Genetically-Modified Mosquitoes To Be Released In Keys

Via press release from Friends of the Earth:

The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) and Oxitec, a British biotech company, will begin the first-ever U.S. release of genetically engineered (GE) Aedes aegypti mosquitoes this week. Despite scientific concerns and public outcry over the human health and environment risks, the field trial’s first phase will release up to 144,000 GE mosquitoes over the course of the next 12 weeks.

The full trial will release up to a billion GE mosquitoes over a two-year period in Monroe County, Florida. The mosquitoes are being released in Cudjoe Key, Ramrod Key and Vaca Key. Community residents were not notified which cities or villages would be included until the Friday before the releases. Scientists have raised concerns that GE mosquitoes could create hybrid wild mosquitoes which could worsen the spread of mosquito-borne diseases and could be more resistant to insecticides.

Read the full article. Monroe County spans the entire Keys. The modified mosquitoes are meant to breed out the ones that can carry Zika, dengue fever, and yellow fever.

BREAKING: Up to one billion @Oxitec #GMO mosquitoes are being released for the first time in the Florida Keys.

This could negatively impact endangered species and create more virulent mosquitoes. @EPA must halt this nightmare immediately. https://t.co/lkdlqXXeRo

— Friends of the Earth (Action) (@foe_us) April 26, 2021