What Could Possibly Go Wrong: Genetically-Modified Mosquitoes
Fever Dream Critics worry that genetically engineering mosquitoes and releasing them into the wild-one proposed method for controlling the spread of malaria and other diseases -could cause those diseases to become more virulent Jamie SneddonGenetically engineered mosquitoes could even spread genes to other insects As carriers for diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever, mosquitoes are the deadliest creatures on the planet, responsible for millions of human deaths every year. And as the planet warms, the insects are broadly expanding their turf and bringing their diseases with them; thousands of cases of dengue, a tropical disease, have appeared in the U.S. in the past five years. DDT was long used to control the mosquito population, but it is now widely banned, and in any case, many scientists believe that mosquitoes quickly build up a resistance to the insecticide. That, in part, is why the battle against mosquitoes has gone...