After an odyssey spanning more than a decade to secure regulatory approval, British-based biotechnology firm Oxitec, along with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District launched the project in hope of reducing the Aedes aegypti species that spread the diseases.
A half-dozen boxes containing the OX5034 mosquito created by Oxitec have been deployed in the Florida Keys, an archipelago stretching 120 miles off the southern tip of the state. Some 12,000 mosquitoes will be released in the initial stage, but later this year tens of millions of genetically modified Aedes aegypti will fan out across the region. The mosquitoes have also been designed to emit a fluorescent glow, so that when they are captured, they can be more easily identified and studied.
FKMCD Executive Director Andrea Leal says she understands community concerns but that traditional methods like fumigation from trucks and helicopters have become increasingly ineffective. But environmentalists like Barry Wray, who heads the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, are not persuaded by the long regulatory approval process.
Good idea cuz nothing every goes wrong g in Florida 🤪
Probably the end of the species now that anyone from Florida got involved
Hunger games much?
Oh noooo!!! Where and to what will this modification of nature lead?
But vaccines are scary. 🤔 Ok, Florida. You do you.
Why don't they modify them so they can't breed?
Right. And they say we don't play with life. Now the cornoa virus is starting to seem like agenda 21 🤔
I don’t trust anything that comes out of Florida...
Well this doesn't sound like the start of an apocalypse movie at all.