Genetically engineered mosquitoes have already been experimentally released, millions of them. And now billions more are going to be released in Florida and next year in California.
The experiment comes despite unresolved public health concerns raised by public health experts and environmental concerns scientists have raised.
The British biotechnology company responsible for the release has not released data from their experiments in Florida in 2021. The 2021 experimental release of genetically engineered mosquitoes was in the delicate ecosystem of the Florida Keys.
The 2021 experimental open air release came after nearly a decade of fierce public opposition to the government’s plan to have the private biotechnology company release genetically engineered mosquitoes into the wild.
The 2021 release of the genetically modified mosquitoes was the first such release into the open air in the US.
These experiments are meant to suppress populations of wild Aedes aegypti mosquitoes for fear they might spread disease.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services approved to extend the two-year long experiment and release several billion more experimental genetically engineered mosquitoes into the Florida Keys.
The EPA approved experiments to release billions of genetically modified mosquitoes in California this year but the release is expected to be delayed until next year. The California release will be in agricultural regions populated by farmworkers and vulnerable low income communities.
The mosquitoes are genetically engineered Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, an invasive species of mosquito that can carry disease.
The GMO mosquitoes are genetically engineered with a gene that the company hopes will prove lethal to female offspring.
When the company placed the genetically engineered mosquito eggs around the Florida Keys in the initial US experiment, the goal was that they would mate with wild mosquitoes, and kill the female descendants of the mosquitoes.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have likely been introduced millions of times into the US. They are frequently brought into the US on cargo.
The company says it hopes to eventually sell the mosquitoes directly to people by subscription service.