Originally published at: Florida Man Outraged After Agreeing To Mutant Mosquito Infestation | Boing Boing
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This sentence is ridiculous.
only the females of two species (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) actually bite humans to feed on their blood
The lab at the university here is working with 6 LOCAL species that take a mammalian blood meal. There are hundreds of mosquitoes that bite mammals including humans. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are just the most egregious disease vectors.
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Not to mention that the “Florida man” who got “outraged” here is a woman.
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No, they collected signatures from under informed people.
It’s a shame at how shambolicly this has been handled. It’s actually a viable approach.
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Came here for a similar comment. I’ve been bitten by mosquitoes on four continents. No way they were all from just those two species.
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It seems like this was handled really poorly by this company, but I hope it doesn’t turn people off the idea of using gene drives for mosquito control. It really is an incredible idea that could save millions of lives and make the whole world as pleasant to be outside in the evening as California.
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The podcast Patient Zero has a good discussion on informed consent with communities. The podcast is about ticks and Lyme disease, but the idea for Lyme control is similar to the one proposed here.
Unfortunately true informed consent takes a long time to achieve, and investors want to see a return on their money yesterday. (Not to mention sometimes the scientists running these trials take a paternalistic and patronizing stance towards the communities in which they want to work.)
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Is Michael Crichton overseeing this project?
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Which lead to some angry community meetings. Which lead to the discovery of a few other experimental oversights:
I know we recently had a “grammar” thread. Don’t force me to start a led/lead thread. 
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Deet Man to the rescue!
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Meh, The whole idea is bound to drop like a led pipe. There’s no way readers could be lead there.
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No but the 18 species of Anopheles specifically transmit malaria. The other 2 species are transmission vectors for a variety of diseases. But great point that another 18 species that bite humans and at least 3 fo them are naturally occur in the US.
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Futurism has the whole story, which is like a dark sci-fi sitcom set in Florida.
Having lived in Florida for over a decade (and traveled extensively through the armpit of said state), I’d say it’s only a dark sci-fi sitcom 50% of the time. The rest of the time, it’s like the CW channel was set in a trailer park, with the corresponding budget.
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“Lead”/“led” and “laid”/“lied”/“lain”/whatever are actually my most recurring grammar fuckups 
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Huh! I took that from the article I wrote 5 years ago, which was fact-checked, so I’m not sure where I went wrong. But thanks for letting me know!
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Letting others check your facts, without checking on them?
It’s fact-checking all the way down.
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what if the lede was something about leds from the boing boing shop?
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The conceit is that the Aedes mosquitoes share some sort of trait that make them more of a pest than others.
- They bite during the day.
- They bite humans preferentially.
- They spread certain diseases (note that Malaria is spread by Anopheles not Aedes) The CDC is particlarly concerned about Zika, chikungunya and dengue, 1
The annoying thing is that if you don’t already have a population of day biting, anthropophillic mosquitos in your backyard, by accepting this jar, you soon will. Take one for the team!
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Heh. Yeah it’s pretty common in general. I admit it’s an unreasonable trigger for me. Term paper grading PTSD.
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