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from the as-long-as-they-cannot-play-futebol dept.
The Brazilian government have decided in a 2-year trial to test genetically modified variant of the male mosquito Aedes aegypti that's common in the northeastern Brazil to combat the spread of dengue fever. Dengue is endemic in three of the host cities for this summer's World Cup. "We need to provide the government alternatives because the system we are using now in Brazil doesn't work," says Aldo Malavasi, president of Moscamed, the Brazilian company that's running the trial from a lab just outside of Jacobina.
The mosquitoes in the lab have their genes modified in the lab such that their offspring dies. Only the female mosquitoes bite, so only male mosquitoes are released which mate with wild females and produce offspring that die before they can reproduce. The technique is developed by the British company Oxitec with roots in Syngenta and GeneWatch points out that Oxitec are not totally transparent about the potential risks (like spontaneous DNA alterations).
(Score: 2) by SlimmPickens on Wednesday April 30 2014, @02:04AM
From what I understand, many or most species are not disease carrying or simply do not bite humans. We don't need to kill them all.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday April 30 2014, @02:40AM
Yeah, but the ones that do bite are often food for the ones that don't...
That said...the intention here seems to be for it to be used as a short-term solution in a very small area. You're never going to kill off a significant portion of all mosquitoes in a large area with something like this -- you'd have to release billions of these modified mosquitoes fairly evenly distributed across the total area. Not all that feasible.
But drop a few million in the middle of a major city, and the mosquito population in that city plummets after a single generation. BUT, since the offspring can't reproduce, they can't pass on this trait. So the survivors find no competition and tons of food and breed like mad. And mosquitoes nearby flood into the area in search of easy food as well. With how short the mosquito lifespan is, you're probably back up to normal populations within a week or so of using this.
Assuming it all goes according to plan....with the short lifespans, genetic mutations happen quicker as well.