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Hundreds of millions of genetically modified mosquitoes will soon be released in the Florida Keys island mountain chain to pass over out local population of disease - deport mosquitoes , harmonize to news report .
The big question are , will it work and will it have unintended consequence on the surroundings ?
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District currently budgets about $ 1 million a yr to combat the invasiveAedes aegyptimosquito , which can convey disease likeZika virusand dengue fever and pass them on to humans , according to Gizmodo . In comparison to costly mosquito control tactic , such as aerial spraying of insecticides , the plan to release 750 milliongenetically modifiedmosquitoes to mate with localA. aegyptimay be less expensive and more in force , accord to the board .
" The science is there . This is something Monroe County needs , " mosquito board member Jill Cranny - Gage toldThe Associated Press . " We ’re trying everything in our mogul , and we ’re running out of options . " The board voted 4 - 1 in favor of the plan and will begin turn the mosquitoes sometime next year .
But not everyone agrees that the science is up to sniff .
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The biotech ship’s company Oxitec , which designed the modify pests , did so by insert a " lethalgene " into maleA. aegyptimosquitoes , Live Science antecedently report . In theory , the change males should mate with distaff mosquito and draw the deadly gene on to female offspring , causing the issue to die before get to maturity because they can not properly work up an all important protein . This same inherited alteration does not bear upon male survival , so the Oxitec mosquitoes survive to mate with females , according to Science Magazine .
Only femalemosquitoesbite homo , as they ask the blood to produce and mature their bollock , while manful mosquitoes only drink ambrosia and therefore do n’t infect people with lethal diseases , Gizmodo reported . In lab studies , Oxitec find that about 3 % of female issue with the lethal cistron endure to adulthood , but these survivor are too feeble to produce progeny , Live Science previously report .
However , that style may not hold true in the natural state .
When Oxitec released millions of the mosquitoes in Jacobina , Brazil between 2013 and 2015 , genes from the change pests cropped up in local mosquito population , indicating that some distaff offspring live long enough to pair and pass on their genes , allot to a 2019 subject area publish in the journalScientific Reports . These leave hybrid mosquito did not carry the lethal factor introduced by Oxitec , but instead carried genes from the original Cuban and Mexian mosquito populations first used to make the genetically modified mosquito .
The study authors speculated that , due to the increase in genic variation , this intercrossed mosquito might be " more robust , " meaning that the bug might be more resistant to insecticides compared with aboriginal populations . At the time , Oxitec requested that the authors ' " shoddy and speculative affirmation " be look back by the journal , Science Magazine report .
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At this item , scientists do n’t know how an influx of intercrossed mosquito might feign humans or animals sharing an environment with the pests . Some argue that the Oxitec mosquitoes , themselves , may also harm local wildlife in unintended ways . " An ecosystem is so complicated and demand so many mintage , it would be almost impossible to test them all in advance in a lab , " Max Moreno , an expert in mosquito - borne disease at Indiana University who is not need with Oxitec or the pilot labor , told the AP .
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Oxitec has already released these genetically modified mosquito in the Cayman Islands , Panama and Malaysia , in add-on to Brazil , and has reported that localA. aegyptipopulations fell by at least 90 % in each location following their initiation , Gizmodo reported in 2016 . The company also design to release the mosquitoes in Harris County , Texas , where Houston is located , beginning in 2021,according to a statement .
The program to release mosquito into the Florida Keys has now been approved by the state and the Environmental Protection Agency , but the Center for Food Safety and Florida Keys Environmental Coalition , among other groups , continue to push back against the decision , Gizmodo reported . An earlier program to release Oxitec mosquitoes in the Keys was overturned in 2018 , when local residents vehemently fight the idea , WLRN report .
Originally published on Live Science .
