First GMO mosquitoes to be released in the Florida Keys gmwatch.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gmwatch.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released In the Florida Keys
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This spring, the biotechnology company Oxitec plans to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. Oxitec says its technology will combat dengue fever, a potentially life-threatening disease, and other mosquito-borne viruses such as Zika mainly transmitted by the
Aedes aegypti mosquito.
While there have been more than 7,300 dengue cases reported in the United States between 2010 and 2020, a majority are contracted in Asia and the Caribbean, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Florida, however, there were 41 travel-related cases in 2020, compared with 71 cases that were transmitted locally.
Anxiety among some Key Largo residents over the pending release of hundreds of millions of genetically modified mosquitoes next month in undisclosed locations throughout the Florida Keys has prompted U.S. Congressman Carlos Gimenez to seek answers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District and Oxitec, a British-based biotech company, plan to release genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in selected neighborhoods between Mile Marker 10 and Mile Marker 93 as a way to control the wild population of the disease-carrying pest. This is the first experiment of its kind in the United States.
Oxitec has conducted similar releases in the Caribbean and South America, and the company contends that it is safe and effective.
Tensions rise as GM mosquito release nears keysnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from keysnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.