Another “Science Fiction” Story – That is Rapidly Becoming TRUE!

Again, this sounds like an old SciFi movie… scientists breed a new form of mosquito for “good reasons” and release it into the wild, only to have it take over! Well, that sounds like this true news story from the BBC:

GM mosquito ‘could fight malaria’

“GM” here is “Genetically Modified.” The picture with the article says: “The GM mosquitoes could be identified by their green fluorescent eyes.” Wow!

“A genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects. It gives new impetus to one strategy for controlling the disease: introduce the GM insects into wild populations in the hope that they will take over. The insect carries a gene that prevents infection by the malaria parasite. Details of the work by a US team appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. The researchers caution that their studies are still at an early stage, and that it could be 10 years or more before engineered insects are released into the environment.”

Ten years for people to come to their senses and not try to “improve on nature” by modifying the genes of species. Whether it is animals, food, insects, or people… can we really say that we are smart enough to know ALL the implications of something like this?