Posted on 12/06/2012 6:52:36 PM PST by null and void
Hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes are awaiting federal approval for release into the Florida Keys as part of an experiment aimed at reducing the risk of dengue fever.
Officials are targeting the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes because they can spread dengue fever, a disease health officials thought had been eradicated in the U.S. until 93 cases originated in the Keys in 2009 and 2010.
The trial planned by mosquito control officials and the British company Oxitec would release non-biting male mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to pass along a birth defect that kill their progeny before reaching maturity.
The district's website says the modified genes will disappear from the environment after the mosquitoes carrying it die, resulting in no permanent change to the wild mosquito population. The district also says that the mosquito species isn't native to the Keys, nor is it an integral food source for other animals.
A University of Florida professor who studies mosquito control said Oxitec's technology works and evidence from the company's experiments elsewhere show it can control mosquito populations, but it's not clear whether its methods are as effective at controlling the risk of disease transmission.
The mosquito control district wouldn't need any local permit for the trial, either, but officials held a public meeting earlier this year and have posted information on the agency's website.
Still, it could take years for the FDA to approve the trial.
Oxitec said the USDA's environmental assessment is one of several examples of proof that the trial's risks and methods are being independently evaluated. The company has trials in Brazil, the Cayman Islands and Malaysia, and it says it's gotten positive reviews from the latter two governments. It also cites its published research in peer-reviewed journals.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
You mean they don’t want to put a permanent dent in world mosquito populations?
Who’d weep if mosquitoes became extinct?
Can’t see this going wrong......
Nothing can go wrong.
Bats. :)
This should be good.
Hope it works out better than the introduction of Melaleucas to help dry up water and have become an invasive....Not sure but I think Kudzu was another brain child of the gvmnt too?
The problem is that the most effective pesticides against mosquitoes also kill bugs that are useful (like bees). This would be a useful experiment.
Already done by Syfy in 2005 as Mansquito. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansquito
someone post a ‘Food of the Gods’ (lame D grade 70s movie) picture stat!
Most animals have has a purpose.Some food for others,just say’en
Ask West Virginia about multi flora rose.
A made for the SyFy channel movie in the making..
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Have been infested with ‘stink bugs’ last couple of years and they inevitably get indoors- so the cats spot and stalk them and I capture them and flush them down the toilet.
BUT...have septic system and I get weird visions of mutant stink bugs coming out of the ground and REALLY overrunning the countryside.
What could possibly go wrong?
*facepalm*
remember when MTBE was the “solution”??
lolz
I killed a mosquito here in Wisconsin that had a tick on it.
I remember a teacher telling our class back around 1960 that the University of Florida had ended a common animal disease caused by screwworms.
I am not sure he was right but he said they released millions of sterile flies of that type. Maybe they are doing something similar with mosquitoes.
Ask me I go through gallons of round up to control that crap on my 40+ acres here in the NE.
If I stay in Fl for a full year season and dont come up I am screwed.
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