“Now the Monroe County Mosquito Control District has given the final approval. What could possibly go wrong? We do not know, because EPA has unjustifiably refused to seriously analyze environmental risks, now without further evaluation of the risks continue the experiment, “she added.
Approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in May, the pilot project is designed to test whether a genetically modified mosquito is a viable alternative to spraying insecticides to control the Aedes aegypti. It is a type of mosquito that carries various deadly diseases like Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.
The mosquito, named OX5034, has been modified to produce female offspring that die in the larval stage, well before hatching and grow large enough to bite and spread disease. Only the female mosquito bites for blood, which they have to dye their eggs. Men feed only on nectar, and are therefore not carriers of disease.
A long fight in Florida
In June, the state of Florida issued an experiment use permit, after seven state agencies unanimously approved the project. But it has taken more than a decade to get that approval.
In 2009 and 2010, local outbreaks of dengue fever, which is spread by the Aedes-aegypti, left the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District desperate for new options. Despite an avalanche of effort – from spraying on air, truck and backpack to using mouse-eating fish – local control efforts to infest the Aedes Egypt with larvicides and pesticides were largely ineffective.
And also precious. Even though Aedes aegypti is only 1% of its mouse population, Florida Keys budget Mosquito Control typically budgets more than $ 1 million a year, a full tenth of its total funding, to combat it.
In 2012, the district reached out to Oxitec for help. The company had developed a male mosquito named OX513A, programmed to die for adulthood unless it was grown in water containing the antibiotic tetracycline.
Batches of the sterile OX513A would live and mate with females; however, their male and female offspring would inherit and die the “kill” programs, thus limiting population growth.
PR campaigns that remind Floridians that the GMO’s mouse does not bite because it does not completely solve the male problem. Media reports cited angry residents who refused to be treated as “guinea pigs” for the “superbug” or “Robo-Frankenstein” mosquito.
The EPA conducted years of research into the impact of mosquitoes on both human health and the environment, allowing time for public input. But in the middle of the evaluation, Oxitec developed a second generation “Friendly Mosquito” technology and withdrew the application for the first time.
The new male mosquito, OX5034, is programmed to kill only female mosquitoes, with males surviving multiple generations and passing on through the adapted genes to subsequent male offspring.
The EPA permit requires Oxitec to notify officials 72 hours before releasing the mosquitoes and perform continuous testing for at least 10 weeks to ensure that none of the female mosquitoes reach adulthood.
However, environmental groups are concerned that the spread of genetically modified male genes in the wild could potentially harm and threaten species of birds, insects and mammals that feed on mosquitoes.
“The release of genetically engineered mosquitoes will inevitably bring Floridians, the environment and endangered species to mind in the midst of a pandemic,” Dana Perls, food and technology manager at Friends of the Earth, said on Wednesday statement.
.
