The Flying Public Health Tool: Genetically Modified Mosquitoes and Malaria Control
The Flying Public Health Tool: Genetically Modified Mosquitoes and Malaria Control
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DOI：
10.1080/09505431.2013.776364
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发表时间：
2013-03-01
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Boete, Christophe
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Beisel, Uli;Boete, Christophe
对于科学界的许多人来说，基因改造技术为控制疟疾等媒介传播的传染病提供了一种有前途的方法。然而，最近将第一批转基因蚊子释放到野外引发了激烈的讨论。人类蚊子的关系是如何通过转基因蚊子的开发而重新配置的？使蚊子无法传播疟疾并能够产生利润的科学改造对公众健康产生了认知上的影响。转基因蚊子以一种最能理解“换位”（Braidotti）的方式改变了疟疾控制：蚊子从一种疾病传播媒介转变为一种仁慈的公共卫生工具。这种从矢量到工具的转变在技术上是优雅的，但这种优雅也存在风险。正如疟疾流行病的历史所表明的那样，蚊子以难以预测的模式进行长距离传播。创造转基因蚊子还意味着将公共卫生实践屈服于蚊子本身的飞行路线。
For many in the scientific world, technologies of genetic modification offer a promising method to control vector-borne infectious diseases such as malaria. Nevertheless, the recent releases of the first genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes into the wild have triggered heated discussions. How is the humanmosquito relationship being reconfigured through the development of GM mosquitoes? The scientific modifications that make mosquitoes incapable of transmitting malaria and capable of generating profit have epistemic consequences for public health. GM mosquitoes have shifted malaria control in ways that might best be understood in terms of transposition' (Braidotti): the mosquito transforms from a disease-bringing agent to a benevolent public health tool. This transformation from vector to tool is technically elegant, but this elegance is also risky. As the history of malaria epidemics has shown, mosquitoes travel long distances in hardly predictable patterns. Creating a GM mosquito then also means to surrender public health practices to the lines of flight of the mosquito itself.