CRISPR-based gene drives can wipe out malaria mosquitoes by spreading sterility genes through wild populations. But accidental release could collapse ecosystems:
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73% non-target insect loss in confined trials (Nature study)
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No global governance for cross-border genetic pollution
Is eliminating a disease that kills 600K lives/year(mostly children under 5) worth ecological gambles – the risk of collapsing ecosystems via irreversible genetic pollution??
Gene Drives Could Eradicate Malaria But Risk Permanent Species Extinction. Should We Deploy Them?
byu/Husabdul_9 inFuturology
3 Comments
73% loss is an insane number. You could drop a nuclear bomb on the habitat and there would be a higher survival rate.
No, we should not deploy a biological weapon just because we have one. Small tests are done precisely because they can demonstrate these kinds of failures before a mass deployment – in this case the test has shown it is nowhere near ready.
The talk of the annual death toll is just what-aboutism. The mass extinction of entire insect species could lead to a myriad of terrible effects; collapsing food webs, mass extinction, mass famine.
Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but is the fear that sterilizing malaria mosquitoes will collapse ecosystems because of the impact their absence will have on other insects that depend on their presence to survive? Or is it that the sterilized genetic trait could somehow cross over to other insects besides the malaria mosquitoes and therefore eliminate those species as well?
I’m completely in favor of finding a way to wipe out mosquitoes.