Burkina Faso says no to Bill Gates’ plan of creating modified species of mosquitoes

[u/lurker_bee]

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/burkina-faso-says-no-to-bill-gates-plan-of-creating-modified-species-of-mosquitoes/xyk7xm8

[u/iwaterboardheathens]

Except it's not testing and they've been doing this for decades

[u/MerleLikesMullets → u/iwaterboardheathens]

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.

cnn

[u/jmizzle → u/MerleLikesMullets]

And that spray causes massive collateral damage to other species of insects that fly at night.

[u/spookymulderfbi → u/jmizzle]

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.

[u/Abedeus → u/spookymulderfbi]

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.

[u/spookymulderfbi → u/Abedeus]

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.

[u/Serplantprotector → u/Abedeus]

Mosquitoes are actually an important pollinator insect for swamps and wetland areas where there are fewer other pollinator species. It's only a short period of time where the females seek out blood needed for fertilisation.

[u/ParaponeraBread → u/Abedeus]

How many times have we removed something from a food web and had it go well? Besides, there are way more mosquito species than there are species that carry disease.

It’s never just a biomass calculation. Certain birds eat a lot of mosquitoes, bats eat a lot of mosquitoes. Fish eat a ton of mosquito larvae. You’d potentially be fumbling the bag for a bunch of other species and those knock on effects are extremely hard to predict.

It’s so much better and less risky to modify the disease out of the ones that we have than to fuck with the whole ecology of a region.

[u/petit_cochon → u/Abedeus]

Mosquitoes are a huge food source for insectivores, which are themselves a huge food source for larger predators.

[u/Evening_Echidna_7493 → u/Abedeus]

They thrive around urban and suburban areas, unlike a lot of insects. Their larvae are important food for aquatic species and water filter feeders, and the adults are pollinators and food for thousands of species. They’re a very important food source in a time where insect populations are plummeting rapidly. IMO, it would be better to target and eliminate the diseases they spread (which is possible, at least for some of the diseases) rather than the mosquito.

[u/Neve4ever → u/spookymulderfbi]

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.

[u/spookymulderfbi → u/Neve4ever]

Agreed, that's a good clarification, the genetically modified mosquitoes just breed with existing mosquitoes, and the mutated offspring would be the replenishment / replacement generation.

Also agreed that all angles need to be considered, such as your example of them breeding outside their intended population, which could end up giving rise to other unintended mutations in other species, etc. It's definitely wild.

[u/Expert-Diver7144 → u/iwaterboardheathens]

Yes 10 years and they still have a huge problem.

[u/akie → u/iwaterboardheathens]

Peak Reddit - confident yet wrong. My partner did her PhD on mosquitos and diseases, and has extremely strong opinions on the “tech bro” (my words) approach that Gates and co have on this topic. They’re well-intentioned but wrong, and gloss over well-established truths in the field, they ignore human factors, and they’re typically ok with using whole countries as their personal experimental playground in the name of science and disease eradication. Super not ok and wrong headed.

For example, did you ever hear about the multi-decade extremely well-funded mosquito eradication program in Brazil in the fifties? Here’s a quote:

In 1958, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) officially declared that Brazil had successfully eradicated the mosquito Aedes aegypti, responsible for the transmission of yellow fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, and recently Zika virus.1 In early 2016, the Brazilian minister of health, Marcelo Castro, described the situation of dengue fever as “catastrophic.” He explained that “2015 was the year of the greatest number of cases of dengue in the history of Brazil.”2 Discussing the epidemic of Zika virus, which amplified the crisis produced by the persistence of dengue fever, Brazil’s president, Dilma Russeff, declared in January 2016 that “we are in the process of losing the war against the mosquito Aedes aegypti.”3 Such pessimistic statements—followed by affirmations that the current severe setbacks can be overcome—contrast dramatically with the optimism of the 1960s. In 1964, Fred Lowe Soper, who directed the Pan American Sanitary Organization between 1947 and 1959, claimed that there could be no doubt about the success of the continent-wide campaign to eradicate the Aedes mosquito.4 The impressive progress toward the eradication of Aedes in Latin America gave hope that its eradication in Asia was feasible as well.

(source)

Life, umm, finds a way.

Mosquitoes in particular are EXTREMELY resilient and adapt insanely fast.

[u/SteelMarch → u/iwaterboardheathens]

Except this is new and not tested on scale. CRISPR and gene testing is not done in the US like this at all.

You must be thinking of other things we do such as killing screworms. Which would be invasive and not native. Please stop saying things you don't understand.

[u/SnackyMcGeeeeeeeee → u/SteelMarch]

Literally done in the Americans south consistently

[u/Comprehensive_Web862 → u/SnackyMcGeeeeeeeee]

You both are right to an extent actually they are using a modified yeast that fucks with the mosquitos Rna. They are an insect growth regulator (hormones) so one of the safest. The issue with this not working in Africa is that the product isn't shelf stable and needs to be refrigerated before use.

Crispr itself is a Pandora's box situation where once you introduce something into the genepool than it's in the gene pool functionally forever.

[u/SteelMarch → u/SnackyMcGeeeeeeeee]

No, it's not. That's different.

[u/SnackyMcGeeeeeeeee → u/SteelMarch]

I'll take your word on it bud

[u/Ok_Tone6393 → u/SteelMarch]

thank you for your detailed and eloquent answer

[u/therhubarbman → u/SteelMarch]

Brain dead reply. You got nothin. Put up or shut up.