How fast would gene drive mosquitoes spread? I estimate 1-10 miles per year. Of course, once you know it works, you can speed that up very cheaply by transporting mosquitoes. If someone surreptitiously released them once, in one place, and it worked, how long would it take to notice?
Your enthusiasm is laudable. However, comparable approaches have been around for decades and the limits are definitely political, not technical. For instance https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-impact/defeating-dengue-gm-mosquitoes recently finished a trial in Florida, but I don't see any path to regulatory approval or widespread use. What makes the gene drive mechanism different?
I think the risks are underestimated here, this is a genie that can't be put back in the bottle. There is a low chance of a downside MUCH worse than the status quo of thousands of deaths per day. I would be more in favor if there were larger scale (biosphere tm) size trials and there was a way to 'undo the release'. Could you develop a gene-drive to return the og mosquitoes? Two other questions I have are... 1. Why don't / wont the things that got Malaria out of eg south US work in Africa.
2. I there a way to target the plasmodium rather than the mosquito?
It seems like it's doable by a rogue individual with a basement lab preferably where there are many natural mosquitoes and the dedication to spend their own money to try it but if I were a molecular biology graduate, I would certainly at least think about it. When the barriers are political and not technical in a big problem like this I become very frustrated.
How fast would gene drive mosquitoes spread? I estimate 1-10 miles per year. Of course, once you know it works, you can speed that up very cheaply by transporting mosquitoes. If someone surreptitiously released them once, in one place, and it worked, how long would it take to notice?
Your enthusiasm is laudable. However, comparable approaches have been around for decades and the limits are definitely political, not technical. For instance https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-impact/defeating-dengue-gm-mosquitoes recently finished a trial in Florida, but I don't see any path to regulatory approval or widespread use. What makes the gene drive mechanism different?
I think the risks are underestimated here, this is a genie that can't be put back in the bottle. There is a low chance of a downside MUCH worse than the status quo of thousands of deaths per day. I would be more in favor if there were larger scale (biosphere tm) size trials and there was a way to 'undo the release'. Could you develop a gene-drive to return the og mosquitoes? Two other questions I have are... 1. Why don't / wont the things that got Malaria out of eg south US work in Africa.
2. I there a way to target the plasmodium rather than the mosquito?
It seems like it's doable by a rogue individual with a basement lab preferably where there are many natural mosquitoes and the dedication to spend their own money to try it but if I were a molecular biology graduate, I would certainly at least think about it. When the barriers are political and not technical in a big problem like this I become very frustrated.