THERE has been a major eruption of fury because malaria has been found in mainland America in Texas and Florida. These are the same places where Bill Gates’s genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in their millions. This was part of an on-going programme funded by Gates for over ten years which is supposed to banish malaria from the world. It hasn’t.
The fun started when Twitter bloggers @TexasLindsay and @TheChiefNerd, among others, began to dig up not just the hype Gates has been promoting for more than ten years promising malaria eradication through genetic modification, but also the scientific concerns voiced at the time. Lo and behold, scientists suggested that the Gates programme would eventually lead to mutated mosquitoes which would promote the spread of malaria more effectively.
You will appreciate that this is relevant to the safety of genetic modification. As such, it was bound to raise the ire of tame ‘fact-checkers’. Associated Press weighed in on cue by splitting hairs. They noted that whilst the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ‘supported’ Oxitec (the company releasing modified mosquitoes in Florida and Texas) with money, that doesn’t actually quite fit the definition of ‘funding’ the particular work being done in the US. AP also pointed out that the Florida malaria cases occurred 280 miles away from the site of the experiments, as if mosquitoes can’t fly or ride the wind.
Whatever is going on here, it is not being controlled. A deep dive into the Twitter threads linked above will show you that the Gates mosquito programme has never achieved any of its promised results. No worries, though, Gates is not just funding genetic modification of mosquitoes but also has a bet each way with his malaria vaccines. A win-win investment strategy for the man with a deep interest in population control (and money).
Where could the modification of mosquitoes really be taking us?
I have previously discussed the known possibility of general system collapse following genetic modification and editing, and suggested that this might be related to the record levels of excess deaths in New Zealand. I have pointed out that genetic structures are highly complex, evidenced by the trillions of atomic placements and relationships involved.
There is another way to consider this. These placements and relationships are highly specific, precisely because they support the highly specific capabilities of human physiology and psychology as well as the general stability.
The long-standing notion that replacing or editing targeted genes will not undermine the other genetic characteristics of organisms that make them what they are and enable them to function as such is a belief rather than a matter of science. A belief that increasingly looks misguided and dangerous. Using mRNA vaccines, biotechnology has blundered into the genetic modification of what it is to be human.
As our newspapers characterise the unrest in France as the Brink of Total Anarchy, a sort of general system collapse of society, we might also contemplate what has changed in the last three years that has brought us to the brink? It is not a million miles away from biotechnology.
