Executive summary: Political advocacy for using gene drives to eradicate the New World Screwworm in South America appears to be a highly cost-effective intervention that could significantly reduce animal suffering.
Key points:
The New World Screwworm causes immense suffering to hundreds of millions of wild and domestic animals in South America each year.
Gene drives could effectively eradicate the screwworm, and the risks appear low based on past eradication efforts in North and Central America.
An advocacy campaign could coordinate South American governments and agricultural interest groups to implement a gene drive release program by 2030.
Cost-effectiveness analysis suggests each dollar spent could avert suffering equivalent to 101 animals dying from screwworm infestation, competitive with top animal welfare interventions.
Total costs would likely be in the tens of millions, with only a fraction needed from philanthropic sources given the economic benefits to the livestock industry.
While challenges exist, the campaign has a reasonable chance of accelerating eradication by several years, and further investigation by domain experts is warranted.
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Executive summary: Political advocacy for using gene drives to eradicate the New World Screwworm in South America appears to be a highly cost-effective intervention that could significantly reduce animal suffering.
Key points:
The New World Screwworm causes immense suffering to hundreds of millions of wild and domestic animals in South America each year.
Gene drives could effectively eradicate the screwworm, and the risks appear low based on past eradication efforts in North and Central America.
An advocacy campaign could coordinate South American governments and agricultural interest groups to implement a gene drive release program by 2030.
Cost-effectiveness analysis suggests each dollar spent could avert suffering equivalent to 101 animals dying from screwworm infestation, competitive with top animal welfare interventions.
Total costs would likely be in the tens of millions, with only a fraction needed from philanthropic sources given the economic benefits to the livestock industry.
While challenges exist, the campaign has a reasonable chance of accelerating eradication by several years, and further investigation by domain experts is warranted.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.