Millions Of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Set To Be Released: This Is Why It’s A Problem
by Arjun Walia.http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/06/12/millions-of-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-set-to-be-released-in-florida-heres-why-we-should-question-this/
Millions of genetically
modified mosquitoes might soon be released in Florida. The biotech
company Oxitec and the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD)
are moving ahead with their plan to introduce these insects into the
area to, according to them, help stop the spread of multiple tropical
diseases.
One of the diseases is called
Chikungunya, another is dengue, and both are spread by Aedes mosquitoes.
An infection with Chikungunya can lead to fever and joint pain which is
sometimes severe, but rarely causes death. In 2014, only 11 individuals
actually contracted this disease in Florida, so it makes one wonder if
this type of “tinkering with nature” is really necessary? (source)
When it comes to the dengue virus,
severe cases may progress into dengue hemorrhagic fever, complications
from which may eventually result in death. Over 100 million cases of
dengue occur every year, but according to the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), it is rare to find a case of it in the
United States.
The mosquitoes released would all be
male, and are genetically modified to carry a “genetic kill switch.”
This means that when they mate with wild female mosquitoes, the “kill
switch” gene is passed on to the offspring and therefore cannot survive.
Millions Of Genetically Modified Insects Have Already Been Released
Oxitec has already released a large
number of GM olive flies that were used to kill off wild pests that
damage crops. In the Cayman Islands, 3 million GM mosquitoes were
released, and in this case over 90 percent of the original natural
native mosquito population was suppressed. The same results were also
seen in Brazil. (source)
Supporters of the GM insects, like
Oxitec, claim that those who oppose the idea are simply fear mongering.
This is currently the same response from the big biotech giants to
opposers of genetically modified foods.
Concerns With This Approach
There are various concerns, such as, what happens if someone receives a bite from one of these mosquitoes?
“Will their GM DNA be injected
into your arm or leg? Oxitec has counteracted this objection by stating
they only plan to release male mosquitoes, which don’t bite. This again sounds good in theory…
but in reality, sorting millions of insects according to sex is no
small feat. And even FKMCD notes that although ‘every effort is made to
release only males,’ Oxitec trials show that .03 percent of the
mosquitoes released are female” -Dr. Joseph Mercola (source)
If you think about it, with millions of
mosquitoes released, we are still talking about thousands of mosquitoes
that can bite. Estimates of genetically modified insects that have been
released into the environment are between 50-100 million. What about the
environmental health impacts report? Again, what about the synthetic
DNA from the bites? Who is tracking all of this stuff, and how exactly
do you track it? Why are we just assuming everything is okay, without
any evidence to back it up?
The potential exists for these genes,
which hop from one place to another, to infect human blood by finding
entry through skin lesions or inhaled dust. Such transmission could
potentially wreak havoc with the human genome by creating “insertion
mutations” and other unpredictable types of DNA damage. (source)
According to Alfred Handler, a
geneticist at the Agriculture Department in Hawaii, mosquitoes can
develop resistance to the lethal gene and might then be released
inadvertently. (source)
Todd Shelly, an entomologist for the Agriculture Department in
Hawaii, said 3.5 percent of the insects in a laboratory test survived to
adulthood, despite presumably carrying the lethal gene. (source)Another factor to consider is this:
“Tetracycline and other
antibiotics are now showing up in the environment, in soil and surface
water samples. These GM mosquitoes were designed to die in the absence
of tetracycline (which is introduced in the lab in order to keep them
alive long enough to breed). They were designed this way assuming they
would NOT have access to that drug in the wild. With tetracycline
exposure (for example, in a lake) these mutant insects could actually thrive in the wild, potentially creating a nightmarish scenario.” (source)
Dr Helen Wallace, director of GeneWatch UK, warned about the GM fruit flies that were released a couple of years ago:
“Releasing Oxite’s GM fruit
flies is a deeply flawed approach to reducing numbers of these pests,
because large numbers of their offspring will die as maggots in the
fruit. Not only does this fail to protect the crop, millions of GM fruit
fly maggots will enter the food chain where they could pose risks to
human health and the environment. Oxitec’s experiments should not go
ahead until rules for safety testing and plans for labelling and
segregation of contaminated fruits have been thoroughly debated and
assessed. If these issues are ignored, growers could suffer serious
impacts on the market for their crops.” (source)
It’s also important to note that there is there is no specific regulatory process for GM insects anywhere in the world.Wallace went on to state that:
“Regulatory decisions on GM
insects in Europe and around the world are being biased by corporate
interests as the UK biotech company Oxitec has infiltrated
decision-making processes around the world. The company has close links
to the multinational pesticide and seed company, Syngenta. Oxitec has
already made large-scale open releases of GM mosquitoes in the Cayman
Islands, Malaysia and Brazil and is developing GM agricultural pests,
jointly with Syngenta.” (source)(source)
“The public will be shocked to
learn that GM insects can be released into the environment without any
proper oversight. Conflicts of interest should be removed from all
decision making processes to ensure the public have a proper say about
these plans” – Dr Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK (source)
Environmental NGOs like Greenpeace
suggest that GM insects could have unintended and wide ranging impacts
on the environment and human health due to the complexity of ecosystems
and the high number of unknown factors which make risk assessment
difficult. These companies have raised a number of concerns which
include: (source)
- New insects or diseases may fill ecological niche left by the insects suppressed or replaced, possibly resulting in new public health or agricultural problems
- The new genes engineered into the insects may jump into other species, a process called horizontal transfer, causing unintended consequences to the ecosystem
- Releases would be impossible to monitor and irreversible, as would any damage done to the environment
- Don’t want to be liable for any complications
- Try to avoid any regulation of GM agricultural pests on crops appearing in the food chain
- Exclude important issues from risk assessments, like the impact on human health
- Release of large amounts of GM insects prior to regulations
- Undermining the requirement to obtain informed consent for experiments involving insect species which transmit disease
Source:
(All sources are embedded throughout the article)
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