A Purdue researcher and a team of scientists working on a new insecticide argue that mosquitoes should not simply be made extinct due to their role in various ecosystems. Catherine Hill, a professor of entomology, and her team are developing an insecticide that will suppress mosquitoes' ability to transmit diseases without killing the insect or interfering with other life forms. The team is based in Discovery Park, a research park dedicated to using interdisciplinary teams to solve global problems. Hill's research was one of the winners of Discovery Park's Big Idea Challenge, a program that provides resources to interdisciplinary teams with innovative research.
"For the last 20 years I've been trying to figure out how to kill mosquitoes, and then I had this epiphany where, morally, I'm just not OK with it anymore," she said.
There has been a lack of research in preserving mosquitoes because researchers have looked mostly at ways to eradicate them. Therefore, Hill thinks it is essential to consider all the possible effects of wiping out an organism that has existed for thousands of years. She points out that mosquitoes have co-evolved with many species, so there are likely other organisms that depend on them as a food source.
https://phys.org/news/2017-07-mosquitoes.html
[Source]: Why mosquitoes should not be eliminated
I was reminded of:
Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room. - Christine Todd Whitman
Should there be a "Save the Mosquito" movement?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday July 11 2017, @09:20PM (3 children)
Modify them so they find human blood bad tasting?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 12 2017, @12:04AM
Transmission of disease is one of mosquitoes' major functions in the ecosystems where they are present... disease is a rather arbitrary label, disease affects population growth rates, balance of species, etc. Suddenly eliminating "disease" in elephants, for example, can lead to decimation of vegetation, etc.
So, just give it up biologists, man has been playing God since before man invented God. It's what we do.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @09:47AM (1 child)
Or modify human blood so that it's bad tasting for them? Maybe modify human blood to be poisonous to them; that will put evolutionary pressure to them to avoid humans.
(Score: 1) by ewk on Wednesday July 12 2017, @12:27PM
The quinine in (gin-)tonic isn't there without a reason :-)
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