Perspectives

Opinions on and about gene drive technologies and their uses.

Rethinking the future of mosquito control

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Kabirul Bashar, Dr Zonaed Siddiki. Dr Zonaed Siddiki, et al.,  Dhaka Tribune,  2025.
Bangladesh is once again in the grip of a severe dengue and chikungunya crisis in 2025. Hospitals are overwhelmed, fever wards are full, and doctors are working tirelessly. Families live in fear of mosquito bites, while daily news reports chronicle rising infections and deaths. ...

Gene drives, species complexes, and the risks of collateral damage

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C. Boëte,  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.,  122. 2025.
The development of engineered gene drive systems continues to garner significant interest. Theoretically, these systems could spread traits in a target species (an approach known as population replacement) or eliminate a population within a few generations (population ...

Should we edit nature?

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David Farrier,  Aeon,  2025.
At the end of August 1939, the German archaeologist Otto Völzing discovered around 200 fragments of carved mammoth ivory at the back of a cave in southern Germany. With war just a week away, Völzing’s find was hurriedly collected in a box, where it lay unnoticed in a museum ...

OPINION: Military Shuts Down Bill Gates Genetically Modified Mosquito Project in West Africa

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Jon Fleetwood,  Substack,  2025.
Last month, the military government of Burkina Faso has done what no Western regulator dared to do: it ordered the immediate termination of Bill Gates’ genetically modified mosquito project—‘Target Malaria’—and the destruction of all bioengineered insect samples inside ...

Is Gene Drive Research Losing Traction?

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Gregory C. Lanzaro and Ana M. Kormos,  The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,  2025.
Significant progress has been made in developing gene drives, especially for mosquito vectors of malaria. It is widely agreed that a critical next step in advancing this technology is to evaluate it through small-scale field trials. However, obtaining permission to move forward ...

Releasing GM Mosquitoes in Burkina Faso is Dangerous

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Irina Vekcha,  Countercurrents,  2025.
The Target Malaria project claims to be able to eradicate malaria by using gene drive technology to eliminate Anopheles mosquitoes, the malaria vectors. There are several gene drive projects around the world, targeting different species (insects, mammals, fungi, etc.), using ...

Controversial ‘gene-drive’ strategy could make mosquitoes hostile to malaria parasites

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Mitch Leslie,  Science,  2025.
To fight malaria and the mosquitoes that spread it, people have drained swamps, showered their homes with insecticides, slathered themselves in noxious repellents, hidden under netting at night, and invented the gin and tonic—as a palatable way to take the bitter antimalarial ...

Can the world survive without mosquitoes and should we even try to find out?

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Sowjanya Pedada,  LA Post,  2025.
Scientists have developed gene editing technology that could wipe out malaria-carrying mosquitoes within subsequent  generations, offering hope against diseases like Malaria, which kills nearly 600,000 people each year. But as field trials approach, bioethicists warn that ...

Gene editing, extinction and ethics: Why open conversation is key

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Gabriela Harrod,  ASU News,  2025.
In a new paper published in Science, researchers are challenging one of conservation’s deepest assumptions — that extinction is always a failure to be avoided. With new genome-editing tools making it technically possible to eliminate entire species, the question is no longer ...

Commentary on Gene drive: Communication, hype, and the publics

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Third World Network,  GMWatch,  2025.
An article in the Journal of Medical Entomology critically reflects on the hype surrounding gene drive technologies, a novel self-spreading form of genetic modification that is designed to engineer entire populations of wild species. The author, a specialist in vector-borne ...

Hordes of genetically modified insects set to be released in Australia: ‘They can smell you’

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Michael Dahlstrom,  Yahoo News,  2025.
Dengue fever is at record levels around the globe, with this trend now beginning to be reflected in Australia as the mosquito species that carries the virus spreads. It means a simple bite could soon trigger symptoms worse than an annoying itch, with victims often experiencing ...

3 reasons why the release of GM mosquitoes in Queensland is risky

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Dr. Perran Stott-Ross,  University of Melbourne,  2025.
The British company Oxitec, in partnership with Australia's CSIRO, has announced plans to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in Queensland. The initiative aims to reduce transmission of the dengue virus, as well as other pathogens spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito by ...

Mitigating dengue transmission in Africa: the need for Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes’ rollout

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Samson Ogunlade, Adeshina Adekunle, Emma McBryde,  Frontiers,  12. 2025.
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease that poses a significant public health concern globally. The disease is primarily transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and the range of clinical manifestations vary from flu-like symptoms to more serious conditions such as dengue ...

For the Sake of 600,000 Children, Science Must Be Bold

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Laurie Zoloth,  The New York Times,  2024.
Bold ideas in science research used to thrill us; now they seem pretty threatening. When I have written about the ethics of genetically engineered mosquitoes to combat malaria, many of my friends have expressed alarm. “What if it goes badly wrong?” they ask. What if there are ...

Opinion: A cautionary tale of experimenting with genetically modified mosquitoes in Uganda

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Barbara Ntambirweki,  The Independent,  2024.
The Uganda Virus Research Institute is pressing forward with gene drive technology which provides a way to rapidly, permanently, and genetically modify wild animals or plants. Gene drive organisms, are a genetically modified organism (GMO) designed to spread a genetic ...

Otago GE Wasp Project Violates International Gene Drive Agreement

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GE-Free NZ,  Scoop,  2024.
Professor Dearden, Otago University, has received $11 million from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) to engineer wasps using gene drive technology. He is only consulting with Māori and regulators, ignoring and side-lining the views of other concerned New ...

Perspectives of African stakeholders on gene drives for malaria control and elimination: a multi-country survey

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Finda, M.F., Juma, E.O., Kahamba, N.F. et al.,  Malaria Journal,  22:8384. 2023.
Gene drive modified mosquitoes (GDMMs) have the potential to address Africa’s persistent malaria problem, but are still in early stages of development and testing. Continuous engagement of African stakeholders is crucial for successful evaluation and implementation of these ...

ISAAA Inc. | Genetic Tools For Conservation and Health: What’s The Role of Gene Drives?

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Kristine Grace N. Tome,  Science Speaks,  2023.
ISAAA Inc., in partnership with the Outreach Network for Gene Drive Research and the Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC), gathered approximately 834 online participants during the webinar Genetic Tools for Conservation and Health: What's the Role of Gene Drives? ...

New Techniques of Genetic Modification in Pest Control Spark Debate in Canada

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Sandeep Kunchikor,  Express Healthcare Management,  2023.
Scientists in Canada are urging serious discussions on the use of genetic modification as a new technique in pest control. In a recent report by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, a branch of Health Canada that regulates pesticide use, experts argue that genetic modification ...

Scientific report urges debate on genetic modification to control insect pests

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Bob Weber,  CTV News,  2023.
Scientists are learning to turn the genetics of insect pests against themselves, altering the genome of familiar foes in ways that give farmers and doctors new ways to fight them. The burgeoning field offers fresh hope against old scourges such as malaria. And it could provide ...

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