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FDA could set millions of genetically modified mosquitoes loose in Florida Keys (January 26, 2015)

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Third World Network: Caution Sounded on GM Mosquito Strategy to Control Diseases

Recent research in Panama, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, raises concerns about the strategy of using GM Aedes aegypti mosquito to control diseases. The GM mosquitoes, genetically modified by the British firm Oxitec to render the mosquito larvae unviable, were released in field trials in Panama in April 2014. The aim is to greatly reduce Ae. aegypti populations and with it, the incidence of dengue.

However, Ae. aegypti and the Asian tiger mosquito, Ae. albopictus are ecologically very similar. Both can spread Chikungunya as well as dengue. Chikungunya, a tropical disease that causes fever, fatigue and joint swelling, spread rapidly throughout the Americas in 2014 and the first case was reported in Panama in May 2014. The research found that Ae. albopictus was spreading across the country, relying on road networks to disperse.

Two main concerns were raised in relation to GM mosquitoes:

(1) Ae. albopictus’ aggressive invasive nature could help it colonize areas where GM mosquitoes have wiped out local populations of Ae. aegypti and elevate Chikungunya to a more widespread public health threat; and

(2) Ae. aegypti (including wild forms) could re-establish itself in the absence of continuous release of the GM versions, which would be very expensive for Panama.

Either occurrence could facilitate the spread of Chikungunya and dengue in Panama. “In this particular case, where you’ve got two mosquitoes that can do the same thing, but the GM approach is only going to affect one of them, it doesn’t make sense at all,” says Matthew Miller, one of the researchers of the study.