Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Policy advocacy for eradicating screwworm looks cost-effective, published by MathiasKB on May 20, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
The New World Screwworm causes tremendous suffering to wild and domestic animals on the South American continent. Gene drives make it possible to eradicate the screwworm and improve the wellbeing of hundreds of millions to billions of wild animals.
I believe political advocacy to coordinate South American countries to use gene drives to eradicate the screwworm looks very tractable and highly impactful in expectation.
In this post I will go over:
1. Why I believe this to be the case
2. What the intervention would look like
3. Beg and plead for someone to go do this
Holy shit, Gene drives
Like many on this forum, I listened to 80k's podcast episode with Kevin Esvelt, where they discussed using gene drives to eradicate diseases and thought to myself: "holy shit that's incredible, we should do something" to promptly forget all about it and move on with my life.
Half a year later, when Works In Progress asked me if there was anything I wanted to write about, gene drives popped into my mind. As I started researching for the article, I became increasingly obsessed. Those misfortunate enough to have been around me during this period, have had to endure many long monologues about gene drives.
Throughout my frenzy, I met with Professors, PhDs, and representatives from organisations working on gene drives to eradicate malaria. I've now come to the following two conclusions:
1. Society, at large, should be using gene drives for vector control of endemic diseases such as Malaria. The risks are minute, and the benefits are huge.
2. Political advocacy for using gene drives to eradicate screwworm in South America, looks incredibly impactful and very tractable.
My article for the magazine (out soon!) is focused on the first point. This forum post is focused on the second.
What is the New World Screwworm?
The C. hominivorax, or New World Screwworm, is a blowfly, which lays its eggs in the wounds (and other openings, such as the nostrils or ears) of mammals. After hatching, the larvae dig in and begin eating the host alive. The stench left off by the infested wound attracts yet more screwworm flies to lay their eggs. Untreated, 20-80% of animals infected die from the infestation or infections that follow.[1]
Humans, being mammals, are at risk too. Uruguay alone records hundreds of human cases every year.[2]
As one can imagine, being eaten alive by parasites is not much fun. As the scientific literature puts it: "Animals with myiasis may display signs of discomfort, lethargy, weight loss and depression"[3]
To put it as politely: Based on the pictures I have seen, I too would display signs of discomfort if it were me who was infected.
In addition to infecting hundreds of millions of wild mammals, the New World screwworm costs the livestock industry hundreds of millions of dollars every year. To prevent the loss of livestock, North America eradicated the screwworm already in 1960 using the more primitive sterile insect technique.
To prevent the screwworm from migrating back into North America, they additionally worked with Middle American governments to eradicate it there as well, and to this very day they maintain a wall of sterile screwworm in Panama to prevent screwworm from migrating back north.
Since then eradication progress has stalled as the sterile insect technique has proven difficult and expensive to use on the South American continent, where the screwworm is endemic on the majority of the continent.
A survey found that 76% of Uruguayan farmers go as far as to plan yearly animal management around avoiding the screwworm season, to avoid loss of livestock.
In Uruguay alone, farmers lose between 40 to 150 million USD annually[4] (0.14% of the coun...
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