Blog #5: Health/Disease, Ethics & Disease Intervention

When Mutant Mosquitoes Attack

By Maggie Koerth-Baker

New York Times, 02/19/2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/when-mutant-mosquitoes-attack.html?_r=1&

This piece is an opinion editorial. Normally, an opinion piece would not seem appropriate for discussion of the social impacts of global health and disease. However, this article addresses some serious questions about how we, as part of our societies, choose to try and eliminate or mitigate the risks of certain diseases. Malaria and dengue fever have both been potentially lethal infections endemic to tropical countries (usually less developed nations today) for eons. Both are spread my certain types of mosquitoes native to the areas where disease is present. Antimalarial drugs, bed nets and pesticides have all been used to try and control mosquito-borne diseases. Now, geneticists at several universities are investigating ways to genetically modify mosquitoes in order to interrupt some portion of their reproductive or metabolic cycles, aimed at lowering transmission rates of tropical diseases. The author examines the unknown risks we may be presenting with this approach given that we do not fully understand the ecological roles of mosquitoes. Introducing a genetically modified population of mosquitoes may (or may not) lead to unforeseeable consequences once the forces of evolution, namely genetic selection and adaptation, begin to affect these genetically modified organisms. The author highlights the term "risk society", coined by sociologist Ulrich Beck in 1986. It describes how modern, scientific societies in recent decades have handled risk mitigation. Many of our solutions have led to even worse consequences than the issue we were initially trying to mitigate.

Analysis

Any time humankind interferes with the natural history of another organism, the chance of unknowable consequences becomes possible, if not likely. Often, this has occurred accidentally. The introduction of Kudzu from Asia to control roadside erosion without fully examining the consequences has led to the weed that ate the South. The introduction of invasive Asian stink bug species in recent years is another example. It happened accidentally but these pests now present threats to certain food crops. Sometimes, intervening to stop the natural history of a disease works out very well. Global institution of effective smallpox vaccines has eradicated the disease from the planet. Sometimes, our interventions work well for a time but then begin to lose effectiveness or present all new dangers. Consider the rapid development of drug-resistant staphylococcus (MRSA) infections after only a few decades of widespread antibiotic use. Of course, research into means of controlling disease among human populations should continue, and do so vigorously. But, we should not rush to employ a solution or mitigating intervention until we have exhaustively considered the ethical and ecological implications of doing so.

Antony L. Cochran
SOC 202-02, Spring 2013, UNCG
02/27/2013, 20:10