GS TIMES STAFF
The Oxitec technology-a Bill Gates-funded biotech firm, has released genetically modified mosquitoes in the Keys- a chain of tropical islands in the southernmost tip of Florida to combat insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and Zika virus.
- Oxitec has bioengineered male Aedes aegypti that do not bite to control the invasive, disease-spreading Aedes aegypti.
- The release boxes will slowly release their self-limiting, male mosquitoes to mate with the local female biting mosquitoes. However, the female offsprings from these encounters cannot survive, which will subsequently control the population of disease-carrying Aedes aegypti.
- The Aedes aegypti comprise four percent of the mosquito population in the Keys, However, these are responsible for all mosquito-borne disease in the region.
