Nearly 150,000 Gene-Hacked Mosquitoes to Be Unleashed in Florida

Nearly 150,000 mosquitoes that have been genetically modified by Oxitec, a biotechnology company based in the U.K., will be released across parts of Monroe County’s Florida Keys region starting this week. The release is part of an experiment to help combat a disease-transmitting local mosquito population (the Aedes aegypti mosquito species) that is responsible for “virtually all mosquito-borne diseases transmitted to humans” such as dengue, Zika and yellow fever, the company says. Speaking to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Oxitec said: “We are releasing 12,000 [mosquitoes] per week for 12 weeks,” which equates to a total of 144,000 mosquitoes, the spokesperson added. The experiment—a collaboration between the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) and Oxitec—received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). It is also supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as an independent advisory board, Oxitec says.

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