Hundreds of millions of genetically engineered mosquitoes will soon be released in Florida, in a first for the US
Tuesday, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) approved plans to release the non-biting insects as part of a pilot project launching next year. Exactly when and where the trial will take place in Monroe County is yet to be determined, the FKMCD said, but an experimental use permit expires in 2022.
According to the non-profit Center for Food Safety public interest and environmental advocacy organization, which opposes the move, 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes will be released free of charge.
Oxitec, a biotechnology company whose trademark “friendly” mosquitoes are at the center of the project, had previously received regulatory approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Florida Department of Health, under other state agencies.
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A spokesman for Oxitec said Newsweek that 750 million is the maximum number that the EPA said it could use, and predicted that the figure would be “much lower” and based on the number of wild mosquitoes in the area.
Why are the mosquitoes released?
An invasive species, the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can spread diseases, including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya en Zika. It “breeds and flourishes” in densely populated urban areas where containers with standing water are common, FKMCD sei.
The plans were shelved amid an outbreak of dengue in the Upper Keys area. As of Aug. 17, 47 people had been infected in Monroe County this year, according to the Florida Department of Health.
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The insects have become resistant to pesticides that are used to control them in areas such as the Florida Keys. It’s the friendly one to hope for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes will control wild populations of the regular Aedes aegypti.
The modified mosquitoes are male and are adapted to produce male offspring when they mate with a female in the wild, with the female offspring dying in the larval stage.
Female mosquitoes bite blood to mature their eggs, while males consume nectar and thus do not spread disease.
According to FKMCD, their ability not to produce viable females is passed on to a limited number of generations to expel populations.
According to no Oxitec, the US CDC, the University of Florida and the Monroe County Department of Health, as well as local leaders, will oversee the project independently.
CNN reported it has taken more than a decade for the plans to get the green light. The mosquitoes have already been tested in the Cayman Islands, Panama and Brazil, with Oxitec report successes in any case.
Commissioner Jill Cranny-Gage said, according to the Miami Herald: “The science is there. This is what Monroe County needs.”
She said: “We try everything in our power [to control the mosquitoes], and we are out of options. “
Pointing to the outbreak of dengue, Commissioner Phil Goodman told the Miami Herald: “South Florida is the undisputed hot spot for mosquito-borne diseases in the United States. The CDC tells us that this threat will increase.”
Some are apprehensive about the experiment, including more than 230,000 people who have signed a Change.org petition there.
Jaydee Hanson, policy director for the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety, said in a statement: “With all the urgent crises affecting 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. “
Barry Wray, executive director of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, said in a statement: “FKMCD wants to continue an experiment that could be detrimental to public and environmental health and our local economy. “
In response to her concerns, the Oxitec spokeswoman said Newsweek: “These tactics are similarly used by the anti-vaccine community, and are typical of the unscientific, misleading information disseminated by anti-GM [genetic modification] activists who oppose this project and try to use fear to achieve their political and fundraising goals.
“In scientific reality, this project poses no risks to human health other than the environment, which has been confirmed by federal and state regulatory agencies after exhaustive scientific evaluation of the project, including 25 commissioned scientific studies that include 4,500 pages of documentation.”
This article was updated with comments from an Oxitec spokesperson.
