‘Home to GMO Mosquitoes?!’ Florida Unleashes a Billion Lab Grown Mosquitoes
‘Home to GMO Mosquitoes?!’ Florida Unleashes a Billion Lab Grown Mosquitoes
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified mosquitoes, North America, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Anonymous, B and T MAGAZINE, 2021.
Up to a billion genetically engineered mosquitoes are going to be released in the Florida Keys—but locals are having none of it, with billboards erected saying ‘no!’ to the damned blood suckers. The genetically-modified mosquitoes, known as the OX5034, were made in a laboratory in London by British biotech firm Oxitec, in a bid to kill-off a species in the Florida Keys that carries dengue fever, Zika virus, and yellow fever. It comes after more than 7,300 dengue cases were reported in the US in the past decade, Vice reports. While most were contracted outside America, 71 were transmitted in Florida, according to the CDC.