Oxitec says its genetically modified bugs could help control invasive populations of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can spread diseases. Some scientists worry releasing the creatures into the wild may have more risk than benefit.
In the mosquito breeding rooms of British biotech company Oxitec, scientists line up fresh eggs, each the size of a grain of salt. Using microscopic needles, the white-coated researchers inject each egg with a dab of a proprietary synthetic DNA.
“Precise. Environmentally sustainable. Non-toxic,” the company says on its website of its product trademarked as the “Friendly” mosquito.Scientists independent from the company and critical of the proposal say not so fast. They say unleashing the experimental creatures into nature has risks that haven’t yet been fully studied, including possible harm to other species or unexpectedly making the local mosquito population harder to control.
mosquitoes have spread rapidly after being discovered in the state about a decade ago. The tiny, aggressive day-biters can lay eggs in a space as small as a water-filled bottle cap left in the backyard. The company plans to start the release in northern Tulare County in the Central Valley, where it has partnered with the local mosquito control district based in the city of Visalia.Inserting synthetic DNA into mosquitoiscaptured in Mexico’s Chiapas state. Its scientists then inserted into the insects asynthetic DNA sequence they call the “self-limiting” gene.
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