Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!udel!haven.umd.edu!umd5!newton.cs.jhu.edu!callahan From: callahan@cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan) Newsgroups: sci.bio Subject: Re: Mutant flies Message-ID: Date: 27 May 91 13:54:59 GMT Lines: 29 In article <1991May27.020638.27148@imagen.com> isaak@imagen.com (mark isaak) writes: >In article <19490@csli.Stanford.EDU> cphoenix@csli.Stanford.EDU (Chris Phoenix) writes: >>I read recently on some group (maybe this one?) that there is a recently- >>appeared type of fly that lays eggs in living tissue, and the maggots eat >>the tissue, with often-fatal results. Apparently it's enough of a threat >>that there's an international effort to wipe out the flies before they >>spread. > >This sounds like the screwworm fly, native to Mexico/southern USA. . . . >That's probably the focus of the international effort you heard >about. If "wipe out" means what it sounds like, isn't there a significant ethical issue involved? I'm not convinced people have the right to cause the extinction of a species even if it sometimes threatens human life. What are the mitigating circumstances? The fact that it's a recent mutation? The fact that it's "just" an insect? I may be misinterpreting the issue. If the attempt to eliminate these flies turns out to be successful, will the program be carried out till it is complete, or will some small population be kept in quarantine? Maybe no effort to reduce insect populations has ever been successful enough to need to worry about this issue. Even so, I consider it important to work out all foreseeable contingencies before embarking on such a program. -- Paul Callahan callahan@cs.jhu.edu