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Title: 'We Finally May Be Able to Rid the World of Mosquitoes. But Should
We?'

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/07/0...

It's no longer a hypothetical question, writes the Washington Post. "In
recent years, scientists have devised powerful genetic tools that may be able
to eradicate mosquitoes and other pests once and for all." But along with the
ability to fight malaria, dengue, West Nile virus and other serious diseases,
"the development of this technology also raises a profound ethical question:
When, if ever, is it okay to intentionally drive a species out of
existence...?" When so many wildlife conservationists are trying to save
plants and animals from disappearing, the mosquito is one of the few
creatures that people argue is actually worthy of extinction. Forget about
tigers or bears; it's the tiny mosquito that is the deadliest animal on
Earth. The human misery caused by malaria is undeniable. Nearly 600,000
people died of the disease in 2023, according to the World Health
Organization, with the majority of cases in Africa... But recently, the
Hastings Center for Bioethics, a research institute in New York, and Arizona
State University brought together a group of bioethicists to discuss the
potential pitfalls of intentionally trying to drive a species to extinction.
In a policy paper published in the journal Science last month, the group
concluded that "deliberate full extinction might occasionally be acceptable,
but only extremely rarely..." It's unclear how important malaria-carrying
mosquitoes are to broader ecosystems. Little research has been done to figure
out whether frogs or other animals that eat the insects would be able to find
their meals elsewhere. Scientists are hotly debating whether a broader
"insect apocalypse" is underway in many parts of the world, which may imperil
other creatures that depend on them for food and pollination... Instead, the
authors said, geneticists should be able to use gene editing, vaccines and
other tools to target not the mosquito itself, but the single-celled
Plasmodium parasite that is responsible for malaria. That invisible
microorganism - which a mosquito transfers from its saliva to a person's
blood when it bites - is the real culprit. A nonprofit research consortium
called Target Malaria has genetically modified mosquitoes in their labs
(which get core funding from the Gates Foundation and from Open Philanthropy,
backed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife). ), and hopes to
deploy them in the wild within five years...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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