People will be shocked to learn that genetically modified mosquitoes can easily be released into the environment without proper supervision. They are not asked. The people in Africa are experiencing this.
Genetically modified (GM) “male-sterile” mosquitoes are tested here, financed by the European Commission.
The main sponsor is the Gates Foundation. Although the people of Florida have been protesting the genetically modified insects for years, the release of 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes has been approved.
The aim is to reduce the number of mosquitoes that transmit diseases such as dengue fever and the Zika virus. Particularly explosive is the fact that a study shows that the same GM mosquitoes have already been released in Brazil and that this did not affect the spread of dengue fever at all.
After the genetically modified mosquitoes come to the genetically modified cabbage moth.
Marathon, FL—The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) yesterday approved the first-ever U.S. release of genetically engineered mosquitoes. Despite public outcry and the scientific dispute over the human health and environment risks posed by this field trial, the approval permits the release of 750 million GE mosquitoes over a two-year period in Monroe County, Florida, which may begin in 2021.
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control Board members have received more than 2,000 comments from Florida residents opposing the release of GE mosquitoes.
Despite encouragement from the public, the Board members also rejected the proposal for a referendum on November’s ballot, which would have asked Monroe County residents to vote on whether to accept or reject the GE mosquito trial. In 2016, voters in the proposed release site in Key Haven, Florida, voted to reject the GE mosquito trial.
Neither the FKMCD nor Oxitec* has publicly announced where or when the releases will occur. Documents submitted by Oxitec did not include details about an environmental impact statement (EIS).
“With all the urgent crises facing our nation and the State of Florida — the Covid-19 pandemic, racial injustice, climate change — the administration has used tax dollars and government resources for a Jurassic Park experiment. Now the Monroe County Mosquito Control District has given the final permission needed. What could possibly go wrong? We don’t know, because EPA unlawfully refused to seriously analyze environmental risks, now without further review of the risks, the experiment can proceed,” said Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director for the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety.
“The Mosquito Control Board has an obligation to our community, not a vendor that’s products are risky and untrustworthy. FKMCD wants to proceed with an experiment that may be damaging to public and environmental health and our local economy,” said Barry Wray, Executive Director of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition. “We need true solutions to benefit our community and ecosystems.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, community members and national organizations critiqued Oxitec’s application for failing to address important environmental risks and potential negative health impacts. Community members asked the FKMCD to reject the field trial application, pointing out the lack of data demonstrating that Oxitec’s mosquitoes will be safe and effective, the likelihood that biting females will be released, thus putting humans and animals at risk, and the lack of free and prior informed consent of people living in the area.
“The release of genetically engineered mosquitoes will needlessly put Floridians, the environment, and endangered species at risk in the midst of a pandemic,” said Dana Perls, food and technology Program Manager at Friends of the Earth.
“This approval is about maximizing Oxitec’s profits, not about the pressing need to address mosquito-borne diseases.”
“Beckie”, Photo – Rebecca Griffiths / Sea Shepherd
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