Authorities in Florida recently authorized a mosquito control program that includes the release of 750 million genetically modified insects into the wild. The operation will be launched in 2021, reports the BBC.
The objective of the program is to reduce the number of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes , responsible for the spread of diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. Under the code name OX5034, the insects were modified by the company Oxitec, which had received an authorization from the American government last May.
A threat to the ecosystem?
Mosquitoes are males that carry a protein that will kill all female offspring. Indeed, only females bite to obtain the blood necessary for the development of their eggs. According to engineers, mating their genetically modified mosquitoes with "normal" females will ultimately lower the proportion of female mosquitoes in Florida.
This genetic modification is the subject of much criticism. Conservationists fear that the program may unbalance the ecosystem, or potentially give rise to insecticide-resistant mosquito species.
An online petition calling for the program to be abandoned has already collected more than 234,000 signatures. For its part, Oxitec ensures that the project endangers neither humans nor nature, and highlights a whole series of scientific studies carried out with the support of the American government.
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