This could turn out bad

[blackstar212]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/floridas-trial-of-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-will-probably-happen/

 

 

Mosquitos are important food in the food chain to many animals this could turn out very badly.

 

What do you think?

[Brian]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/floridas-trial-of-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-will-probably-happen/

 

 

Mosquitos are important food in the food chain to many animals this could turn out very badly.

 

What do you think?

It's hubris. We've convinced ourselves we understand the nature of "nature" sufficiently to be able to fiddle with the fundamentals without unfortunate unanticipated consequences despite being proved wrong over and over.

 

Heck! Just look at the wonderful success we've had with Roundup-resistant wheat as a shining example.

[Marblehead]

This is an alternative to spraying.  Spraying mosquitos was found to be doing more harm than good.  The test is very localized so it won't be effecting any other parts of Florida. 

[Brian]

This is an alternative to spraying.  Spraying mosquitos was found to be doing more harm than good.  The test is very localized so it won't be effecting any other parts of Florida.

Well, as long as the mutant mosquitos have agreed to stay in the Keys, I guess nothing can go wrong.

 

In other news, zika is spreading person-to-person.

[Marblehead]

Well, as long as the mutant mosquitos have agreed to stay in the Keys, I guess nothing can go wrong.

 

In other news, zika is spreading person-to-person.

 

What can I say?  More people would complain if the government did nothing.  I doubt mosquitos have a very large travel range as their life span is less that a year.

 

Or maybe we should just let zika continue to spread?

[Brian]

What can I say? More people would complain if the government did nothing. I doubt mosquitos have a very large travel range as their life span is less that a year.

 

Or maybe we should just let zika continue to spread?

How delightfully Progressive of you.

[Brian]

What can I say? More people would complain if the government did nothing. I doubt mosquitos have a very large travel range as their life span is less that a year.

 

Or maybe we should just let zika continue to spread?

Just spent a few minutes¹ searching ancient Taoist texts for this "do something even if it's worse than doing nothing so the people won't complain about the government" philosophy and I can't find it. Can you point me to it?

 

 

¹ Naah, I didn't.

[Marblehead]

Well, okay, I did a little research.  The adult mosquito, depending on sub-species, has a life span of from one week to a couple months.  That wouldn't give them much time to migrate very far at all.

 

So basically what will be done in the Florida Keys will effect only those living in the Keys.

 

Also, all species of mosquitos combined are the deadliest animal on the planet.  Even more deadly than man.

 

So yeah, the people would expect the government to do something about the zika virus carrying mosquitos.

 

So doing nothing would be irrational.  Yes, they tried the standard spraying but found it caused more harm than good so they stopped.

 

This idea is the first alternative.  If it works it could save the life of many people and prevent the virus from further spreading.

 

And yes, it is within Taoist philosophy that if there is a problem and it can be resolved then it should be resolved. 

That is actually part of wu wei.

[cold]

"Mother Nature" if you will is all powerful.

 

I can see the mosquitos being moved by wind several hundred miles over a very short period of time.

 

See soy bean rust for an example of a pest being transported by wind.

 

Hubris a truly human ailment.

[Eques Peregrinus]

Just spent a few minutes¹ searching ancient Taoist texts for this "do something even if it's worse than doing nothing so the people won't complain about the government" philosophy and I can't find it. Can you point me to it?

 

 

¹ Naah, I didn't.

 

I neither did spend any minutes searching for it, but I am quite sure that kind of stuff can be found in a text from Machiavelli.

[Brian]

Well, okay, I did a little research. The adult mosquito, depending on sub-species, has a life span of from one week to a couple months. That wouldn't give them much time to migrate very far at all.

 

So basically what will be done in the Florida Keys will effect only those living in the Keys.

 

Also, all species of mosquitos combined are the deadliest animal on the planet. Even more deadly than man.

 

So yeah, the people would expect the government to do something about the zika virus carrying mosquitos.

 

So doing nothing would be irrational. Yes, they tried the standard spraying but found it caused more harm than good so they stopped.

 

This idea is the first alternative. If it works it could save the life of many people and prevent the virus from further spreading.

 

And yes, it is within Taoist philosophy that if there is a problem and it can be resolved then it should be resolved.

That is actually part of wu wei.

Just for clarity, this is not actually intended to reduce the risk of or spread of the Zika virus. The proposed experiment in the Keys is just that, an experiment -- and it was planned prior to the emergence of Zika on the world stage (dengue fever was used as the justification). The release of male OX513A mosquitoes on Marathon Key is planned for 2018 and they are now trying to find a new location because the residents rejected it.

 

As an example of NIMBY, Monroe County as a whole passed the proposal but the neighborhood which had actually be selected (called Key Haven) voted it down so they are trying to find a new neighborhood in the same county to use. This may torpedo the whole thing in the US for now.

 

OX315A has previously been tested in Brazil, Malaysia and the Cayman Islands, to my knowledge, and additional releases were proposed in the USA, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand Panama and India. The Brazilian trial was conducted in 2010 and indicated that high levels of released OX315A males needed to be sustained to significantly impact the population. In Malaysia, the citizens objected to the announced experiment in 2011, the government then announced that the test was being postponed but conducted it anyhow. The FDA granted an exception in March to allow this study in the Florida Keys, which is a short-duration investigation to better understand the impact on populations in the wild (although findings from previous such investigations are used as part of the risk-assessment justification). The whole thing works like this...

 

The mosquito's DNA has been altered in two ways. One is a red fluorescent marker which makes the genetically modified fly visually distinguishable in both larvae and adult stages. The other modification is a rDNA introduction which prevents offspring from reaching maturity. This genetic trait is switched off and on with the antibiotic tetracycline; if tetracycline is present, the mosquitoes live, if tetracycline is absent, they die prematurely. This is how they are able to breed OX315A mosquitoes in hatcheries. Males are then released and will mate with females of the same species (one of the two which are currently known to carry Zika (along with things like dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever and the West Nile virus)). The offspring of the engineered male and natural females, absent tetracycline, die before reaching maturity. This suppresses the population as a whole as long as OX315A males are continually being introduced into the population in large concentrations. Once that release stops, the population begins to return to normal.

[Brian]

"Mother Nature" if you will is all powerful.

 

I can see the mosquitos being moved by wind several hundred miles over a very short period of time.

 

See soy bean rust for an example of a pest being transported by wind.

 

Hubris a truly human ailment.

I was in Wilmington, NC, in the late 1990s, when several major hurricanes hit the area in a short period. After one of them, we noticed the appearance of some weird little blue-striped mosquitoes which hadn't been common before then. I was unable at the time to identify the species. To my knowledge, they didn't reemerge the following season so I'm guessing they couldn't handle the cold.

[Nungali]

I had a bout of Ross River fever from Mozzies    ....... W O W  .... was that intense !   

 

I recently found out that 90% of the little fish in the river here are imports from Sth America that were dumped in our river systems to control mosquitoes in 1925 ...... they bred to immense proportions, didnt control the mosquitoes  and caused displacement of native fishes      . 

 

Gambusia holbrooki - also known as plague minnow, gambusia and mosquito fish;  

 

 

 

One time, I was down the river, beside a huge  ancient tree trunk lying along the bank, between it and the bank was protected pool, it had the most amazing fish in it, I thought someone must have  emptied their tropical aquarium in there !  I never seen fish like that before  in any fresh water  here .   After looking them up, I realised that these were the natives and all the others imports.  before displacement, the rivers here would have been full with little guys like this ;

 

( bloody hell tried posting 6 different pics - all 'not allowed'     )

 

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=NSW+freshwater+rainbow+fish&rlz=1C1CHBF_enAU699AU699&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjf5oy03b_QAhWBPY8KHcO5CoEQ_AUICCgB&biw=1093&bih=530&dpr=1.25

[Marblehead]

I had a bout of Ross River fever from Mozzies    ....... W O W  .... was that intense !   

 

I recently found out that 90% of the little fish in the river here are imports from Sth America that were dumped in our river systems to control mosquitoes in 1925 ...... they bred to immense proportions, didnt control the mosquitoes  and caused displacement of native fishes      . 

 

Gambusia holbrooki - also known as plague minnow, gambusia and mosquito fish;  

 

I have mosquito fish in all my ponds.  They do a very good job eating the mosquito larvae.  I do not have a mosquito problem.  The mosquito fish (minnow) is of the guppy family of fish and give live birth.  During the Winter I do have some die off from the cold but the population always recovers when the temperatures rise in the Spring.

 

They are carnivores so they would likely eat the eggs of many other fishes.