Papathanos:Engineering
Genetic Engineering of Insects as a tool for public health and wealth
The current paradigm for controlling insects that transmit disease or wreak havoc on our food production is mainly based on the use of synthesized molecules - insecticides. They are abundant in our daily life; in our food, our houses; our children sleep under bed nets impregnated with them. They are our most efficient weapons, used in a invisible and obscure war that is fought behind the scenes in hospitals, homes and fields all over the world. Their availability and use has saved millions of lives.
But our most valuable weapons are fundamentally an aging technology. It has been over 30 years since a new insecticide class was developed that is suitable for public health purposes. The widespread and sustained use of the same insecticides over the the last decades has led to the inevitable selection for insects to evolve resistance. Resistant traits are spreading rapidly globally and are being documented in the list of target species with resistance are ever increasing.
