Gene Editing Technology Could Be Used to Eradicate Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes

We’ve certainly all fantasised about a world with no mosquitoes – but now that this could become a reality, experts are debating the ethical and ecological implications of bringing about such a world.

Scientists are developing gene editing tools to breed infertile mosquitoes, causing a population crash and eliminating mosquito populations, particularly species that spread serious diseases like malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, and Zika. This has raised the question of whether we should eradicate these disease-carrying insects.1

Mosquitoes are among the world’s deadliest animals, causing millions of deaths annually, and many would argue that their eradication is a public health priority.1,2 However, some scientists warn that mosquitoes play a role in larger ecosystems, serving as food for other species and possibly aiding in pollination. Removing them from the system entirely could have unintended (and possibly even disastrous) consequences.1

There are also moral questions about whether humans should deliberately engineer the extinction of a species, even if it benefits public health. A policy paper published by bioethicists from Arizona State University and Hastings Center for Bioethics concluded that “deliberate full extinction might occasionally be acceptable, but only extremely rarely.”1

Instead of complete elimination, some researchers suggest modifying mosquitoes to make them unable to transmit diseases, or targeting eradication technologies against the single-celled parasite that causes malaria, rather than the host mosquitoes themselves. “You can get rid of malaria without actually getting rid of the mosquito,” says senior research scholar Gregory Kaebnick.1

As technologies develop rapidly and malaria increases globally, these questions continue to become more pressing.