Biology Reference
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that advocates a freewheeling global eco-mix of species .most proponents
of purposeful introductions understand the risks (but believe that technology
can deal with them), and most conservation biologists recognize the potential
benefits to be derived from carefully controlled introductions. Clearly, there
is a need to bring all parties together on common ground that can lead to
objective, science-based decisions by policymakers.”
Science-based discussions of the potential risks associated with perma-
nent releases of GMAs for pest-management programs are urgently needed.
People with diverse viewpoints and vision should conduct such discussions.
Inappropriate releases and unintended consequences could detrimentally affect
all projects involving GMAs. More funding and effort should be devoted to
research on risk-assessment methods.
The potential value of GMAs to practical pest-management problems is often
discussed in terms of the social, public health, and economic costs associated
with malaria and other arthropod-borne diseases. Traditional pest-management
programs for insect vectors of diseases have serious limitations or have failed,
especially for malaria. For example, despite enormous efforts, malaria is an
ongoing and important health problem, with at least 400 million people falling
ill with malaria each year. As many as one million people die each year, espe-
cially children younger than 5 years of age in Africa ( Marshall 2000, Marshall
and Taylor 2009 ). Will deployment of GM mosquitoes unable to vector malaria
contribute to a solution to malaria? Or will vaccines and drugs be developed
that will mitigate the problem? There can be no clear answers without carrying
out the appropriate experiments, and different scientists have very divergent
opinions as to how scarce research funds should be spent.
Miller (1989) reviewed malaria-control strategies and pointed out that it is
unlikely there will be “a magic bullet that will eliminate malaria.” He noted,
“Even DDT could not be called such a weapon, at least in retrospect” due to
the problem of resistance to the pesticide. The strategy of relying on single
tactics in pest management, whether it is control of mosquitoes or of agricul-
tural pests, ultimately fails. Relying on genetic modification as a sole tactic is
unlikely to be an exception. For example, the complexity of the genetic struc-
ture in An. gambiae populations in West Africa ( Lanzaro et  al. 1998 ), which
may be reflective of the complex genetic architecture of many arthropods,
suggests that release programs involving a single GM strain are unlikely to be
successful. The integration of several compatible tactics has been more sustain-
able than relying upon a single management tactic; multitactic management
of medically important disease vectors also is more likely to be sustainable
( Miller 1989 ).
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