Mutant mosquitoes one step closer to release in Florida, Texas this summer. Why?
Millions of genetically-engineered mosquitoes could be released as early as this summer into the Florida Keys and Houston area in an effort to curb the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved an experimental use permit for the British biotech company Oxitec to test the modified mosquitoes in the U.S. for the first time, according to a statement from the agency.
The company is waiting for state and local approval to begin trials.
“To meet today’s public health challenges head-on, the nation needs to facilitate innovation and advance the science around new tools and approaches to better protect the health of all Americans,” the statement said. “EPA anticipates that this could be an effective tool to combat the spread of certain mosquito-borne diseases like the Zika virus in light of growing resistance to current insecticides.”
If approval is granted, the company plans to release genetically-engineered (GE) Aedes aegypti mosquitoes over two years in Monroe County, Florida in summer 2020 and in Harris County, Texas in 2021, the statement said.
The particular species the company plans to modify is known to carry and spread the Zika virus, which can be passed from a pregnant woman to her baby, and viruses that cause yellow and dengue fever, according to the CDC.
Such diseases can be deadly in the U.S., but are known to take a heavier toll on the public health and economies of third-world countries in Africa and Asia.
“Effective vaccines and drugs are available for only a few, so the major means of controlling these diseases is to control the mosquitoes that transmit them,” a 2019 study published in Scientific Reports said.
In an experimental trial in Brazil, Oxitec inserted a protein in male mosquitoes designed to kill wild female mosquitoes after mating, according to the EPA. The males would survive into adulthood, spreading their deadly genes indefinitely, until eventually their mutant populations die off naturally.
The company’s goal is to reduce the amount of female mosquitoes, not affect the population’s genetics.
“Since only male mosquitoes will be released into the environment and they do not bite people, they will not pose a risk to people,” the statement said. “It is also anticipated that there would be no adverse effects to animals such as bats and fish in the environment.”
If successful, the company plans to release the insects across more U.S. regions. But some experts are opposed.
Opposition
“Shame on the EPA for turning communities in Florida and Texas into laboratories for corporate biotech’s experiments. Genetically-engineered mosquitoes pose significant risks to human health and the environment,” Dana Perls, the food and technology program manager with Friends of the Earth — an international network of environmental organizations in 74 countries — said Tuesday in a statement.
“The Trump Administration’s dangerous decision to proceed with its extreme deregulatory agenda during a global health crisis could have terrible consequences,” Perls said.
A group of researchers tested the GE mosquitoes released by Oxitec during their field trial in Brazil and revealed that the wild insects had parts of the mutants’ DNA in their genome, suggesting the females survived after reproduction, according to the Scientific Reports study.
But the researchers noted they aren’t sure how the females’ survival may affect disease transmission, but said monitoring programs should be in place to “detect unanticipated outcomes.”
“Most (but not all) of the GE mosquitoes’ offspring die at the late larval stage, in the water where the female mosquitoes lay their eggs,” said Jaydee Hanson, a policy director at the Center for Food Safety in Washington D.C., according to Bloomberg Law.
Hanson said that their survival rate, even if low, could lead to hybrid mosquitoes “which might possess altered properties, including the potential for enhanced disease transmission or resistance to insecticides.”
Despite the downsides, about 57% of Monroe County residents in Florida voted in favor of the release of GE mosquitoes in their community in 2016, according to Science Magazine.
It’s not clear if Texas residents support the release.
Monroe County in Florida has a population of about 75,000 and includes uninhabited areas in the Everglades, but Harris County, Texas — flood-prone and one of the most populated counties in the country — includes more than 4 million people, Bloomberg reported.
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 10:05 AM with the headline "Mutant mosquitoes one step closer to release in Florida, Texas this summer. Why?."
