One month ago, a poster asked why not eliminate mosquitoes. Why, indeed ?

[sarahtasher]

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/...mage=BBrMaMx|1

Before you ask : bees are absolutely vital pour agriculture.

[PACOX]

Why we don't? Same reason why we still have roaches, because it's hard as shit to do. Really hard when people don't eliminate stagnant water around their homes, damn near impossible to hit all the natural spots (talking about Florida alone)

Good to see SC being preventative, seems like some people in FL couldn't care less.

[sarahtasher]

Why we don't? Same reason why we still have roaches, because it's hard as shit to do. Really hard when people don't eliminate stagnant water around their homes, damn near impossible to hit all the natural spots (talking about Florida alone)

Good to see SC being preventative, seems like some people in FL couldn't care less.

Wiping out bees in South Carolina is probably way more costly than Zika.

[Pawstruck]

Funny how you can't eliminate a species without causing widespread ecological destruction.

[Halyon]

They're part of the food-chain, that's why. There really aren't many species of creatures that don't do anything useful for anything. But bees are fucking crucial, holy shit...

[Greypelt]

Is it worth mentioning that you could attempt to eliminate mosquitoes without using poison that would kill bees?

[Cerus]

They're a vital food source for many animals. That's why.

[sarahtasher]

Is it worth mentioning that you could attempt to eliminate mosquitoes without using poison that would kill bees?

Well, that would be great, and that would be really hard.

[shimerra]

They're a vital food source for many animals. That's why.

This. Killing off every animal that was ever an annoyance to people would destroy the planet because while this may surprise you there's more on this earth then people and our comfort.

[DarkTZeratul]

Well, that would be great, and that would be really hard.

We do, in fact, have ways of doing just that. The problem here isn't one of unintended results from killing mosquitoes (the bees didn't die because the mosquitoes were eliminated), it's a problem of a kneejerk solution undertaken without due consideration for the direct environmental impact.

Your premise is the equivalent of setting out rat poison, and then when your dog eats it you conclude that you should just learn to live with the rats.

[Pipebomb]

Reminds me of what happened in the Amazon rain forest when the US gov't tried to remove coca plants through militarized aerial spraying of herbicides.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_eradication

[Garnier Fructis]

A state performing an action in a retarded way doesn't mean we shouldn't still consider doing it in a less retarded way.

[Al Gorefiend]

The most deadly animal in the world is the mosquito. It might seem impossible that something so miniscule can kill so many people, but it's true. According to the World Health Organization, mosquito bites result in the deaths of more than 1 million people every year. The majority of these deaths are due to malaria.

1 million deaths per year.

About 10,000 years ago, malaria started having a major impact on human survival, coinciding with the start of agriculture in the Neolithic revolution. Consequences included natural selection for sickle-cell disease, thalassaemias, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, Southeast Asian ovalocytosis, elliptocytosis and loss of the Gerbich antigen (glycophorin C) and the Duffy antigen on the erythrocytes, because such blood disorders confer a selective advantage against malaria infection (balancing selection).

Malaria has been impacting humans for 10,000 years.

Take a moment to realize this. just ASSUME, for the sake of it, that for the last 10,000 years mosquitoes average about 1 million human deaths a year.

Mosquitoes are planet Earth's only resistance against the destruction of human overpopulation - something that should be taken way more seriously than what it is. Can you imagine sharing the world's resources with another 5-10 billion people?

This is the grim but true reason why the mosquito cannot be stopped and Malaria can not be contained. And now Zika ravages the Malaria-resistant 1st world.

[Asotcha]

Mosquitos are like the insect version of grass. Almost every small scurrying thing eats mosquitos. Bats, lizards, dont get me started on frogs and tadpoles and such--birds, etc.

[DarkTZeratul]

Mosquitoes are planet Earth's only resistance against the destruction of human overpopulation - something that should be taken way more seriously than what it is. Can you imagine sharing the world's resources with another 5-10 billion people?

It may seem backwards, but population rates actually increase MORE in areas with high mortality rates. Reducing the rates at which people die from mosquito-borne illnesses will actually help populations to plateau.

[Al Gorefiend]

Yeah, when I tried to make this argument people on here simply said they'd eat something else... I don't think they realize how significant a part of the diet of those creatures mosquitoes actually are.

Mosquito larvae are a huge staple food source to freshwater fish in my area. they grow big pretty quick and mosquitoes lay a shitload of them.

[TrumpIsPresident]

Had an issue with my homes AC water outlet pipe creating a pool of standing water that killed off the grass and formed a mud pool.

Tried to re-sod the area, tried rocks, had to eventually just pour a slab of concrete and let the sun bake it off.

Fk mosquitoes.

[Rudkobing]

Bats eat them. If bats eat them then mosquitoes can live to die for bats.

#ProBat

[TirielWoW]

There are other viable ways to get rid of this particular mosquito species, but people are so terrified of "GMO" that they freak everytime it's brought up.

[Cerus]

A state performing an action in a retarded way doesn't mean we shouldn't still consider doing it in a less retarded way.

We shouldn't consider it at all. Humans have no right to destroy another species just because we don't like them. Kill off mosquitos and you kill of hundreds if not thousands of other species.