Of the dozens of FB responses, I can find only two that support the idea, myself and one other man. The rest are soundly against it and are mostly split between claiming that Zika was invented by Monsanto (either as a real thing or a fake story) so that they can sell more poisons, claiming that the Zika scare was invented to distract us from real stories, or fears that the technique will hurt humans, animals, or the environment in general. A few mention nonsense like chemtrails.
Note that the article is about Oxitec, not Monsanto, but people are fixated on Monsanto.
So here we have an environmentally safe and sure technique, with none of the problems associated (often rightly) with pesticides, that leaves no substances or pollutants of any kind in the environment, and that can prevent terrible birth defects. And people are screaming against it. Note that this was not posted in some anti-Monsanto group or other such thing, it was a paid post that apparently went to a general audience (it showed up in my feed and I’ve never done anything to indicate that I belong to the crowd that responded).
I sometimes lose faith in the human race. Yes, I know we’ve done these kinds of pittings before, but I really needed to vent about this.
It turns out the entirety of the internet is just an elaborate experiment to prove the adage “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
Honestly, these people should be enthusiastically embracing a solution like this. It’s a solution with seemingly no negative environmental effects. About the only one I can imagine would be that the reduction in mosquitoes could somehow upset some natural cycle, but we’re talking about Aedes Aegypti, which is an invasive species in North America anyway.
We’re reaching the point technologically when we can control pests very selectively without leaving any traces of anything in the environment. This is a good thing, and can reduce the use of things that do have negative environmental impacts; and the people who feel most strongly about those impacts are going to fight it tooth and nail.
Monsanto has its own evils to atone for. No need to bring them into this. Oxitec doesn’t have those same issues, although I think their solution is the wrong approach to mosquito control for the US for reasons I’ll get into in a minute. Many of the people in the comments sections of most public forums are idiots. Don’t let them get to you. That having been said, you may want to reconsider your support for the idea.
The main problem with Oxitec’s solution is the mosquitoes that can transmit zika are very widespread and there is a peculiar aspect of these mosquitos that individual insects rarely travel more than a few blocks from their hatching place(PDF) This means that among the huge range maps in the first cite, you can think of them as tiny dots of mosquito infestations, mostly concentrated around human population areas, instead of a blanket. To transmit zika over a long distance what they need is a human, who can move from mosquito infested zone to mosquito infested zone and then the locally bred and born mosquitoes will do the feeding and transmitting to another human.
So while the solution Oxitec has come up with works well in small geographic areas, like the Caribbean islands, or the densely populated favellas of Brazil, the huge geographic spread of the US is another can of worms entirely. They’d need to release these mosquitoes every few blocks to get all the breeding grounds. It’s not like they can release a bunch of males in the city center and have a five mile radius affected. Everywhere in the southern half of the US that there is standing water and handy humans(who often discard containers which can trap standing water) there will be a small cell of Aedes Aegypti. You have to get the genetically modified males into every breeding ground, which is just a few blocks. That’s a massive deployment logistically over an area as large as the southern half of the US.
Oxitec is raring to try it, of course, because it means hundreds of thousands or millions of orders for their mosquitoes. But it’s not a clear that it’s a good solution for the community or country. The traditional means of mosquito control by eliminating containers that trap standing water and using various insecticides, along with reducing the availability of part of the vector(the humans), seem like a better bet to combat zika.
“You dirty bastard, that’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever head in my life, you shit-for-brains Monsanto shrill. I damn near broke my jaw with my knees.”
Actually, this is an old idea, and it has proven to help mitigate these types of problems. However, it’s not a cure-all. It’s just one good part of an overall program. Besides, Monsanto would have the vaccine ready before they released Zika, otherwise how would they make any money.
Actually, the old idea is to release sterile males. This is different. The males aren’t sterile, they just produce non-viable offspring.
So what’s the difference? As I understand it, when they sterilize males (using radiation) a percentage of them become unable to even mate, so there’s some loss and not all of the released males will end up mating. Also they have the repeat cost of sterilizing each new generation before they release it.
With the new technique, they can engineer them once and then produce generation after generation. How can they do that if the offspring die? Simple, they’re engineered so that the gene that causes non-viable offspring won’t function while exposed to a specific antibiotic. When they raise them in captivity the expose them to this antibiotic. Thus they can raise generation after generation of engineered mosquitoes at low cost. The antibiotic doesn’t exist in the wild so once they’re released, they cannot produce viable offspring. So this technique is more effective at a lower cost than the old technique.
They seem to think that they can make enough to make it work. They can breed large numbers inexpensively, so maybe they can. Trying to eliminate all of the standing water isn’t really a viable solution either. And spraying pesticides in all of the problem areas seems like it would be just as difficult as spreading the engineered mosquitoes, with the added problems that can come with pesticide use.
You’re wrong. Idea isn’t to blanket the southern US with GMO mosquitoes - targeted control is at the heart of the Oxitec strategy.
They want to confine releases to outbreak areas. It’ll work (assuming Aedes aegypti is the only species responsible for transmitting virus, which isn’t 100% clear at this point). It’ll work. If they get permission to close the deal.
The problem is that you’re drawing your sample from a non-representative subset of the population, and it’s one that’s not too bright. If you want more insightful internet commentary, you’ve got to go to Youtube.
Sure, but it’s still irritating too see this kind of nearly unanimous reaction.
My impression of FB is that it really does represent a cross section of the population, rather than some less intelligent subset. People belong for all sorts of reasons. There are a number of science oriented and skeptic groups on FB.
This post was sponsored, so presumably it was presented to a somewhat random selection of FB users. Of course, this may simply be a case where those upset or offended by it are more likely to post then those who support it.
Correct, and I can’t see where these spot “treatments” with altered males is any more logistically difficult than doing the same with pesticides or hunting out all (or even most) standing water. Of course this assumes, as you say, that this is the only species in the area that can carry Zika.
I think this is basically what Facebook does. Their algorithm favors “engagement”, and the easiest way to get someone to engage in something is to piss them off.
I got rid of my account a while ago as I noticed it trending well away from “updates about the lives of my friends and family” toward “slanted political bullshit”.
Too bad there isn’t a tenth as much outrage over the prospect of an outbreak of microcephaly in the U.S. due to Zika virus-carrying mosquitoes.
A project like Oxitec’s stirs a lot of uproar among anti-GMOers because it’s a more immediate threat than (for example) another pesticide resistant food crop. Oxitec is not an enormous corporation, its product does not realistically have any undesirable environmental impact (unlike mass spraying programs), and it could prevent serious birth defects. However, its success would damp down opposition to anything GMO, and if you’re an anti-GMO zealot that cannot be allowed to happen.
The same fervor has long held up the planting of golden rice, high in beta-carotene which could save many lives and prevent blindness in developing countries where vitamin A deficiency is a serious problem. But the prospect of such a positive outcome due to genetic modification is intolerable to opponents, who’d rather let millions of kids die or go blind.
theres always reactions like this concerning environmental stuff …but if you wanna see real crazies look up anything concerning cancer and big pharma and the government …
As the first link in my first post explained, there are two species which transmit Zika, A. Aegypti and A. Albopictus, of which A. Albopictus is the more geographically widespread and has a longer range as an individual as well. The main reason people aren’t worried about it as much is because A. Albopictus lives more in rural areas and feeds on humans much less aggressively than A. Aegypti.
I am well aware of the Oxitec strategy. If I were an Oxitec shareholder I’d be all over it. Since I’m a taxpayer, I’m more skeptical. Zika has two main vectors. Humans, and mosquitoes. It’s all well and good to say “we’ve found an outbreak of zika, send in the GMO Mosquitoes!” and squash the local population of mosquitoes. That’s great. But by the time you’ve found that outbreak, the other half of the disease’s vector, the humans, have scattered to the winds(in terms of sizes of the range of a local population of A. Aegypti). And wherever they alight next they’ll find a healthy population of A. Aegypti ready to transmit it from them to other humans nearby. And in a disease like zika, where many of the infected people are asymptomatic, the humans could be moving it all over the country without even knowing it.
I have no doubt the Oxitec solution can significantly reduce local populations of A. Aegypti and help prevent further transmission locally. The problem I have with it is the definition of “locally.” I think it’s too small a range to have much useful effect on anything but Oxitec’s profits. I think there will be a knock on effects, including some very useful ones with the mass production of GMO mosquitoes and refinement of these techniques. But in a cost/benefit analysis compared to traditional mosquito control methods(spraying an affected area, sending out notices to residents to remove standing water, wear repellent, etc.) I’m not impressed. It is neat tech though.
I’m medical entomologist, molecular biologist and researcher who’s been working on transgenic mosquitoes, symbionts, and control for over 15 years. I’ve known Luke (who just sold the company) and the rest of the Oxitec crew since 1999 (when it was just working in fruit flies). I worked on some of the early theoretical models for deploying the technology. I’ve worked on methods to combine it with other strategies for maximum effect.
I pretty sure I understand the nitty gritty details better than you do.
How is spraying an affected area not subject to the same problem (unless you’re spraying to also eliminate the local human vector, a solution most will find unacceptable)?
Obviously you’d combine any solution, including Oxitec’s, with attempts to eliminate standing water, encouraging repellent use. etc.
mozchron, I read those threads and your contributions long ago. I’m aware of your expertise on the subject of GMO mosquitoes.
Again, I think it’s cool tech, and I think it has great potential in many ways. I just don’t think it’s the most cost effective and appropriate solution to this particular problem as a matter of public policy.
Eliminating standing water, wearing long sleeves/pants, avoiding dawn/dusk activities whenever possible, using insect repellent, screens on windows, properly sealed buildings, etc. If policymakers are going to put the resources of the state behind a solution to mosquito-borne infections in the US then I think these are better bets than Oxitec’s GMO mosquitoes.
