South Flordia residents are angered this week as local government officials and a biotechnology company move ahead with their plan to release up to a billion gene-hacked mosquitoes over two years.
Oxitec, a British biotech company, developed the ‘franken-squitoes’ and partnered with Florida Keys Mosquito Control District to release the first-ever genetically engineered (GE) Aedes aegypti mosquitoes this week.
The project aims to decrease the total population of Aedes aegypti, one of several mosquito species that can carry diseases including dengue, Zika, and yellow fever.
Oxitec Head of Regulator Affairs Dr. Nathan told Fox News that genetically altered non-biting male mosquitos would be released into the wild with the local biting female population, producing female offspring that die in the larval stage.
Rose said the project is critical as the US records more and more mosquito-borne diseases. He said these mosquitoes are moving farther and farther north from the Gulf Coast into more and more of the continental US.- READ MORE
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