Todayโs entry:ย In the book โThe Death and Life of the Great Lakesโ by Dan Egan, the author writes about how research and work have been done to control unwanted carp in the United States lakes and waterways by altering the DNA of the females to lay daughterless carp eggs.ย After reading this book I emailed and talked personally with Dr. Rex Dunham at Auburn University, who worked on the carp problem regarding the possibility of researching the altering of the eggs of the iguanas. His response was, "I am not an expert on iguana sex determination, but I think this approach is tremendously promising. Someone should explore this for iguanas and especially rock pythons."
SUGGESTION:
1. Form a South Florida coalition of State representatives
2. Request the State to appropriate funds to control iguanas
3. Request for appropriation of funds to be in two phases (A) First phase would fund an exploratory team to ascertain the possibility and probability that altering the DNA of the female will control the spread of iguanas (B) If the probability of success is within an acceptable range then additional funds would be released to do the scientific research and implementation of a plan for controlling the iguanas
Bottom Line:ย Two thoughts come to mind when thinking about the implications and possible validity in alteringย iguana DNA. Mosquitoes and Jurassic Park. You might recall the momentum behind genetically modified mosquitoes in South Florida a few years ago. Based on modificationsย made to mosquitoes by the British company Oxitec, only male mosquitoes would be born. Males donโt bite and without femalesย toย reproduce,ย theย mosquitoย populationsย would die off.ย Good in theoryย and in initialย experiments. After lab testing, the firstย real-world tests took place inย the Cayman Islands.ย Initial reports were favorable with mosquito populations reported to be in decline. The results were so encouraging numerous governments began to consider testing the genetically modifiedย mosquitoes, including Brazil even South Florida officials like the Monroe County Mosquito Control District.ย Their interest was strong enough that a countywide vote took place to consider using the mosquitoes. It passed, though the key targeted for testing, Key Haven, rejected the proposal. Anyway, the reasonย the momentum behind the use of these mosquitoes has stalled in South Florida over the past couple of years is whatโs happened overtime in theย originallyย tested areas, especially in Brazil.ย
After initial positive results with reported declines in mosquito populations, there was a wrinkle.ย The genetically modified species began mating with other species of insects/mosquitoes. Not only did the mosquitoes findย mates. The result was what some scientists refer to as a โsuper-mosquitoโ. The new breedย ofย mosquitoesย isย reportedly more energetic and resilient than the originalย mosquitoes.ย The problem has grown to be worse than before in Brazil as traditional mosquito control methods arenโt as effective against theย new breed. Thatโs whereย the Jurassic Park reference comes into play.ย This is a real-world example of life finding a way.ย
Now, iguanas are obviously a lot different than mosquitoes, so maybe itโd be different. But maybe it wonโt be. With numerous species of lizards roaming South Florida, there's no telling what might occurย untilย we get there. Genetically modified species have always concerned me because none of usย created life on this planetย and we donโt know what will happen with modifications we make until we get there.
Submit your questions using one of these methods.ย
Email:ย brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter:ย @brianmuddradio
Facebook:ย Brian Muddย https://www.facebook.com/brian.mudd1
Photo by: Getty Images