The Mosquito- To Be or Not to Be?

Mosquitoes; does anyone love them? No. They rank right up there with ticks, skunks, and moles. Not an attractive insect, but when it visits you, it leaves a visible, physical response in its quest to love you. No, we don’t love them, but do we need to eradicate them? Should we be changing its future? I am referencing a CNN article, Australian experiment wipes out over 80% of disease-carrying mosquitoes, By Jessie Yeung, CNN, that is speaking about experiments done in Australia.  While I personally detest mosquitoes, I am unclear how I feel about the impact this might have on our eco-system. I only know it doesn’t feel right to me. I understand it will reduce disease in our species but what about the species who feed on the mosquitoes that have been genetically modified for our comfort and safety? I am concerned we are redirecting and changing the order of nature. Maybe we don’t care if mosquitoes become endangered. Maybe we pick and choose what gets to live because we are bigger and more evolved. Survival of the strongest and craftiest, or fittest? The article states this “shouldn’t” be a huge hit to the eco-system, because it’s only in one place now. All good until you realize that nothing attractive to others stays in that original place. We are rampantly spraying back yards with harsh chemicals to control the mosquitos in this country right now, with a full-on marketing campaign to support it. People truly detest mosquito bites. Therefore, it stands to reason when this genetic modification is shown to stop them, even where mosquito-borne diseases are minimal, there will be a bandwagon-style rush to reproduce it. We are currently contaminating our grass, trees, and the rest of the eco-system with chemicals to make mosquitoes only fly as close as your neighbor’s yard, so, hey, why not eradicate them? We aren’t worried about any impact 5, 10, or 50 years down the road anyway, are we? Where does it stop?