If you want a definitive answer, you may be on the wrong website.
We finally may be able to rid the world of mosquitoes. But should we?
US Headtopics | 06 03 2025Gene editing holds the potential of suppressing mosquito species that carry deadly diseases — and raises ethical questions.
The development of this technology also raises a profound ethical question: When, if ever, is it okay to intentionally drive a species out of existence?
My answers:
- Yup. Do it now. Ticks, too, while you’re at it. And ringworms.
- Nope. God knew what He was doing.
- But we kill cancers, and microbes, and viruses and burglars and rabid opossums that are trying to kill us.
- You’re right.
When, if ever, is it okay to intentionally drive a species out of existence? That’s easy…it’s okay when that species is the mosquito.
Lake trout jump and eat mosqujitoes. What woujld we replace it with?
Bats would starve.
Not the vampire ones.
Bill Clinton:
“When I was a hippie going to Oxford I must have caught pubic lice at least 30 times. It was then that I decided that if I ever ran for POTUS my slogan would be ‘DICE THE LICE’
not just yeah, but hell yeah. We’ve driven an enormous number of species … and could/should do more. Mosquitoes, ticks, lice, fire ants, termites, and, oh, Muslims. All very useless and destructive species we could happily live without.
Now I know why they call you Pistol Pete.
I would ask myself whether the typical mosquito would do the same thing to us if it could. Us being a primary source of nourishment, it would make no sense for them to drive us to extinction, so I say no!
Look, I can handle the disease part. Mostly because I think people getting deadly diseases from mosquitoes is a third world problem, if that. But if we could genetically mutate the damn things so the bites just don’t itch or hurt, that would mostly remove the animosity.