Should We Eradicate Mosquitos?

[Seraphina]

Should we eradicate mosquitos? I've seen some talk of it lately. Mosquitos are the deadliest animal species to humans.

Most mosquito species do not carry diseases. However, scientists can edit genes of mosquitos that carry diseases so that they are resistant to the parasite that carries malaria or make female mosquitoes infertile and then introduce the genetically altered mosquitos into the general population.

According to WHO, there were 214 million malaria cases in 2015 and about 438,000 malaria deaths.

On a personal note, my dad lives in the Philippines and was hospitalized after contracting dengue from a mosquito bite.
I spent a week in Miami Beach in June, where the CDC has now issued a travel advisory for pregnant women and their partners because of Zika. I didn't have any mosquitos bites while there but hearing about Zika there has given me pause.

So what do you think? Get rid of mosquito species that spread disease? If we did, would there be any unintended consequences? Do the benefits of eradication outweigh the risks?

I say yes, we should eradicate mosquito species that spread disease. Good riddance.


http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazi...osquitoes/

[account_inactive]

Kill them all.

[abaris]

Couldn't care less. Vandal takes care of them just nicely.

[Jesster]

Let's weigh our pros and cons here.

Cons:
Fucking over the world's ecosystem beyond belief.

Pros:
We get to kill those little pieces of shit that make the outdoors a living hell and spread some of the worst blood-borne diseases in the world.

[Seraphina]

Kill them all.

I knew we would agree on something eventually, Bella. 

[brewer]

Not until I make money on the DEET investment. /joke, maybe

I can't think of a reason off the top of my head not to eradicate but I am hesitant. Does anyone know for absolute certain that there will not be a negative environmental impact?

[Seraphina]

There's a community in the Florida Keys that is steadfastly against releasing genetically altered mosquitos into the area which would reduce the population of mosquitos and I don't understand why. I would be all for it if I lived there.

[account_inactive]

Kill them all.

I knew we would agree on something eventually, Bella. 

I'm sure we agree on more than you think.  

[Jesster]

[Seraphina]

Not until I make money on the DEET investment. /joke, maybe

I can't think of a reason off the top of my head not to eradicate but I am hesitant. Does anyone know for absolute certain that there will not be a negative environmental impact?

The only impact I've heard about is on the insects or animals that feed on mosquito larvae. If mosquitos are gone, the larvae would be gone too.
I believe there would be some negative impact but the positive impact outweighs the negative.