r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 23h 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/xyk7xm8
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u/CorruptedFlame 22h 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/yoshiary 22h ago

You don't know what you're talking about. The US only started doing releases of genetically modified mosquitos (with crisper) in 2021. The consequences of these modifications on an ecosystem still need to be studied. In fact, there's a lack of regulation on this subject in the US. Burkina Faso should not be tut tutted for exercising it's sovereignty and not reigning to the whims of one of the richest men in the world. They can adopt the technology if and when it's proven to not be devastating to the local ecosystem.

What a lot of people who stan Bill Gates don't know about is that it might be possible for gene drives to JUMP species. Imagine what that means when you release gene drives with the intent of reducing a population...

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u/leo-g 22h ago

Singapore been doing successfully since 2016.

https://www.nea.gov.sg/corporate-functions/resources/research/environmental_health_institute/wolbachia-aedes-mosquito-suppression-strategy

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u/-spicychilli- 21h ago

What I've learned from this thread is that some people genuinely do not want to be helped.

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u/Abedeus 19h ago

Also, lots of antiscientific people are super confident about scientific topics.

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u/workshop_prompts 22h ago

Where have gene drive mosquitoes been released in the US? Modified yes, but iirc not gene drive.

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u/monty228 22h ago

Hawaii just this year released them to help protect birds from disease.

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u/Spartan_162 21h ago

I saw the article you mentioned. They also mentioned that Hawaii is a unique case in that the mosquitos were invasive species. Experts still remain cautious against introducing such mosquitos into places where mosquitos are native to because we don’t know the effects it’s going to bring to the ecosystem

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u/monty228 20h ago

I know research was done for Australia to determine if knocking out mosquitos would cause a reaction to the ecosystem. They found no issue before releasing a mosquito STD.

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u/Spartan_162 19h ago

But what works for the Australian ecosystem doesn’t translate to other countries or regions. I’d say there needs to be sufficient research about the ecosystem conducted before deploying gene edited mosquitoes. Hawaii is different in that the mosquitoes are invasive so removing them are beneficial

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u/Abedeus 19h ago

Talk about moving goalposts...

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u/monty228 19h ago

Is a species truly invasive if it has been on every continent (except Antarctica) for 20 million years?

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u/workshop_prompts 21h ago

That was utilizing Wolbachia, not gene drive.

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u/AnsibleAnswers 22h ago

Never mind the fact that we’re changing ecosystems so much that it’s hard to even measure the impacts of this particular intervention in the US. Bat, bird, and insect populations aren’t exactly doing well in the US.

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u/d4561wedg 22h ago

Well I wouldn’t consider America as having a particularly healthy environment.

Talk to forestry people in America, a lot of American forests are a mess of invasive species and unstable populations. People just think they look healthy because they’re still green and no one alive today knows what a pristine American forest looks like.

Then you get to the Great Plains where almost the entire prairie has been destroyed and converted to farmland. Remember the dust bowl? One of the largest man made environmental disasters ever? It never stopped by the way, people have just been constantly irrigating the fields ever since. If the water ever runs out America is screwed.