Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by paul_f on Friday April 16, 2021 @01:08PM
(#26836508)
DDT is not "obviously horrible for humans". That's dubious. It has not been proven to be carcinogenic and is only listed as "probable".
Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by Turing_Machine on Friday April 16, 2021 @02:06PM
(#26837198)
Polio isn't spread by mosquitos. I think you're confusing it with something else.
Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by soperj on Friday April 16, 2021 @12:28PM
(#26835927)
Except that the DDT probably had little to no effect on the transmission of Polio, and the real reason we live in a country without polio is that we've got a vaccine against it.
Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by maxerickson on Friday April 16, 2021 @12:33PM
(#26836003)
Malaria was endemic in the US prior to the National Malaria Eradication Program, which used DDT.
Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by soperj on Friday April 16, 2021 @01:08PM
(#26836510)
Malaria is a completely different disease than Polio. Thanks.
Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by maxerickson on Friday April 16, 2021 @01:13PM
(#26836553)
Right, I didn't add any context in my first comment, but the point is that DDT and mosquito control were an important component of disease control in the United States, regardless of whether polio is relevant to the discussion or not.
Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by soperj on Friday April 16, 2021 @02:11PM
(#26837253)
That's exactly what my comment was about though, polio isn't relevant.
Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by mimixco on Friday April 16, 2021 @12:24PM
(#26835884)
I wrote a whole website about this, so I'm not really down to debate it with you. There's a lot to read about this, including source documents from Oxitec and the FDA. You can draw your own conclusions from the evidence that's there.
Re:First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
by selestify on Friday April 16, 2021 @12:45PM
(#26836179)
Not everyone has the time to read "a whole website," nor is everyone inclined to if you are unwilling to clear up a seemingly unscientific concept (DNA from GMO entities ending up in our genome).
I'm still not sure I understand the problem. This entire experiment feels like a much safer version of the time the USA released a massive amount of DDT to end polio transmission [0]. DDT is obviously horrible for humans, but now we also live in a country without polio. There are costs to everything. Nothing is perfect.
Please provide better evidence than "having non-natural DNA in your blood is bad".
[0] - https://academic.oup.com/envhis/article/22/4/696/4057684