It appears geneticists have found a viable means of reducing the mosquito population, and thus reduce the incidence of dread diseases like Dengue Fever and Malaria. It's an elegant solution: Change the genetics of these pests so they can no longer produce viable offspring, using snippets of DNA from, of all things, coral.
Predictably, this has the environmentalists - the same bunch that wants the world's human population reduced to around 600 million, for the sake of Mother Earth - in a tizzy.
Friends of The Earth (aptly acronymed FOE) lobbyist Gillian Madill said, "The inherent arrogance of believing that you can control the outcome is outrageous."
My own perspective is that Mother Nature - or Mother Earth, or whatever - is an utter, inveterate bitch. A realistic appraisal of Nature shows that the natural world is hellbent on killing us, probably on purpose. From gamma ray bursts, to asteroid impacts and volcanos, on down things like viruses and prions, we live in a vast death machine. Take the dinosaurs, for example; in case you haven't noticed, they're all extinct, Nessies and Mokole-Mbembes notwithstanding. An environmentalist would say we have no more priviledged position than did T Rex, so if the world wants to needlessly bump off a few million of us a year, that's only fair.
But unlike T-Rex, we people can actually use our brains to thwart Nature's evil plans. Nature has evolved us in such a way as to be able to wrestle with these primordial forces of death and destruction. We're fools to sit back and take whatever plagues and/or disasters Nature decides to dish out to us.
I admit, I don't have the edjumacations some of these folks have, their understanding of the delicate balance of Nature and all that. But I have direct experience, and this tells me that parasitic vectors like mosquitos and fleas ... well, serve no purpose in nature that I can see. When I go outside at night, and mosquitos sting every exposed surface, or when my home life is a constant battle to control fleas (I have five cats), I have to consider that Nature is serving nobody by making me miserable and itchy. True Darwinism would involve some insect stinging me, and me falling dead on the spot to make room for the next generation. With things like fleas, mosquitos and ticks, nature isn't being Darwinist, she's (its) being a Sadist.
Don't even get me started on Poisen Ivy, Oak or Sumac ...
No less a person than Bill Gates is funding mosquito eradication projects, and he has already spent $38 million funding the genetic neutering of these critters to reduce their numbers and save human lives. Say what you will about Mr. Gates, anyone smart enough to revolutionize IT by bringing it into everyone's home, and who has become one of the richest people on Earth in doing so, is probably smart enough to pay attention to. And Bill Gates, bless him, despises mosquitos.
Mr. Gates, if you're reading this, and you're looking for a place to field-test your genetically neutered mosquitos, I invite you to consider my back yard as a proving ground.
