Mad Soy Disease and Genetically Modified Mosquitoes. What's next?
@maximumgravity1 (245)
United States
November 19, 2010 9:46pm CST
A new pandemic is spreading across Brazil and parts of South America as Genetically Modified Soybeans are creating a new disease called "Mad Soy Disease". Similar in nature to Mad Cow Disease, this causes mutations in both the plant, and the Soybean Pod. The Plants thin out, and the stalks get thicker. The pods deform and bean count goes down. The plants stay green, but never reach maturity, and eventually rot wight on the vine.
In similar news, a UK company called Oxitec, has created a new GM mosquito that renders the larvae on the verge of death unless the antibiotic tetracycline is introduced. Sounds eerily like the "Lysine contingency" in the movie Jurassic Park. With the cooperation of the Grand Cayman Mosquito Research division, they have introduced three million mosquitoes on Grand Cayman....last year. They are just now publishing their information about this "experiment" this month.
Mad Soy Disease info - http://www.i-sis.org.uk/madSoyDieaseStrikesBrazil.php
GM Mosquitoes info - http://www.scidev.net/en/news/gm-mosquito-wild-release-takes-campaigners-by-surprise.html
Any thoughts on these? Are people over reacting to GMO's? Should people be concerned with mutations that could occur in mammalian populations with GM mosquitoes? Is Mad Soy Disease part of working out the bugs?
1 person likes this
1 response
@rovered777 (649)
• United States
20 Nov 10
There is lots of worry that a new outbreak will happen anytime soon. The FDA and governments of USA and Europe need to join together to solve epidemics. Who knows if infester mosquitoes will hold a strain of disease so harmful that it will act like an Aids virus. We definitely have a good way to prevent diseases, but when harmful transmitters like these try to infect people, it is almost impossible trying to prevent that from happening.
@maximumgravity1 (245)
• United States
20 Nov 10
That is the scary part to me. They are messing with "technology" they don't fully understand. They don't know what the consequences will be or if they create a whole new strain of super virus that can't be contained or stopped. I think until they have 100% certainty, they shouldn't be playing around with this technology.
