GMIs and Their Use in Society

Everyone has heard of GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. These include mostly crops genetically engineered to be bigger, better tasting, administer vaccines, or replace pesticides. However, a new issue is appearing in the field of GMOs: genetically modified insects, or GMIs.

These are insects, specifically the Aedes Mosquito that have been genetically modified to painlessly die before reaching the age at which it is possible to transmit diseases. This would be performed by the genetic modification company Oxitec.

In support of GMIs:

The most impactful of the reasons of support for genetically modified insects is disease protection. Mosquitoes are highly prone to spreading diseases such as Zika Virus, Malaria, Dengue Fever, Yellow Fever, West Nile Virus [1],etc…. the list goes on. In fact, mosquitoes were found to be the world’s deadliest animals by measure of deaths per contact with humans:

[2]

As can be easily concluded, the mosquito singlehandedly entails more deaths than all others listed. This can be attributed to disease, as mosquito bites alone are infrequently fatal. Genetic modification would theoretically eliminate the gene that allows for this to occur.

The other reason is for the potential eradication of the use of pesticides and insecticides. The NIH found that humankind has collectively lost 13 million IQ points due to organophosphate, the use of which is in pesticide [3]. The genetic modification proposed aims to naturally and painlessly kill these pests before the time that pesticides is needed for them, a surprisingly late time. This effectively erases the need for pesticides and thus the need for organophosphate.

Against GMIs

A major reason against the use of GMIs is that there is no certainty of success. Testing has only proven success to a certain degree, and there will be no way to reverse the new genes. The Scientific American magazine finds that, “we do not know what most of our DNA does, nor how, or to what extent it governs traits.” [4]

The next reason is based on the principle that scientists may not experiment on the unwilling public. A Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences study from 2013 finds that 25% of all Americans have never heard of genetic modification, and thus probably haven’t given express consent to have experimentation within their community.

Let it be said that genetically modified insects are an object of great controversy. At the essence of the debate, we are distilled to the principles of the ethics of experimentation versus the ethics of disease.

By Ted Rock

Works Cited:

[1] "Mosquito-Borne Diseases." Mosquito-Borne Diseases. American Mosquito Control Association, 2014. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.

[2] Griffiths, Sarah. "Forget Sharks - Mosquitoes and SNAILS Are the World's Deadliest Animals: Graphic Reveals the Human Race's Biggest Killers." Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.

[3] Bellanger, M., B. Demeneix, P. Grandjean, RT Zoeller, and L. Trasande. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 5 Mar. 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.

[4] Ball, Phillip. "DNA at 60: Still Much to Learn." Scientific American 28 Apr. 2013. Print.

[5] Drosophila Melanogaster Fruit Fly. Digital image. Drosophila Melanogaster. Wikimedia, 3 Mar. 2016. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.

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