Florida officials plan to release 750,000 genetics changed mosquitoes in the Florida Keys over the next two years as a way to prevent diseases such as the Zika virus.
- The project will start in 2021.
- The Environmental Protection Agency approved the idea in May.
The project will test if any of these mosquitoes can work better than spraying insecticides to stop these insects from spreading potentially fatal viruses, according to CNN.
The modified mosquito – named OX5034 – can produce female offspring that die at the larval stage “well before hatching and become large enough to bite and spread disease,” CNN reports.
This would stop the mosquitoes from giving birth to females, who carry the diseases.
What critics say:
The proposal has won state and federal approval. But critics said this was not the time to conduct an experiment similar to “Jurassic Park.”
“With all the pressing crises facing our nation and the state of Florida – the Covid-19 pandemic, racial injustice, climate change – the administration has used tax dollars and government funds for an experiment at Jurassic Park,” said Jaydee Hanson, policy director for the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety, in a statement.
“Now the Monroe County Mosquito Control District has given its final approval. What could possibly go wrong? We do not know, because EPA unjustifiably refused to seriously analyze environmental risks, now without further evaluation of the risks, the experiment can continue, ‘she added.
Life actually finds a way.
It already happens:
- A similar mosquito brand was released by Oxitec in Brazil. According to Fox News, several studies found that the project worked to stop disease-carrying insects. It also proved to be cost effective.
