Reengineering Life
Millions of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Are Headed for the Florida Keys
The insects are designed to control diseases like dengue and West Nile
Reengineering Life is a series from OneZero about the astonishing ways genetic technology is changing humanity and the world around us.
In the first test of its kind in the United States, millions of genetically modified mosquitoes will be released in the Florida Keys sometime in the next two years.
Local officials greenlit the plan in a 4–1 vote on August 18, despite long-standing objection from some residents and environmental advocacy groups. The engineered insects are designed to wipe out Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in an effort to eliminate the diseases they carry. The U.K. company that makes the mosquitoes, Oxitec, had been trying to get an open-air release approved for the past 10 years.
The resulting offspring don’t survive until adulthood and therefore can’t reproduce.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the pilot project in May, followed by the state of Florida in June. But Oxitec still needed to get local permission before the mosquitoes could be released at a site…
