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Forget DEET: Mutant Mosquitoes Offer "New Hope" to Malarial Regions

A team of US researchers has announced that it's developed a genetically modified malaria-resistant mosquito.

I know, everybody's mad at GMOs, but malaria kills up to 2.7 million people per year, most of them kids. And why spend a couple of bucks donating insecticide-treated mosquito nets to broke African babies when you can build a transnational army of super-bugs (which, as a creepy bonus, were also injected with a protein that causes their eyes to glow fluorescent green) to eradicate a disease?

The new creations are so effective because they are heartier than regular mosquitoes, which means they could take over the mosquito world, which means malaria could be wiped out. Despite the fact that nothing good ever happens when alien species are introduced into an ecosystem, researchers are hopeful that the extra-egg-laying, harder-to-kill mutants will be ready to be released into the wild in a decade or two.

—Nicole McClelland

Posted by Mother Jones on 03/27/07 at 11:17 AM | Comments (1) | Email | Print

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