Posted on 11/08/2017 5:53:51 AM PST by rktman
No one likes the idea of being bitten by a mosquito, especially if that pesky pest also is carrying around viruses as deadly as yellow fever, dengue and Zika. But what if you could eradicate the diseased insects by releasing assassin versions of mosquitoes to kill them off?
On Nov. 3, the Environmental Protection Agency approved a new approach from the biotech company MosquitoMate. The goal is to destroy populations of wild mosquitoes that could be carrying nasty viruses, according to a report from Nature magazine.
Instead of relying on genetic engineering, MosquitoMate infects lab-grown mosquitoes with the common bacterium Wolbachia pipientis, which affects mosquitoes but not animals or humans
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
Ditto
Everything
Mosquitoes are a primary food source for a lot of birds and bats. I am not sure of the impact it could have on them.
I would be okay if they briefly used this in areas of disease spreading mosquitoes but I have a problem with widespread use.
Exactly.
Perhaps, by removing food supply of wasps, it will cause wasps to turn to honeybees instead.
Who ever wins the contract, will have to make a profit, regardless of how low they bid. I don't see a problem...
Right off the top, I don’t see this as a good idea.
This is stupid. The food chain was probably well thought out by our Creator, and those who think we know better are nuts.
Yup. We should stick to things we’re sure about. You know, like climate change brought about by our abuses of muvver erf. ;-)
Similar attempts in history have shown there’s always unintended consequences.
The first question is simply; how will it impact those that eat them? Then, what are all the downstream food chain consequences? There’s a balance right now and we’re looking to change it.
If the stories are correct mosquitoes did not exist in the Hawaiian Islands until the European explorers started arriving regularly. Story goes that a disgruntled sailor dumped the larvae from the bowels of a ship on land. Kinda makes sense - how would they get there otherwise? I think if mosquitoes did not exist the food chain would be just fine without them.
How does the impact honeybees?
DDT works.
THAT is why it was banned.
It saved millions of third world lives, which upset the population control crowd.
There goes the fish food! The most effective mosquito control I’ve ever had was a garden pond laden with a variety of goldfish, shubunkins and koi. The mosquitos loved the pond and the fish loved the larva. The mosquito bites and my house were rare after installing that pond.
I don’t think this epa plan is a good one at all. Unintended consequences and such. And you can’t take it back.
“There was an old lady who swallowed a fly,
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly, I guess she’l die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I guess she’l die.
There was ...” and so on and so on.
Double ditto.
Replace mosquitoes with bacteria laden insects?
What could go wrong?
Mansquito.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.