Why not just eradicate them? Genuine question. I don't think they serve any purpose in nature and are just pissing off every living being.
Putting aside questions of ecosystems etc, I think the main reason is that we just can't - ironic since we seem to be extint-ing all the other animals
In South America they tried in the 50s and 60s, and more kept cropping up. They breed so quickly, if you miss an area they can just rebound. Then more can come in on ships and stuff
So you couldn't really localise it, it would have to be a huge global undertaking. And it would likely require widespread use of pesticides that are at best tricksy and at worst illegal, not to mention environmentally shitty
They need blood to procreate so the method in the post does exactly what you are asking for
On the one hand this is creepy as hell
On the other fuck mosquitoes
Great. First science was making the frogs gay. Now it's turning the mosquitos trans.
What's next? Lesbian amoebas? Pansexual algae? Non-binary seahorses?
Has science gone too far?
DIE, DIE, DIE
"Sheen, this is the 7th week in a row you've shown CRISPR modifications to the mosquito genome to curb malaria in class"
Comments are all the same as when they made mosquitos infertile, unable to spread malaria or wingless too.
Do vegans support this because it prevents mosquitoes from consuming animal flesh, or do they oppose it because it denies the mosquitoes their nature?
It's nuanced because it could reduce suffering overall, but it could also disrupt ecosystems in ways we can't predict and cause even more suffering. I think the latter is more likely. People have a tendency to paint animals they don't like as insignificant to the ecosystem, but they're nearly always incorrect. Wasps, for instance, are important pollinators, even if they do sting, and mosquitoes are an important food source, even if they are deadly. Anyone who advocates for eradicating species like these is doing so through a biased lens. We are nowhere near the point, technologically or scientifically, that we'd be safe playing god with the natural world like this -- especially not with the massive damage we've already caused to the environment. Someday? Maybe. But not right now.
I do also find it horrific to forcibly alter a mosquito's body so she can't express her natural behaviors. After all -- mosquitoes may cause harm, but they lack the capacity for moral reasoning, and thus cannot be evil. Thus, they don't "deserve" any kind of torment. But my personal discomfort with this isn't a moral argument.
So, uh, that's my take on it as a vegan.
I'd argue that we can predict ecosystem effects. In America we annihilated malaria hot spots with DDT. Didn't seem to crash any ecosystems.
We genetically engineered mosquitoes to have gender dysmorphia - weird times.
They are turning the ~~frogs gay~~ mosquitoes trans!
I had a fruit fly problem over the summer and felt guilty about the cruelty of the glue traps. But when it comes to mosquitos, roaches, and wasps, I'm Hitler. I would favor genetic alterations that expanded their capacity for suffering.
Cleanse the followers of Nurgle!
I'd like to see any scientific study that reassures at least a little that this won't have terrible ramifications for ecosystems and the food chain.
We know too little, we are shortsighted and we have a bad record of intervening with nature.
LOL FUCK EM
This is what vegans want. They want to take your virile bloodsucking proboscus and replace it with a limp dick fruit licker.
BAN ALL VEGANS
(Small /s)
As long as they can still get blood from other creatures too, I'm okay with it. If not, than that could have wild implications to the food chain assuming it leads to massive population degradation.
Not all species of mosquitos feed on blood, like how only some bats feed on blood. As long as we only mess with the ones that feed on blood, it is a lot more likely that species that feed on mosquitos will have time to adapt to population changes.
Even the ones that do feed on mosquitos don't feed exclusively on mosquitoes.
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
