Media “Futurism” (Futurism) reported that starting in mid to late April, the British company Oxford Insect Technology (Oxitec) plans to release 144,000 genetically modified male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to six locations in the Florida Keys group in Monroe County, Florida (Monroe County), over a 12-week period, and 1 billion of these transferred over a two-year experimental period Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
The company claims that although Aedes aegypti mosquitoes make up only 4 percent of Florida’s mosquito population, the females among them are the primary transmitters of dengue, Zika and other types of diseases in humans and animals. This release of male Aedes aegypti with the OX5034 gene, which can breed with native female Aedes aegypti, to produce female offspring that are not mature enough to bite and not mature enough to breed, is expected to reduce the population of Aedes aegypti.
What is known is that Oxford Insect Technology has released millions of the genetically modified insects around the world, including in Brazil and the Cayman Islands, and reduced the number of targeted insects by more than 90 percent.
Microsoft co-founder and public health philanthropist Bill Gates is involved in funding the company. Oxford Insect Technologies reportedly received a $5 million donation for the Aedes aegypti mosquito in 2010 through the Gates Foundation’s Global Grand Challenges program. Science magazine also reported in 2010 that the Gates Foundation had awarded $19.7 million for a project in which Oxford Insect Technology was involved.
Gates’ involvement complicated a project that had already received much criticism. On the one hand, the experiment could lead to an extraordinary method of controlling diseases that could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year. On the other hand, critics say the experiment could fail, or open the door to more disturbing applications of genetically modified technology,. To say the least, the idea of one of the world’s richest people pushing for gene editing experiments in an open ecosystem is a sensitive topic.
Though many say they would be more willing to experiment in their communities if there were better controls and more advance research. But for now, critics say Oxford Insect Technology’s release program in Florida is scientifically flawed and inadequately tested for safety. There is no independently reviewed evidence that the mosquitoes will actually reduce the spread of disease in Florida or that they won’t cause new problems in the environment.
Many in the community say they feel the experiment is being imposed on them, that officials are treating them like guinea pigs and that they have no way to opt out except to pack up and leave the area. Members of the environmental group Friends of the Earth said the release of the genetic mosquitoes would damage the environment and pose a danger to other species. There are also concerns that the genetic mosquitoes will not kill wild mosquitoes, but will instead make them more difficult to kill by mutating them.
The controversial project is being carried out as part of a partnership between the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) and Oxford Insect Technology.
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