Houston Officials In Talks To Release GE Mosquitoes

‘The British biotech company – Oxitec – didn’t successfully launch its genetically engineered mosquitoes in Key Haven, Florida late last year. So, much like the altered mosquitoes they want to spread in the U.S., the company is buzzing to find another way in.
Harris County, Texas, officials are in negotiations with Oxitec about releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in Houston under the banner of pre-emptively fighting Zika virus, said to be carried by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Oxitec has created a breed of mosquitoes that will mate with native mosquitoes to produce offspring that die.
Similar to the Key Haven suburb, there have been no cases of Zika transmission in Houston. There was a reported case of the disease on the U.S./Mexican border. In Key Haven, there were no cases of the other diseases – like dengue – that Oxitec used as an urgent example for the need to go ahead and release the GE insects. The Food and Drug Administration, however, gave approval to the proposed field trial in Key Haven last August, but it was shot down by residents’ votes.’
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