Forskere kæmper for at opnå tilladelse til at frigive genmodificerede myg, som skal bekæmpe dengue-feber – en potentielt dødelig virus, der plager mange udviklingslande.
BANGKOK, 3 November 2010 (IRIN) These mosquitoes are engineered with an extra gene or inserted bacterium or have had a gene altered so that either their offspring are sterile and unable to spread dengue, or simply die.
“People generally do not like the unknown and are alarmist. Because there has never been a [field] release of GM [genetically modified] mosquitoes, critics are free to imagine what can possibly go wrong,” said UK-based entomologist and professor at Imperial College London, John Mumford.
For half a century, scientists have released billions of engineered insects – for example, fruit flies – to save plants, but to date there has not been a field release of insects engineered to save humans.
The Malaysia-headquartered NGO Pesticide Action Network-Asia and the Pacific opposed a since-granted request to release modified mosquitoes on the grounds that “it may have environmental or health consequences as well as carry risks arising from horizontal gene transfer”, wrote executive director, Sarojeni V. Rengam, who stressed the “possibility of new health risks to humans and animals….the insect may become more virulent, aggressive, or its bite might have different effects on the host.”
According to the Malaysian Health Ministry, 37,419 dengue cases were reported from January to 2 October, an increase of 17 percent on the same period last year.
If fish eat the larvae of modified mosquitoes and people eat the fish, one fear is how this diet may affect people, Mumford explained. “But we are forgetting that people eat modified corn and soybeans,” he said.
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