I read a story about a genetically-modified mosquito. Of course my curiosity got the best of me.
Given how Leftists say Americans fear the “browning of America,” I figure this mosquito must be BIGGER and BLACKER!
Just kidding…I wanted to scare white people. Just figured I would take a play out of the Democrat’s playbook.
This mosquito is bad news, however. And it’s not African; it’s Brazilian!
In the experiment, scientists deliberately released genetically-modified mosquitoes into Brazil. The experiment appears to have failed miserably – and may have even resulted in ‘super-mosquitoes’ according to a Yale research study published earlier this month.
According to the paper, some of the mosquitoes likely have “hybrid vigor,” resulting in “a more robust population than the pre-release population”. These mosquitoes may be more resistant to insecticides.
Oxitec told Gizmodo that the Yale study “was found to contain numerous false, speculative and unsubstantiated claims and statements about Oxitec’s mosquito technology,” and provided a three-page document outlining the company’s issues with the research. In particular, Oxitec notes that the paper fails to identify any “negative, deleterious or unanticipated effect to people or the environment from the release of OX513A mosquitoes.”
According to Oxitec, the “OX513A self-limiting gene does not persist in the environment,” and that the “limited 3-5% survival of the OX513A strain means that, within a few generations, these introduced genes are completely eliminated from the environment.”
Oxitec also disputes the researchers’ claim that female mosquitoes began to avoid mating with modified males, saying, “Selective mating has never been observed in any releases of close to 1 billion Oxitec males worldwide. The authors provide no data to support this hypothesis.” –Gizmodo
Frankly I don’t know who’s right on this subject. But what I do know is how the study reminds me of Leftism.
Leftists involve themselves in problems. But they don’t solve them. Instead, leftists tend to create more problems. Mosquitoes are pests. But in their zeal to understand mosquitoes, some lab potentially weaponized the garden variety mosquito.
I wouldn’t be the only person to question labs gone wild, certainly during the time of the Chinese Wuhan Virus.
According to German outlet Deutsche Welle, the failure of Oxitec’s experiment has raised alarm among scientists and environmentalists.
Biologists critical of genetic engineering go one step further with their criticism. Among them is the Brazilian biologist José Maria Gusman Ferraz: “The release of the mosquitos was carried out hastily without any points having been clarified,” Ferraz told the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
The Munich-based research laboratory Testbiotech, which is critical of genetic engineering, accuses Oxitec of having started the field trial without sufficient studies: “Oxitec’s trials have led to a largely uncontrollable situation,” CEO Christoph Then told the German Press Agency, dpa. “This incident must have consequences for the further employment of genetic engineering”, he demanded.
Mosquito-borne diseases are a massive health problem in developing countries. And, of increasing concern in developed regions such as the southern United States. So why not the entire U.S.?
So the next time you see a mosquito, put that sucker under the microscope. If it’s wearing a helmet and has an Obama-button on its uniform, you’ll know its origin.
