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A comment on Self-destructing mosquitoes and sterilized rodents: the promise of gene drives. Parent comment

Re:Self-destructing mosquitoes and sterilized rodents: the p... by astazangasta on Wednesday July 10, 2019 @01:20PM (#20404102)
This is exactly the kind of logic that led to Silent Spring. "We think we have a viable solution, we haven't really evaluated any of the side effects, but we need to act, and act fast!" We went through this with DDT. It worked; we killed all of the insects. It had side effects we didn't anticipate. Then it stopped working due to resistance.

The question is, did we learn anything from this history, or are we going to be equally incautious with each new technology we come across?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Self-destructing mosquitoes and sterilized rodents: the p... by dragonwriter on Wednesday July 10, 2019 @01:25PM (#20404174)
> We went through this with DDT. It worked; we killed all of the insects. [...] Then it stopped working due to resistance.

If it killed all the insects, resistance would not have developed.

[ Parent | on HN ]