Californians may not know it on mass , but there ’s die to be something dissimilar about theirmosquitoesthis summer . An encroaching species of the bite - prone insects has been genetically modify in an attempt at controlling disease banquet .
According toSmithsonian , the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) has approved plans by biotech business firm Oxitec to release 2.4 billion maleAedes aegyptimosquitos in both California and Florida that have been altered so their gene can only participate in producing last male offspring . ( Females will choke before reaching maturity . ) The insects will beintroducedas ballock , which will then hatch when peril to water .
Because male mosquitoes do not bite , the theory is that a turn down female mosquito population will reduce transmission of Zika , chicken fever , dengue , and other infective diseases that can be pass on to man from the bite . The finish ishaltingoutbreaks before they begin .
In 2021 , Oxitec release 144,000 genetically modify mosquito in the Florida Keys . The insect have also been enclose in Brazil , the Cayman Islands , Panama , and India . While there is no spread of such diseases in California , the business firm says a grow mosquito universe could eventually bewilder a problem and that such buffer programs are necessary to assess effectiveness .
Not everyone has press out optimism in the program . critic have said Oxitec has yet to bring out item of their findings from the Florida Keys . ( Oxitec say they ’re expect for Union and province regulation operation to close . ) Additionally , the genetic modification can manifestly be neutralized by tetracycline , an antibiotic drug find in agriculture that could introduce variable in mosquito facts of life . Some fear the program couldresultin a hybrid that may prove more difficult to manage .
The EPA asserts such programs pose no risk to humans , animals , or the surround . Oxitec has said that while approval cover 2.4 billion mosquitoes , the actual phone number unloosen will be less and limited to the Florida Keys and Tulare County in California .
While the EPA has empty the programme , the mosquitoes still need to be approved by California ’s section of pesticide regularisation .
[ h / tSmithsonian ]
