A swarm of genetic mosquitoes will soon break out in Florida, USA.
The release of mosquitoes genetically engineered will produce dead offspring and thus combat the spread of the Zika virus.
This has been approved in Florida by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
On Thursday, Florida officials told The Guardian that the same species of mosquito had transmitted 15 Zika infections in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami, the first cases to be caused by mosquitoes in the mainland US.
Hadyn Parry, chief executive of Oxitec, the company that created the genetically altered insects, said he was “really pleased” by the FDA approval of the experimental release, and called on authorities to grant Oxitec emergency authorization to release the insects in Miami as a control measure.
The Guardian further reports that in November, roughly 52,000 voters will decide if they want the trial to go forward.
The referendum will not be legally binding, but most members of the elected Florida Keys mosquito control board have said they will abide by voters’ wishes. The trial has been hotly contested, with many residents vocally opposed to the mosquitoes’ release.
The Oxitec Florida trial would run for between six and 22 months, with a goal of determining whether wild Aedes aegypti females, the gender that bites, will mate with the company’s “OX513A” males, which are designed to produce offspring which do not fully mature, thus undercutting the mosquito population.
It is not clear how many engineered mosquitoes could be released. Parry said it could vary from 20 to 100 mosquitoes per person on the island.
cnakalungi@ugchristiannews.com
