Florida Is Releasing Almost a Billion Gene-Hacked Mosquitoes

— 25 août 2020

Local authorities in the Florida Keys just approved a plan for biotech company Oxitec to release more than 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes over the next two years, CNN reports. The goal is to use mosquitoes that have had their genes altered so that female offspring die in the larval stage, meaning that populations could die off rapidly.

The Environment Protection Agency approved the pilot project back in May after a years long approval process.

The target, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, can carry deadly diseases including the Zika virus, dengue, and yellow fever. But environmental rights activists are condemning the plans, raising concerns that the engineered mosquitoes could disrupt and harm nearby ecosystems.

Thèmes : NBIC, Sciences et technologies

Mots-clés : OGM