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They were supposed to test them in the Keys but there was a big push back.

The reason they wanted to try it there, was if it didn't work, they wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.

 

On a related note, this is a long article but a very good read on how modified screwworms are helping some Central American countries and the US.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/flesh-eating-worms-disease-containment-america-panama/611026/

 

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7 hours ago, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

It would be nice to not be bitten by mosquitoes but what about the bats and others who eat them?  Will that mess with their food supply?

Yeah... messing with a functioning (albeit annoying) ecosystem usually doesn't end well.

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I read an ethics article on this a year or so ago. At that time the article stated we could wipe out entire species of pests through genetics but the questions were should we and at what costs. As mentioned bats are one species under pressure that eat mosquitoes but their larvae also support entire food chains for animals such as fish and amphibians. Let's say it works and we wipe out the mosquito that spreads Zika. Do we stop there after all it is only on species? Why not do the same for the Anopheles mosquito which carries malaria? The article left the answer open but my conclusion was we are better off not toying with things like this as it has been proven time and again once the genie is out of the bottle you can't put it back in.  

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