with a university in nearby Ghana, had an insectiary in BK, and obviously involved tons of locals, both at the ground level and in the healthcare sector.
It was already accountable to the local government. This thread's article mentions how several government agencies approved their program and new mosquito releases as recently as a month ago.
Is your demand that like, the genetically modified mosquitoes themselves need to be 50% created by locals? Do you not see how that obviously limits the program?
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u/belizeanheat 18h ago
I think point number one is decently summarized. The other two are not being suggested by anyone remotely serious
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u/Expensive-Swan-9553 18h ago
I’d agree, I’m also sort of shocked to see Americans being upset or surprised at US-skepticism when their current admin’s line seems to be “fuck yall” directed at the world and also occasionally other Americans.
I’m not sure how that could engender trust or good will from other governments.
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u/Varorson 8h ago
Bill Gates’ plan of creating modified species of mosquitoes
Excuse the fuck you?
[...] to cure malaria and other mosquito-borne ailments.
Okay now that makes sense. Title really should have included that tidbit.
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u/slizzbizness 14h ago
Strongman leaders are the worst. So sick of these turd burglars leveraging hate to subjugate entire civilizations so they can live in gaudy palaces and abuse young women.
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u/fundiedundie 7h ago
From the article:
The research, which began in Burkina Faso in 2019, released its first swarm of genetically modified male mosquitoes in the hamlet of Bana, a tiny settlement of around 1,000 people in the country's west.
These mosquitoes were developed to limit the reproductive rate of malaria-carrying female mosquitoes, with the long-term objective of reducing the transmission of the illness that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year in Africa.
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u/trisul-108 18h ago
Officials argue that Burkina Faso needs “locally developed, safer alternatives” rather than experimental technologies imposed from abroad.
Yes, they need to drown everything in insecticides year after year.
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u/Astralglide_Along 10h ago
We forget that Killer Bees are an escaped genetics project where we tried to make the docile honey bee more productive by introducing dna from a highly aggressive African bee.
Maybe we should create mutant mosquitoes
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u/RachelRegina 7h ago
In case anyone is getting comments about this being untested or unproven tech, here are some links to coverage of the open field gene drive study that they completed at Cornell University in upstate NY a few years ago.
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u/LurkingWeirdo88 17h ago
Doesn't matter neighbouring African countries might accept the plan and anti-malaria mosquitos will spread into Burkino Faso anyway.
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u/Vagrant_Goblin 15h ago
Just drop the shit on them anyway, what are they going to do?
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u/Mango2149 14h ago
Come back in like 5 years Traore will be dead or in exile. Every Russian puppet gets used up and spit out.
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u/awkward-zebra- 6h ago
Was he trying to make something similar to the genetically modified mosquitos in Florida?
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u/rewind2482 17h ago
However uncertain the political stability is of the US, it is exponentially more certain than the political stability of Burkina Faso, so that line doesn’t seem to work.
This is politics at its finest: score quick easy points with “US bad” while people die.
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u/Mexicancandi 13h ago
It has nothing to do with “USA bad” stuff. BF isn’t the Middle East. PEPFAR and other initiatives have actually made the USA really popular in Africa. It’s that the administration has publicly announced efforts to wind down aid and bring about tit for tat development projects. I personally destest Tehore but it’s not exactly a smart idea to accept an aid package that could be defunded or slandered. Gates can talk all he wants but at the end of the day, he’s not about to confront Trump if Trump mudraked this projects as part of the globalist agenda or as an aid package to a non-western allied nation. American diplomats already messed up in Zambia and retracted Nigerian aid, Burkina Faso is right to be seeing this move with distrust.
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u/Any-Opposite-5117 16h ago
"We will keep dying of preventable diseases, thanks all the same."
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u/dollarstoresim 19h ago
The malaria lobby got to him.