Posted on 02/23/2013 9:41:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
It’s no wonder that Goethe wrote “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” near the dawn of the industrial age. The poem, which most of us now learn from Mickey Mouse, tells the story of a young man who, left to his own devices, mimics his boss’s spell for making brooms fetch water pails. Once the task is done, he doesn’t know how to stop the thing, so he chops the broom in half, which only enables it to work double duty. The sorcerer eventually returns, fixing the mess his subordinate has made (his situation never got quite as out of hand as Mickey’s). Lesson learned: Solutions to problems at hand can create new, sometimes unforeseeable, challenges in the future.
As scientists consider using genetically modified mosquitoes to combat deadly diseases in the developing world, Goethe’s poem should serve as a warning. Scientists are aware that their interventions in the natural world will have unintended effects, and in order to behave ethically, these potential risks must be considered. Even something as innocuous as a mosquito net may carry a considerable downside.
A mosquito net is a simple piece of technology: it creates a protective barrier between sleeping humans and the disease-carrying mosquitoes that would otherwise feast on them during the night. Combined with antimalarial drugs and in-home spraying of pesticide, nets are responsible for a 25 percent drop in global malaria deaths since 2000. But in Kenya, Tanzania and other countries that use bed nets, scientists are beginning to see evidence of a new problem: mosquitoes might be adapting to the solution, finding workarounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think it highly doubtful. Humans comprise just a tiny fraction of the food sources available to mosquitoes.
I know you are involved here in some obscure way...
Have you seen the obesity rates for mosquitoes?
I have swatted some that left a large bloody smear. Whenever I kill a bloody mosquito, I just hope it was my blood.
Mosquito nets are only effective if the human stays in bed from just before dusk until just after dawn, a period of about 14 hours. Further, they are not 100% effective.
I speak from experience.
When I kill a bloody mosquito, I hope it wasn’t my blood because that would mean I have already been infected. I hope mosquitoes feel pain. I would love for them to suffer in retaliation for the suffering they have caused.
When I'm around others and I kill a bloody mosquito, I wonder about those around me and who the little pest bit? I'm only slightly less concerned when no one is around and I wonder what diseased animal may have been bitten?
Mosquitoes are like liberals. Individually they seem harmless and frail, but their sheer numbers make them a threat to decent people. Even their low intelligence becomes an asset in accomplishing their bloodsucking goals. The world definitely does not need more of them.
I’m pretty sure Monsanto has something to do with it.
I did have an image at my old image share of a warning sign showing a giant mosquito carrying off a dude...
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