Eradication for

the Greater
Good
Matthew Ebalu

What Do Students On Our Campus

Think?
In a survey conducted on the City College
of New York campus, students were asked
if they were in favor of eradicating all
disease carrying mosquitoes.
Out of 150 students that participated in
the survey, 92% were in favor of
eradicating the diseases carrying
mosquitos while 8% were against the
idea.

Peoples Thoughts on the

Eradication of Disease Causing
Mosquitoes:

s:

What
They DO
Responsible for some of
the deadliest diseases
such as Malaria, Dengue
Fever, West Nile, and Zika

They cause more human

suffering than any other
organism
Approx. 1-million casualties
are recorded each year due
to mosquitoes
Malaria alone infects 247
million people each year,
with 6 million dying every
decade
Oh hell naw!

Ecological Considerations
Benefits of Mosquitoes:
Their larva provides food for
fish and other wildlife
Mosquitoes serve as food for
insects and other birds
They help in pollination of some
flowers

How we can deal without them:

Mosquitoes are not known to be
the sole food source of any
organism
Niche will likely be filled by
other organisms
Birds will begin to feed on
other animals that will fill
the mosquitoes niche

Our Target:
There are around 3500 species of mosquitoes
Only 30-40 species are vectors for diseases
Only female mosquitoes actually transmit disease
We are only seeking to eradicate the three main
disease carriers- Aedes aegypti, Culex fatigans, and
Anopheles stephensi

ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS:
Likely, tens of billions of dollars spent each year on
treating and preventing mosquito-borne diseases
1.35 billion dollars spent a year on Dengue in Brazil
alone
Thats just one disease in one country

Ethical Considerations
Reasons Why We Should Eradicate Mosquitoes
Extinction of Species is a normal part of life
99% of all species that have lived on earth have gone
extinct
We would be saving human lives without killing every
species of mosquito
Overall cases of Dengue fever has risen from 1.2
million in 2008 to 2.4 million in 2015

Oxitecs Solution:

Oxitecs Solution: The Genetically

Modified Mosquito
The eggs of mosquitoes are
inserted with gene
codes(segments of DNA) that
cause:

Glass
needle
injector

Mosquito
eggs

Male sterility-SIT
genetic modification
SIT
Larval Death- self
limiting gene

Source:http://www.oxitec.com/oxitec-video/more-onthe-science-how-does-oxitec-make-geneticallymodified-mosquitoes/

Public Education:

PROBLEMS:
GMO has unjustifiably gotten a bad
reputation
This fear stems from a lack of
understanding
Pushback from communities where field
trials have taken place due to lack of
involvement and misinformation and

IMAGINE IF WE ASKED DONALD TRUMP

Mosquitoes arent
the problem; MEXICANS &
WOMEN ARE!

SOLUTIONS:
Take an informative and regulated approach in
areas where mosquitoes create a great public
health concern
Community involvement through local meetings
and incentives to participate in field trials
Through working together and keeping the
community well informed, we will hopefully see
a shift attitude towards GMO

CONCLUSION
We can save millions of lives with way less money
Ecological effects are minimal
The technology is at our fingertips, ready to be implemented

Sources:
1.

Adelman, Zach N. Genetic Control of Malaria and Dengue, Academic Press, 2016

2.

Anopheles Mosquitoes. Global Health - Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.

3.

Carvalho, Danilo O. et al. "Suppression of a Field Population of Aedes Aegypti in Brazil by Sustained Release of Transgenic Male Mosquitoes." PLOS-Neglected Tropical Diseases.
<http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?idhttp://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0003864=10.1371/journal.pntd.0003864>., 2 July 2015. Web. 8 May 2016.

4.

Daniel Engber, Lets Kill all the Mosquitoes. Slate Magazine. 26 Jan. 2016.

5.

Dengue and severe dengue. (2016, April). Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs117/en/

6.

Fang, Janet. A World Without Mosquitoes." Nature Vol. 466. 22 July 2010.

7.

Kim M. Pepin et al. Cost-effectiveness of Novel Systems of Mosquito Surveillance and Control, Brazil. Emerging Infectious Diseases. April 2013.

8.

Kunin, W. E., & Gaston, K. J. (1997). The biology of rarity: Causes and consequences of rare-common differences. London: Chapman & Hall.

9.

Marshall, M. (2015, July 14). What is the point of saving endangered species? Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150715-why-save-an-endangered-species

10.

Miller, Elizabeth. Mosquitoes Role in the Ecosystem: They provide food and pollination, but spread diseases. Retrieved April 16, 2016, from http://www.mosquitoreviews.com/mosquitoes-ecosystem.html

11.

Petroff, Alanna. "Zika: Company Fights Virus with Mutant Mosquitoes." CNN Money. 28 Jan. 2016.

12.

Specter, Michael. "The Mosquito Solution." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 02 July 2012. Web. Retrieved 17 Apr. 2016. <http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/09/the-mosquito-solution>.

13.

Trivedi, Bijal P. The Wipeout Gene, Scientific American, November 2011

14.

Webb, Jonathan. "GM Lab Mosquitoes May Aid Malaria Fight." BBC News. N.p., 10 June 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27765974>.

15.

World Health Organization, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs387/en/. Web. February 2016.

Sources
Munby, Jennifer. "Oxitec Claymation Voice of Aegypta JenniferMunby." YouTube. N.p., 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 9 May 2016. <
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdVl5uenWoU>.
Oxitec. "More on the Science: How Does Oxitec Make Genetically Modified Mosquitoes?" Oxitec: Innovative Insect Control. N.p., n.d. Web. 16
May 2016. <http://www.oxitec.com/oxitec-video/more-on-the-science-how-does-oxitec-make-genetically-modified-mosquitoes/>.
TomoNewsUS. "Millions of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Could Be Released in Florida." YouTube. TomoNews US, 26 Jan. 2015. Web. 2
May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K23QWXTb-Os>.