New ways to control or disarm insects that carry devastating disease, such as malaria, encephalitis or Lyme disease, are being developed in laboratories, ways that could not only reduce sickness, but also reduce the amounts of pesticides traditionally used as a solution. These methods involve genetically altering the bugs or their microbial companions to know for sure how the insects will behave, reproduce and survive in a natural habitat, ultimately, is to release them. Which poses some degree of risk - and raises questions. It's a thorny issue, Walker said. Typically, releases of insects into the wild have little or no impact on an individual.
Scientists observe how a set of mosquitoes, for example, behave in a village.
They may release, observe and recapture them, or even chart how often they bite humans in the area, or whom they bite. We can't always predict with absolute certainty whether there is a risk or not. When we manipulate the structure of a population by releasing mosquitoes into a village, the released insects are out of your control. Further complicating the issue is the fact that some field trials don't have a direct benefit to the human communities that could be affected, unlike other kinds of research involving human subjects. Learning about the movement and behavior of a swarm of blackflies may further scientific research, but offer little benefit to the people that might get bitten.