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> "It could lead to other species coming in to fill a niche that are even more a problem," Steinbrecher says. "It's beyond our ability to predict what the consequences are, except that it could be really devastating."

Malaria has killed more people than all wars in human history combined. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are going to die while we come up with reasons not to do anything about it.

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A. gambiae in particular is so strongly anthropophilic that it would likely become endangered or extinct if cut off from all human hosts, so a widespread bed-netting program would have likely the same effect, just slower and with millions more cases of malaria in the meantime.

Any naysayers out there interested in volunteering for blood-feeding? Our current approach of "make the poor people do it" isn't exactly fair.

The application is fine, unfortunately the real danger is the technology itself. Nuclear power was dangerous, but at least it's somewhat tricky to generate refined uranium. CRISPR, unfortunately, is theoretically not that tricky.

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