General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Neil DeGrasse Tyson Tells Bill Maher That Anti-Science Liberals Are Full of Shit Too [View all]MisterFred
(525 posts)The issue with DDT is its persistence in the environment, not its toxicity, which is why it's unsafe as a pesticide. And there are (or are supposed to be) fairly stringent requirements for when it is used to control mosquitoes, in part to ensure it's not used at the rate that can cause problems over a few decades of application.
As for safer, you used that word if. If we can eradicate a species of mosquito with no side effects, of course it's great. And I think there's been some genetic engineering-related exploration to that end already. But the likelihood of the genetic changes used to change/eradicate one set of mosquitoes seems very likely to make its way into other species/populations. Evaluating what knock-on effects those new genes would have is the hard part. If we can figure that part out is a big if.
Still, given we'll be messing with human genes fairly soon (I see that as inevitable, and probably beneficial), might be good to have a go at some lesser organisms first.