BUZZ OFF! Swarm of MILLIONS of gene-hacked mosquitoes will be unleashed across USA – to wipe out malaria with ‘death sex’
BUZZ OFF! Swarm of MILLIONS of gene-hacked mosquitoes will be unleashed across USA – to wipe out malaria with ‘death sex’
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, North America, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)H. Pettit, The Sun, 2020.
MUTANT mosquitoes created in a lab to stop the spread of deadly diseases like malaria will be unleashed across the US this summer.
The gene-hacked bugs, crafted by UK biotech company Oxitec, are designed to kill off or reduce local populations of mosquitoes by mating with them.
Mosquitoes carry diseases like dengue, Zika and malaria which are then passed to anyone bitten by the creepy crawlies.
While the technology has shown promise in lab experiments, experts warn the scheme could go horribly wrong out in the wild.
“These strategies hold considerable potential benefits for the hundreds of millions of people impacted by mosquito-borne diseases each year,” a group of scientists and ethicists wrote in The Conversation.
“However, we are concerned that current government oversight and scientific evaluation of genetically-modified mosquitoes do not ensure their responsible deployment.”
