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In reply to the discussion: 750 million genetically engineered mosquitoes approved for release in Florida Keys [View all]NNadir
(33,516 posts)Thank you for letting me know you agree.
Frankly, I was expecting that if I got a response to this post it was going to be from a type I see too often; a person with a knee jerk reaction featuring arrogant ignorance, a nominally "liberal" response that was, in fact, Trumpian.
I am a political liberal of long standing in the sense that I believe in human rights, justice, an end to poverty, health care, and a clean and sustainable environment that we can present without shame to future generations. In my long life, my generation fell short of all these goals, and in many ways, way short which pains me.
This said, we do have a fair amount of "woo-woo" on our side that is quite destructive, anti-nukes, anti-GMO, some anti-vaxxers, anti this anti that. We act as if all tragedy derives from the political right, and while much more of it does than it does with us, we are not entirely innocent, far from it.
Engineering mosquitoes to die before maturity can save lives and prevent huge burdens of disability.
Genetically modified organisms, as you rightly point out, have long been produced by breeding, and the molecular biological approach of directed evolution is not qualitatively different from breeding a sheep dog.