Florida and Texas May See Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes This Summer

Written By-@pistolwhippedya

To help control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved British Biotech company, Oxitec’s testing of genetically engineered mosquitoes for the first time ever in the United States.

According to the Miami-Herald Newspaper, as early as this summer, millions of modified mosquitoes could be released into the Florida Keys and Houston areas.

“To meet today’s public health challenges head-on, the nation needs to facilitate innovation and advance the science around new tools and approaches to better protect the health of all Americans,” the statement said. “EPA anticipates that this could be an effective tool to combat the spread of certain mosquito-borne diseases like the Zika virus in light of growing resistance to current insecticides.”

If given the green light by state and local officials, the company will begin trials “over two years in Monroe County, Florida in Summer 2020 and Harris County, Texas in 2021,” the statement said.

“Effective vaccines and drugs are available for only a few, so the major means of controlling these diseases is to control the mosquitoes that transmit them,” a 2019 study published in Scientific Reports said.

According to the CDC, the goal is to curb the spread of the Zika virus, which affects pregnant women’s unborn babies, as well as viruses that cause yellow and dengue fever. Although the diseases are deadly in the U.S., they cause more harm in third world countries in Africa and Asia.

The particular species that the company will modify will be the mosquitos that are known to carry both.

Another goal is to reduce the number of female mosquitoes. The Miami Herald informs of an experimental trial in Brazil, where Oxitec inserted a protein in male mosquitoes designed to kill wild female mosquitoes after mating, according to the EPA. The males would survive into adulthood, spreading their deadly genes indefinitely, until eventually, their mutant populations die off naturally.

“Since only male mosquitoes will be released into the environment and they do not bite people, they will not pose a risk to people,” the statement said. “It is also anticipated that there would be no adverse effects to animals such as bats and fish in the environment.”

Florida and Texas will be the first testing areas; if it works, the company will plan to release more in other parts of the U.S. However, some experts disagree.