Plan to release 2.4 million genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida and California approved

By Tim

A British biotech company this week got the green light from US regulators to release more than 2 million genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida and California as part of an expanded effort to combat the transmission of diseases such as Zika, dengue and canine heartworm.

The experimental public health effort, which still requires final approval from state regulators,

by British biotech firm Oxitec.

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Oxitec said that its genetically modified male mosquitoes (which therefore do not bite, as only females do), “encounter and mate with invasive female

mosquitoes , resulting in a reduction in the target population as the offspring females from these encounters cannot survive”, thus reducing the overall population.

A lab technician displays Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria in a test tube at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro on February 19, 2016.Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg via Getty Images File

In a press release announcing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval, Oxitec described its Florida launch in 2021 as a “success.”

"Given the growing health threat posed by this mosquito in the US, we are working to make this technology available and accessible," said Gray Frandsen, CEO of Oxitec, adding that the company will now apply for approval of California and Florida regulators.

In Florida,

is relatively rare but accounts for the vast majority of mosquito-borne diseases, Oxitec said.

The invasive species was first detected in California in 2013.

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"We made significant progress during the pilot project last year, we look forward to continuing this important work during this year's mosquito season," Andrea Leal, director of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, said in the press release. of Oxitec.

In its letter greenlighting Oxitec's plan, the

genetically modified adult male mosquitoes and eggs in Monroe County, Florida;

and Stanislaus, Fresno, Tulare, and San Bernardino counties in California.

They said the release of mosquitoes from Oxitec, which the EPA calls an "experimental pesticide product," may take place in a 34,760-acre area in the two states between now and April 30, 2024, when the experiment ends.

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The EPA restricted the release of mosquitoes near livestock and agricultural facilities.

The approval also contains

, natural disasters that have repeatedly hit Florida and California, respectively, in recent years.

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“Oxitec will return the mosquito breeding boxes to a secure, triple-contained facility (with two of the three layers of containment shatterproof) before that disaster is forecast to reach the test area, if it is safe to do so,” the EPA said. .

Even before the 2021 genetically modified mosquito test, Florida officials tried other novel methods to kill growing

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One program released male mosquitoes carrying a bacterium called Wolbachia, which rendered their offspring nonviable, in Key West in 2017 and Miami in 2018.

Key West first took notice of the use of genetically modified mosquitoes a decade ago due to an outbreak of dengue fever.

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Since then, the threat posed by

has grown as the invasive mosquito's range expands in the United States.

Oxitec said in 2020 that an experiment in a Brazilian city affected by dengue fever resulted in a 95% reduction in