I referred to the recent news published in the Star online regarding the Field testing approved for GM mosquitoes - http://ow.ly/2St3N
In the news, there are few key words that draw my attention, such as
National Biosafety Board, field testing, genetically-modified Aedes mosquitoes, Cabinet approval, Natural Resources and Environment Ministry
This is a breakthrough technology and I learnt that (if not mistaken) it’s a collaboration between IMR, Malaysia and Oxford based company. Of course, I’m looking forward for the outcome of this exciting study.
However there are several concerns we should look into it:-
1) More information (E.g. underlying safety issue, ecological impact, public opinion, etc) about this GM mosquitoes should be available to the public. I knew this effort one year ago, but other people may not know about this.
2) In research, every approach will have its pros and cons. We would like to know who are the panel members of the National Biosafety Board? What are their expertise? In this case, a biosafety board should be comprised of experts in genetic, molecular biology, ecology, environmental sciece, ethical science, etc. For public interest, we should keep inform with any side impacts of GM materials
3) Field study. Is it takes place in housing area, forest, confined region etc? How long it takes? Why these places were selected (Bentong, Pahang, and Alor Gajah, Malacca,)? Just a note that area of studies may affect the result, due to various factors e.g. weather, moisture, or amount of rainwater (precipitation rate). etc
4)GM tech. What approach was employed? What effects to insect, or “mosquitoes-eating animal” should they feed on this GM mosquitoes?
5)Ecosystem: as mentioned earlier, what if other insects/ mosquitoes eating animal feed on them? Since we are not sure that the larvae produced are 100% eradicated, so what will happen if the larvae alive, will the offspring become a new species of mosquitoes? When the field study carry out, ecological assessment should be carry out, e.g. what happen to the population in the area of study.
6) Cabinet approval: Wondering is there any cabinet member/ minister have knowledge of GM. This is a big decision, the cabinet should also refer to opinions from scientific community / public locally & internationally.
7) The study itself. No matter positive or negative feedbacks. A good finding should be opened for discussion, ready to be challenged by expert or public. Just like the GM crops issues in China and UK, there were good discussion involved. These discussions will lead to better before the study begin.
I don’t play down the government effort in tackling the dengue fever, but proper control on GM materials is crucial. Also, I hope there will be more discussion involved in this issue. The government should also increase public awareness on the GM issue as well.
There are few papers from the nature about mosquitoes that are worth reading (paiseh, I haven’t read through the papers):-
Mosquitoes: schemes to render them extinct are impracticable : Nature - http://ow.ly/2Sv1D
Mosquitoes: retain an ex situ population for ecological insurance : Nature - http://ow.ly/2Sv2j
Mosquitoes: just how much biodiversity does humanity need? : Nature - http://ow.ly/2Sv36
Mosquitoes: first evaluate impacts of eradicating them : Nature - http://ow.ly/2Sv3y
The Cartagena Protocol and genetically modified mosquitoes : Nature Biotechnology - http://ow.ly/2Sv3Z
3 comments:
Just some quick info: The genetic modification involves making male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes becoming reliant on tetracycline to survive. In doing so, the researchers can breed these male mosquitoes in the lab with regulated control and release them to the environment. Tetracycline is not readily available in the environment and the males will be autocidal very quickly. Before that, these mosquitoes will compete with wild-type males for mating with female mosquitoes. The result of the mating are larvae inheriting the flawed genes from the male which will trigger autocide at the larval stage before they can mature into adults.
@wang: thanks for the comment. I came accross this, journal published by oxitec, and comments by org. against it. Before say yes/no, public concern, possible risks, how's the field studies conducted, views from ppl against/favour it should be taken into consideration, rather than scientific jargon from the said company and only understandable by group of bioscience ppl.
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