We Can Eradicate Mosquitos, But Should We?

The deadliest animal in the world is the mosquito. They don't kill on their own, but spread diseases that causes hundreds of thousands of human deaths each year. So maybe we should wipe them out! Well, we know what could go wrong. Pesticides end up killing other species. And sometimes an animal goes extinct before we realize what useful ecological function it filled. With mosquitos, modern science has found a way to make just the most dangerous species die out without affecting other species. So should we do it? So far, research shows that if disease-carrying mosquito species were eliminated, there would still be plenty of benign mosquitos to, say, feed the bats. But would it be the right thing to do? Funny how no one asked that about wiping out smallpox. Since this scheme involves genetic engineering, there are still ethical questions about mosquitos and the future of such technology. -via Geeks Are Sexy