Millions Of GM Mosquitoes Are On The Loose: Are We In Danger?

Mosquito repellent. Woman spraying insect repellent on skin

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Let’s not forget that antibiotics such as tetracycline are showing up in our soil and surface water. GM mosquitoes are designed to die without tetracycline. They use tetracycline in the lab to keep these mosquitoes alive long enough to breed. Designers believe that these GM mosquitoes are not going to have access to tetracycline. This means that if these GM mosquitoes find a pond or some other source of water with traces of tetracycline, they would not only not die, but they would thrive.

If you remember, Oxitec released GM fruit flies, hoping to stop crop damage, but instead, the offspring died as maggots, inside the fruit, making it just as inedible as the damage caused by adults.

One of the most dangerous things about all of this is that there are really no regulations, no laws, and no oversight when it comes to GM insects. None. This means that anyone can create any type of GM insect and release it with no repercussions — there are no laws regarding these monstrosities.

Perhaps if the public discovered that GM insects can be created and released without any oversight or repercussions, they might think twice about these “solutions” to natural problems.

Greenpeace suggests that GM bugs could have wide-ranging and unintended impact on both the environment and human health since there are many unknown factors about these insects. Just some of the concerns that environmental groups have raised are:

  • New genes could jump into other species, causing unintended and terrible consequences for the natural ecosystem
  • Releases of insects would be impossible to control or monitor as well as being irreversible
  • New insects might fill a niche left by the suppressed insects, creating new health or environmental problems

And the real cherry on the top? Oxitec says that they will not be responsible for any complications that might arise. They want to release billions of GM insects before any regulation might be enacted, and they say that, even after regulation occurs, they want to exclude risk assessments such as possible impact on human health.

 

READ ALSO: We Have 20 Non-Toxic Ways to Get Rid of Houseflies! Say “Bye Bye” Flies!

 

You probably haven’t heard anything about this release of mosquitoes, even if you live in Florida. Why is this? Why is there no input allowed from the public? Why are things that can impact the health of everyone kept so hush-hush?

There are so many questions that have yet to be answered.

References:

www.nytimes.com

www.inasp.info

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