Sunday, November 16, 2014
Genetic Weapon Against Insects Raises Hope and Fear in Farming
Full Article
Nero-poison pesticides kill all insects, good and bad but what if we could target individual species and leave beneficial insects such as bees alone? As of now there are countless crops that could benefit from such a product, not to mention we may be able to target mites that may be responsible for the massive die off of our invaluable bees. Biotechnology companies are attempting to create an insecticide that disables specific gene sequences unique to individual species. However there are concerns that the gene splicing may harm species with similar genomes and possibly humans as well. As of now we don't know what the side effects of such a weapon against pest would be. Would it be similar to the DDT fiasco, would it be possible to create resistant super bugs? There are important questions that need answering before these products can be implemented. But can these questions be answered in time to save our crops and our bees?
I think this is going to be the future of all pesticides along with genetically modified crops that also kill pest that try to eat them. However I do not want any of this to be used until we are sure that beneficial species and humans will not be harmed. There are other considerations to take such as how killing off an entire population of anything can effect an ecosystem, but if there's one thing humans can and will do it is the killing off anything that inconveniences us in the quickest and most efficient way possible. We've done it before, it's happening now and it'll continue to happen as long as we're here. (Just for the record I don't think the whole killing things off is okay, I'm just acknowledging that it happens)
Labels:
bees,
crops,
insecticides,
Pesticides
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