Not so long ago a weapon the size of a hypodermic needle was released in Juazeiro, Brazil, in the state of Bahia.

The weapon operates under its own power. And in fact it looks more or less harmless, but once released it will spell the death of an entire species which has been on earth for the past four million years.

The weapon is a mosquito. A male mosquito, but he won’t complete his mission by killing, which is the usual method of waging war. He will complete it by making love. To female mosquitoes, who as a result of mating with him will deliver offspring that die before they can reproduce.

Called the sterile male technique, or “autocidal” genetic engineering, this method of getting rid of what humanity considers “pests” is but one example of a technology which aims to shape the natural world to better serve mankind.

First applied to the screw worm, whose larvae burrow into livestock and kill them in just over a week, the technology has been extended to several species of fruit fly.

The simplest effects – sterility – can be achieved via X-rays. Further effects are achieved via breeding, including genetic manipulation via recombinant DNA technology. This latter category is called RIDL, short for Release of Insects carrying a Dominant Lethal – (the word “gene” is conspicuously left off).

 Ultimately, these sterile male populations either fail to provide offspring, or provide offspring so seriously weakened they themselves do not reproduce.   

Other sterile insect technologies include hormonal, nutritional, microbiological and chemical adaptations, in the last instance using chemicals which act as messengers, like pheromones.

The genetic modification (GM) pathway is less often used, largely because no laws exist which allow the release of GM insects on an unsuspecting human population. And this brings me to the point of my story: namely, that humanity is unwittingly being reduced by the very autocidal (and RIDL) techniques which it is using other species.

What am I talking about? Consider bisphenol-A, or BPA, which is recognized by most scientists as “a highly suspect endocrine disruptor”. That is, it affects levels of chemicals which are involved in the male and female reproductive systems, and not in a beneficial way.

And it isn’t just BPA. Consider phthalates, or dioxin, both of which are part of plastic manufacturing. Phthalates have been shown to lead to earlier puberty in girls, and- conversely – impaired sperm quality and other reproductive drawbacks in men. Dioxin exposure at an early age may permanently impair sperm production in adulthood.

Was it Agent Smith (or Smith, from the film The Matrix) who first described humanity as a virus? Are we subconsciously destroying ourselves because we suspect we are the worst pest on the planet?

Let us know what you think.