Dr Lim Thuang Seng, an immunologist appeals to the government to seriously reconsider their intention to release genetically modified mosquitoes in Pahang and Malacca. Dr Lim said this experiment will not lead to any solution in eliminating the aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Malaysia, but to put Malaysian in unnecessary potential health risks.

The development of a GM mosquito is certainly a scientific and technological tour-de-force and the accomplishment needs to be appropriately recognised as such. However, what is most disturbing about the present planned release of GM aedes aegypti mosquitoes is the lack of information and further approvals associated with the proposed release as outlined below. [...] 2. What commercial entity is undertaking this endeavour and who are the individuals involved? [...] Who is going to produce the GM mosquitoes, who will release them, who will account for them and who will assume responsibility for any untoward events that occur? When it comes to larger scale release, billions of male mosquitoes will be required to be released – who will produce them and be accountable?

They released around 3.3 million sterile males over the 6 month study period, and found that the wild populations were reduced by 80% as a result - a level sufficient to effectively wipe out dengue fever in the area. “We saw a significant reduction in the target population”, Luke Alphey chief scientific officer and founder of Oxitec said. The GM males are engineered to die off in the wild, and so - Oxitec says - they do not pose a risk by persisting in the environment.

Malaysia will soon take the controversial step of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild as part of an experiment to test their survival in natural conditions. The move was approved by the country's National Biosafety Board last month and will make the nation the first major country in the world to release GM Aedes aegypti mosquitoes for field testing - second only after the Cayman Islands in 2009.

On the commercial side, it was made known that the project was mooted by Oxitec. But there is not much information on its Malaysian operations.

Who are its Malaysian partners? How much funding it is bringing in? Has it obtained approval of the Malaysian Pesticide Board? Has it obtained a patent for GM technology? [...] But for now, “Project GM” is the baby of the National Biosafety Board. Oxitech is kept away from the prying eyes of the public.

The field trials for genetically modified mosquitoes are expected to be carried out by early December, said Biosafety Department director-general Let­chumanan Rama­natha. The programme calls for genetically-engineered Aedes Aegypti male mosquitoes to be released into the wild, to mate with females and produce offsprings that have a shorter lifespan, thus curbing the population.

It plans to release between 2,000 and 3,000 GM mosquitoes in some areas, said Lim Chua Leng, a Malaysian health ministry official. [...] However, Gurmit Singh, head of Malaysia’s Centre for Environment, Technology and Development, said: “There are a lot of risks involved.” Once the mosquitoes are released “you have no control and it can create more problems than solving them”, he added.

Malaysia's health minister Sunday said the country would carry out a landmark field trial by releasing genetically modified mosquitoes designed to combat dengue fever by the end of the year. Liow Tiong Lai said the delayed field trials, which were to have begun this month, were now back on track as laboratory tests had been done and the country's biosafety board had approved the mosquitoes' release into a controlled environment.

Genetically modified ‘terminator’ mosquitoes are the latest weapons that the Malaysian government wants to use against the deadly dengue fever, but activists and environmentalists say the public health risks of introducing a new ‘artificial’ strain of mosquito are far too high. The government has discussed plans to release in December male ‘terminator’ mosquitoes with ‘killer’ genes that would lead to a reduction in the population of the Aedes mosquito, which carries and transmits the dengue virus to humans.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the biosafety committee was still studying the feasibility of using such mosquitoes as an effort to reduce dengue. “The committee is conducting a survey among members of the public and we are waiting for their report. “We will not release the mosquitoes until the committee presents its findings to us. The findings will be deliberated by the cabinet,” he said at the prime minister’s Hari Raya open house.