New Study Pokes Hole in GMO Mosquito Plan

[Judi Lynn]

Published on Sunday, January 25, 2015

by Food & Water Watch Blog

New Study Pokes Hole in GMO Mosquito Plan
by Genna Reed

Few things kill one’s experience of the great outdoors like the dreaded mosquito, and in some cases, a nibble could have serious health consequences. That’s why local governments in places like the Florida Keys are always looking for ways to control mosquito populations. But now mosquito control is colliding with biotechnology. Oxitec, the company behind GMO mosquitoes, wants to release its genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys to combat dengue fever as soon as this spring.

Aside from being inherently risky and inappropriately regulated by the state and federal government, its plan faces two major hurdles: lack of public support and an inability to prove that the experiment will actually prevent disease transmission. A December town hall meeting in Key West gave residents a chance to voice their opposition to the trials, which they did with great zeal. A new study released last week will likely lead to even more questions about the possibility that reducing the population of one type of mosquito simply creates an opportunity for another type to flourish.

Research published in the peer-reviewed journal “PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases” looked at the spread of populations of a different species of mosquito, the Asian Tiger Mosquito, in Panama. This species only just arrived in the country in 2002 and has spread quickly throughout the region in just over a decade. Asian Tiger mosquitoes are considered one of the most invasive species in the world and carry many diseases including dengue fever and West Nile virus. Since Oxitec’s GMO mosquitoes are supposed to wipe out populations of yellow fever mosquitoes, it is very likely that Asian Tiger mosquitoes would rapidly step up to fill the void, negating any benefits of the GMO mosquitoes.

Not only is there the chance that Asian Tiger mosquitoes will fill the niche left behind from lowered yellow fever mosquito populations, but the GMO mosquitoes could actually make a quick comeback. The scientists predict that because “…Ae. aegypti (yellow fever mosquitoes) have similar demographic and dispersal patterns as Ae. Albopictus (Asian Tiger mosquitoes), Ae. aegypti populations may quickly rebound via recolonization after cessation of GM programs.” This scenario would ensure the irrelevance of Oxitec’s mosquito trials, since “GM strategies might have only short-term effects on vector population size and may commit Panama to a repeated and costly program for long-term (arthropod-borne virus) control.”

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/25/new-study-pokes-hole-gmo-mosquito-plan

[djean111]

1. Here is the money shot - a repeated and costly program for long-term (arthropod-borne virus) control

This is what the GMO folks are after - you must keep buying their seeds, you must keep buying all of their stuff, there is no one-shot mosquito control, and they fucking well know that. They are just inserting themselves into the problem.

[mike_c]

2. oh FFS....

DDT is still one of the best vector control agents for mosquitos. Just sayin'.