Google Wants To Release Millions Of ‘Good’ Mosquitoes To Stop ‘Bad’ Ones, Because What Could Go Wrong?
Flystock | Shutterstock People usually think of mosquitoes as being more of a nuisance than actually dangerous, but the CDC said that the many diseases they can carry make them “the world’s deadliest animal.”
Thankfully, the world’s foremost expert on mosquitoes, Google, is coming to the rescue. The tech company has somehow differentiated between good and bad mosquitoes and is going to force them into some kind of war to save humanity. If you’re thinking this sounds like the plot of a bizarre dystopian novel, you’re not wrong, but it is actually happening.
Google plans to release millions of good mosquitoes as part of its Debug initiative.
Fox 13 reported that Google requested an experimental use permit from the Environmental Protection Agency to move forward with the Debug program. The plan is to release 64 million mosquitoes into the wild in California and Florida over two years to take out all the risky, disease-carrying mosquitoes.
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The Debug website gave some insight into how this is actually supposed to work. Google will be using something called the Sterile Insect Technique that has been used for decades now to reduce the population of other annoying bugs. Female mosquitoes are the ones that actually bite people, so Debug will release male mosquitoes infected with a bacterium called Wolbachia that renders them sterile.
So, when they mate with females, they won’t actually reproduce any new mosquitoes and, as Debug said, “the population gets smaller with each generation.” If you’re wondering why in the world Google has taken on this challenge, they said they’re using their top-notch tech to separate mosquitoes by gender and track progress in the wild.
This might not actually be the worst idea ever, but there are a lot of unknown variables.
Debug is working in collaboration with the World Mosquito Program (WMP) at Monash University, which confirmed that the use of Wolbachia bacteria is a legitimate strategy. The WMP has used the bacteria in its own experiments before, but has never had the means to deploy it on such a large scale.
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The program will begin by targeting a mosquito species known as Aedes aegypti. This species has spread across the world and carries several mosquito-borne diseases that originated in Africa, including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika. Scientists hypothesize that any new viruses that develop around mosquitoes will most likely be transmitted by this species.
The Debug website claimed that this is a much better option than more conventional alternatives like pesticides because it has a healthier impact on the environment and isn’t something the bugs can become resistant to over time. People are far from sold on the idea, though.
Google’s Debug program has drawn a lot of criticism because of all of the things that could go wrong.
The International News noted that critics have environmental and ethical concerns about the endeavor. Some worry about what releasing so many new insects into the world will do to the food chain, while others are wondering about the implications of a big tech company playing a role in what is supposedly a public health initiative.
Environmental author and filmmaker Steve Nicholls has warned of what he calls the “insect apocalypse,” which he thinks could be caused by everything from destroying the nature they call home to overusing pesticides. He was particularly concerned about how this would affect insects that pollinate. Maybe the consequences wouldn’t be quite so dire for a bug like the mosquito that doesn’t seem to do much, but every insect plays a role in the ecosystem.
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As for the second concern, businesses can help offset costs when they get involved in healthcare, but it also gives them a very clear opportunity to push their own agendas. It’s hard to imagine one of the biggest corporations in the world reducing the mosquito population purely out of the goodness of their hearts.
Fewer mosquitoes sounds like a good idea in theory, but it’s not clear if releasing more mosquitoes to begin with will actually achieve that objective. It seems like the public needs much more information before this program is allowed to move forward.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
