Would you want them released in your country?
For the first time in the United States, genetically modified mosquitoes have been released into the wild in an effort to fight the spread of deadly diseases like dengue, Zika, and yellow fever.
The pilot project began in Florida, where bioengineered male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—non-biting and harmless to humans—were released into the environment after years of regulatory delays and public debate.
These engineered mosquitoes carry a special gene that causes female offspring to die before reaching maturity, dramatically reducing the number of biting females capable of spreading disease.
Though Aedes aegypti makes up just 4% of Florida’s mosquito population, it is responsible for nearly all human-transmitted mosquito-borne illnesses in the region. By collapsing the female population over time, scientists aim to suppress disease transmission without resorting to chemical insecticides, which have led to rising resistance in mosquito populations. Previous trials in Brazil, Panama, and the Cayman Islands saw mosquito populations fall by over 90%. If successful in the U.S., this method could offer a sustainable and targeted approach to mosquito control—and a major step forward in global public health.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Genetically Modified Mosquitoes.”
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