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GM mosquito release in Brazil causes dengue emergency, despite being touted as preventive tool
A genetically modified (GM) mosquito intended to eradicate dengue fever may have actually contributed to an epidemic of the disease in Brazil, civil society organizations have warned.
“It is extraordinary that experiments with Oxitec’s GM mosquitoes continue and commercial releases have even been approved without any monitoring of the effect on dengue,” said Dr. Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK. “The declaration of a dengue emergency in Jacobina should be a wake-up call for the authorities.” …. http://www.naturalnews.com
“Many more of these amazing mosquitoes will need to be released into the wild in the months ahead before we can assess the impact,” Microsoft founder Bill Gates wrote in an April blog post in which he described offering up his arm to a cage of Wolbachia mosquitoes for them to feast on human blood to develop eggs. “It was a small price to pay for an amazing project that has the potential to turn the tide against a terrible disease.” The new approaches contrast with spraying insecticides and other methods that have proven ineffective in thwarting the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries dengue. Oxitec’s method is similar to some techniques that have successfully controlled other types of insects, said Duane Gubler, a professor of emerging infectious diseases at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore. “I am enthusiastic” about Oxitec’s solution, said Gubler, author of a textbook on dengue. “For the past 40 years, we have failed to control dengue. We simply haven’t had the tools.” …. http://www.bloomberg.com
Source: http://luismmx.blogspot.com/2014/07/gm-mosquito-release-in-brazil-causes.html
