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Saltmarsh, Culex and Asian Tiger are all types of what? Ferns, wasps, mosses or mosquitoes. These are all mosquitoes in addition to the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads a number of diseases.
For the first time ever, genetically modified mosquitoes are being released in the U.S. The project's taking place in the Florida Keys. It was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last May and the state of Florida issued an experimental use permit last June. It allows the release of up to 750 million genetically altered mosquitoes this year and next.
The targeted mosquito can spread yellow fever, dengue and the Zika virus. There've been at least two small outbreaks of dengue in the Keys over the last 12 years. The project will release genetically altered male mosquitoes with the idea that they'll mate with the females and pass along a deadly gene that kills female mosquito larvae.
Only female mosquitoes bite. So the intent is to wipe out biting mosquito populations in the Keys. The company that produces the GMO mosquitoes says a different type of it has been used in Brazil, the Cayman Islands and Panama and that it's been widely successful. But critics, including the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, say the project's being forced on them. That they're being treated as guinea pigs.
They're concerned that the newer GMO mosquitoes being released haven't been tested as long and they question what could happen to people or animals health of genetically modified females survive and then bite. Critics are considering legal action but the trial has begun.
