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A new laboratory technique enables biologists to “edit” the genetic makeup of entire species for purposes ranging from the benevolent to the nefarious, with the “potential to cause ecological mayhem,” Antonio Regalado reports in MIT Technology Review.
“Gene drive,” Regalado writes in a review of current articles on the topic, “would cause chosen genes, including man-made ones, to quickly spread through a species as its members reproduce.” He cites a new report in Science that gives background on the method:
[A] gene drive involves stimulating biased inheritance of particular genes to alter entire populations of organisms. It was first proposed more than a decade ago, and researchers have been developing gene drive approaches to alter mosquitoes to slow the spread of malaria and dengue fever. Although progress has been quite slow, recent advances in gene editing could lead to a rapid application of gene drive approaches to other species.
Researchers have already used the method to design mosquitos that produce only male offspring “with the idea of releasing them in the wild to cause a population crash, thereby reducing malaria,” Regalado explains. Any number of other ends could be imagined.
http://www.truthdig.com/eartothegrou..._urge_20140719
Quite frankly, these people are insane.
“Gene drive,” Regalado writes in a review of current articles on the topic, “would cause chosen genes, including man-made ones, to quickly spread through a species as its members reproduce.” He cites a new report in Science that gives background on the method:
[A] gene drive involves stimulating biased inheritance of particular genes to alter entire populations of organisms. It was first proposed more than a decade ago, and researchers have been developing gene drive approaches to alter mosquitoes to slow the spread of malaria and dengue fever. Although progress has been quite slow, recent advances in gene editing could lead to a rapid application of gene drive approaches to other species.
Researchers have already used the method to design mosquitos that produce only male offspring “with the idea of releasing them in the wild to cause a population crash, thereby reducing malaria,” Regalado explains. Any number of other ends could be imagined.
http://www.truthdig.com/eartothegrou..._urge_20140719
Quite frankly, these people are insane.
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