Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes To Be Released In 20 States
The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes in 20 US states and Washington D.C – what are the implications of this mass experiment?
In early November the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of mosquitoes which have been genetically engineered to carry a common bacterium designed to kill mosquitoes that carry dangerous viruses. The news was reported in Nature, and later confirmed to Gizmodo by MosquitoMate, the company behind the GE mosquitoes, and the EPA. The EPA said they officially registered MosquitoMate’s Asian Tiger mosquito with a five-year license to sell their lab mosquitoes in 20 states across the nation.
Nature reported:
On 3 November, the agency told biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate that it could release the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis into the environment as a tool against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Lab-reared mosquitoes will deliver the bacterium to wild mosquito populations.
The decision — which the EPA has not formally announced — allows the company, which is based in Lexington, Kentucky, to release the bacteria-infected mosquitoes in 20 US states and Washington DC.
The goal is to have MosquitoMate release the Wolbachia-infected A. albopictus male mosquitoes into the wild to mate with wild females in the hopes that the fertilized eggs do not hatch due to faulty paternal chromosomes. As with all mosquitoes, the laboratory grown male mosquitoes do not bite. MosquitoMate believes that over time the infected males will help shrink the population of A. albopictus mosquitoes.
Stephen Dobson, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and founder of MosquitoMate, told Nature that other species of mosquito and other insects are not harmed by the release of the lab mosquitoes. Dobson also stated that MosquitoMate plans to begin selling the mosquitoes locally in Lexington, Kentucky and then from there expand to nearby cities.
The EPA’s decision came after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes designed to prevent the spread of the Zika virus. The FDA’s approval was in relation to a field test of genetically modified mosquitoes engineered by the British biotechnology company Oxitec.
Oxitec is the same company involved in a controversial vote in the Florida Keys during the 2016 Election. In that vote, residents of the Key Haven voted against the release of the mosquitoes in their community. However, shortly after, the trials were approved for a different location in the Keys. Despite the approval, opposition to the controversial project has not ceased. In late November 2016, Health News Florida reported that a coalition of groups, including the Center for Food Safety and the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, have filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Earlier this year the Houston Chronicle reported that Oxitec is working on a deal with Harris County officials to release GE mosquitoes in the Houston area. Oxitec is attempting to sway Houston officials by stating that their product has a nearly 100% success rate. Gizmodo reported:
The company claims that trials in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands have reduced mosquito populations by 90%, calling the success “an unprecedented level” of human control over nature. (The World Health Organization, for it’s [sic]part, has stated that while the technology “has demonstrated the ability to reduce the [mosquito] populations in small-scale field trials” there is still “an absence of data on epidemiological impact.”)
Interestingly, in October 2017, the FDA made another announcement which clarifies that “mosquito-related products intended to function as pesticides” are not “drugs” under the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act, and “will be regulated by the EPA under the Federal Insecticide Act.” This decision led to the November announcement from the EPA and now sets the stage for future experiments with genetically engineered mosquitoes.
Will the first site of genetically engineered mosquitoes be in Houston, the Florida Keys, or one of the newly approved 20 states? Time will tell. For now, it is important to express your thoughts and concerns to local officials. If this is happening in your area and you have concerns, do not sit around doing nothing, or only complain online. Take some type of action. Educate your neighbors and hold your public officials accountable.
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I am an investigative journalist and liberty activist; a Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com & The Houston Free Thinkers. I have also co-authored three books with @johnvibes: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 1 and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 2
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Can someone please explain to me what the population of the world is going to be once we eradicate all the natural killers of the human race? With no cancer and no malaria, and no polio and no (fill in the gap) this planet is going to be over-run with humans. Has no-one thought that nature finds its balance, and by tinkering with it, we are upsetting this global eco system? And no, I'm not bothered that humans are dying. We are no different from the mosquito in my eyes. I'm sure the earth would function as a whole quite happily without us on it.
I completely agree with you. I don't understand how these guys come up with such weird solutions.
People need to die, it's a part of the cycle. I agree about earth with no humans. Well said.
The vast majority of human deaths are caused by heart disease, for which the only real solution is lifestyle change. So it's not like as if eradicating cancer and malaria will stop all deaths.
Chagas disease (caused by biting insects transmitting bacteria into their victims) causes heart disease, and there may also be many other contributors we yet remain unaware of. Science is very short of compete understanding, and the hubris of scientists - as in this case - often is but later punished when their belief in their infallibility is proved childishly conceited.
You are completely correct that no suite of cures will stop all deaths. I note that the lifestyle changes you refer to are only necessary because those lifestyles needing changing resulted from exactly such hubris.
Exactly such hubris as is leading to releasing GMO mosquitoes into the wild.
You got a 17.37% upvote from @votebuster courtesy of @jmehta!
This post reminds me of George Carlins rant on "Save the Planet" lol. It's true though. Nature does what it is intended to do and we shouldn't be trying to interrupt with EVERYTHING.
What you are saying basically is let humans die naturally. Do not use medication right? Sounds alright until you yourself get a decease. Science has come a long way since the age of the religions which taught what you are saying. You are highly likely be dead by now if it were up to the nature entirely.
Yes we have upset the global eco system but now we are working on reversing the damage and minimizing the future damage. We are not using CFC anymore. We do not go out and kill wild animals in a mass scale for fun like a few decades ago. In a global scale, we are slowly making progress. So no need to let people die of cancer and other horrible deceases don't you agree?
Here are a few facts as well
Oh come on. These unnatural ways of eradicating mosquitoes is definitely not going to be good for Human race. What if they bring any other complications to humans and the planet. This cannot be the right way. Stop acting like GOD or pretending to be one. Every living organisms here contribute for something or the other. Just because a mosquito is biting you, you cannot alter their DNA and try something like this. Eradicating mosquitoes can even lead to a huge disturbance in the food chain as well. Why don't you leave the nature to stay as it is? If you are being bitten by a mosquito try to save yourself alone. Please don't try to save the world and mess things up.
So in a few years when we see an article about droves of birds, bats, dragonflies, and fish dying off, we will know why. Screw with mother nature and mother nature WILL screw you right back.
These genetically engineered mosquitoes are going to harm only their own species not the one who eats them. If birds, bats, dragonflies and fish die, it is not going to be their problem. Ask them not to eat these super powered mosquitoes.
Well, since they say it won't do any harm I guess there is nothing to worry about. Apparently once you put the "Science Stamp" on something it's never wrong. And I was considering the potential implications to the food chain, not the the effects the bacterium would have on these species directly.
Just because they say, there is no harm we cant go for it. Effects on food chain is a harm one way or the other. I am a strong believer that anything against nature or artificial will definitely have its effect. Some are immediate and thats where these scientists wake up. There are some effects that are not immediate for which these scientists and their followers never wake up at all. Its better to leave the nature as it is.
What an abomination.
They just released these fucking mosquitoes in Medellin, Colombia where I live. I got eaten up by them.
No, you didn't. The mosquitoes they release are incapable of biting. Male mosquitoes can't bite. They live on nectar from flowers, like bees.
Only female mosquitoes bite. They don't release female mosquitoes.
That wasn't my experience! I never get bit by mosquitos as there are very few here due to the lack of humidity and altitude. I was at my morning coffee spot and was being pestered by them which I found odd until my Spanish teacher explained that they had just released millions of them in the neighborhood. The next day I woke up with 4 bites. I'm not disagreeing that males don't bite (thanks for the science lesson) but the release of the males led me to being bit when I normally never am.
wow it is insane to realize how much humans can do. This does scare me sometime!! Interesting information. I follow you!
Holy satoshi ! When they did this (release GMO mosquitos) in Brazil there was a crazy timing with microencefaly outbreak, wich WHO quickly dismissed.
https://theecologist.org/2016/feb/01/pandoras-box-how-gm-mosquitos-could-have-caused-brazils-microcephaly-disaster
http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/articles/rumours/en/
Sounds very sceptical and just the mention of the people authorising it and saying its safe makes me shudder!
As somebody who has experienced Dengue and Malaria, I'm delighted they finally got the go-ahead to release these mozzies.
Miserable creatures bearing miserable illness.
Thanks for the good news!