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comment by BrainBurner
BrainBurner  ·  3376 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The GMO mosquitoes are back! To knock out the source of dengue fever in Florida

I think the fears of GMO mosquitoes somehow impacting humans directly is ridiculous, but I am skeptical about potential unintended environmental consequences. It's impossible to know what will happen to the mosquito population once you introduce an unknown factor into it.





user-inactivated  ·  3376 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Well, last time we read about the Frankenstein mosquitoes on hubski, I don't remember where, we were told that they have a genetic kill switch -- can't reproduce. So there's that.

thundara  ·  3376 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Had a conversation with a friend earlier this month about logical fallacies in the media. One that comes up a lot for genetic modification / agriculture / ecology is paralysis by analysis.

In these contexts, the arguments usually fit the definition of this fallacy, but it's also one of the most basic tenets of ecology that we don't know what large changes to a system will do to it.

It's rather frustrating, but who knows. This'll probably end up being tested, since the stakes are fairly high. Only then will we finally see the consequences, intended or not.

kingmudsy  ·  3375 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Well we do have the examples in Brazil and the Cayman Islands.

I think the concerns shown in the article are mostly reactionary, especially the person at the end.