CSIRO
 CSIRO     | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1916 |
| Headquarters | Canberra, Australia |
| Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. | |
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications.
Gene-edited mosquitoes
Oxitec Australia, a collaboration between CSIRO and the (US-owned) UK company Oxitec Ltd, which has received backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced a scheme to release genetically modified mosquitoes in parts of Queensland[1], with the stated goal of reduce the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever (where 2 people are stated to have have died from it in the area from 2000 until 2008).[2] The Oxtiec mosquitoes are said to carry a self-limiting gene that ensures only non-biting male offspring survive. They also have a fluroescent gene which makes them easily identifiable.[3]
In Brazil, where Oxitec conducted a similar mosquito experiment, the results were a catastrophe. Instead of reducing mosquito populations as advertised, genes from their GM mosquitoes infiltrated wild populations, creating a hybrid species with unknown and potentially dangerous consequences.[4]
References
- ↑ https://www.9news.com.au/national/genetically-modified-mosquitoes-australia-what-are-they-explainer/96b6aba8-6286-4256-b0af-08578b8d0d14
- ↑ https://www.publish.csiro.au/MA/pdf/MA09114
- ↑ https://www.9news.com.au/national/genetically-modified-mosquitoes-australia-what-are-they-explainer/96b6aba8-6286-4256-b0af-08578b8d0d14
- ↑ https://www.testbiotech.org/en/news/genetically-engineered-mosquitoes-out-of-control/
