I couldn't agree more with all of Bob's statements.  Read Rachel Carson's book
if you haven't. She has some books about the sea and sea creatures also but I
have not read them yet.
I was appalled when I understood only recently that we spray Malathion to keep
mosquitos at bay!  I consider this a very toxic chemical and when I use it on my
houseplants (as a last resort may I add!) I wear surgical gloves and a mask.  I
spray in my shed where fumes cannot disperse to my garden.  Here in Calgary
there isn't even the excuse that a disease could spread but the spraying goes on
anyway!  We just don't want bugs in the air biting us!  Imagine how that could
alter one's golf handicap, tsk tsk! Even though spread of disease is a real
concern, is destroying the ecosystem or altering it in ways we don't understand
a sensible response?
Adding biological controls is just one more human conceit.  It is bad for the
same bottom line reason as chemical spraying - we don't know what we are doing.
I am not usually one to hop on an alarmist bandwagon whenever the media go
scaremongering but the idea that genetic engineering is a panacea and will solve
all our problems is even more potentially dangerous and insidious than all we
have done up till now  with our poisons and biological controls.  We have this
idea that we understand the effects of genetic manipulation - oh yeah right.  We
can't even predict the effect when we add a whole organism to a new ecosystem,
so  what makes us think that if we tinker with an organisms genetic coding that
we will suddenly do a better job here.
What if we added that engineered virus to the mosquito and then started killing
off all the mosquitos and couldn't stop it. Then the birds which rely almost
exclusively on mosquitos for food when breeding and raising young would perish
or put pressure on other insects whose roles we don't fully undertand and the
animals who ate those birds would perish or start eating some other things and
so on and so on.  If we ever got rid of mosquitos we would really want to take
that little 'faux pas' back I bet.
I liken genetic engineering to discovering fire but not really understanding it,
how to put it out or what it can potentially do.  "Oh look, this hot red stuff
can cook your food, keep you warm and sterilize your tools!  It can also get rid
of those pesky bushes where the saber-tooth tiger always hides.  Great eh! I'll
show you how to make some". Then the forest fire starts and no one knows what to
do...
Nora
Still in Calgary, Alberta
CANADA


"Robert J. Nuelle, Jr." wrote:

> The most literate and persuasive voice in this topic is a stilled one - a
> friend of shells by the name of Rachel Carson. Her book "Silent Spring" is
> still the definitive reference on the effects of pesticides. I am still
> terrified of all pesticide products after multiple readings of this work. If
> you haven't read this book recently - please re-read it, if you haven't ever
> read it please do so. Her presentation and simple discussion of the effects
> and methods used in pesticides will educate and revise your views on this
> topic.
>
> As to a viral control agent, virtually every time man has tried to
> artificially control a naturally governed process,  disaster occurs. The
> history of biological control science is ripe with stories of introduced
> species that either changed prey, didn't predate on the target species at
> all [mongooses in the Caribbean and the extirpation of native bird life], or
> accomplished their goal [elimination of a target species] and then went on
> to wreak havoc on other beneficial species. There have been successful
> control efforts but these largely relate to the release of sexually sterile
> males [screw-worm flies, et al). If there is a mosquito problem then lets
> find a way to break the reproductive cycle or more importantly realize that
> we are a part of this ecosystem and should accept it for what it is.
> Designer ecosystems altered at our whim is yet another prescription for
> disaster. How arrogant and stupid have we become?
>
> Didn't Joni Mitchell say "give spots on my apples but leave me the birds and
> the bees now - Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've
> got till its gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
>
> I live in Florida and you cannot imagine the bio-diversity in the area of
> the insects. We have 67 species of mosquito and 74 species of cockroach, 4
> disastrous species of termites, fire ants, killer bees [rumored], and quite
> a few biting gnats [no-see-um's]. Living here is a challenge - but if you
> can't deal with the fauna move to someplace less threatening.
>
> I agree with everyone that the rampant use of malathion, and other synthetic
> pesticides is one of the most dire threats facing us today. In 1993, when we
> lived in Missouri, there were disastrous floods. We adopted a poor stray cat
> from the flood area. Three years later that cat developed liver failure and
> died. The vet said that it was probably due to a single episode of exposure
> to high doses of pesticide. When the farms flooded, the barrels/bags of
> pesticide stored in their barns mixed with the flood water and turned many
> of the floodplains quite sterile of many animals. I remember scenes of fish
> kills on flooded farmland. When will we learn?
>
> Bob & Rosemary
>
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