The district first turned to Oxitec and its genetically modified mosquitoes in 2010. When that stalled amid public concerns and the federal review process, it tried a company called MosquitoMate, which infects lab-reared Aedes aegypti with a bacteria that makes them sterile. Those male mosquitoes compete with others, and every time they win it helps reduce the population.
That approach is seen as more natural, and generated little controversy. Only three residents and a reporter attended the district’s meeting to discuss the MosquitoMate trial, officials recalled.
A MosquitoMate trial was held over five months this past summer. It ended before Hurricane Irma hit. The results are not yet known, but the district is weighing a second effort next year when mosquito season ramps up again.
The company’s strain of Aedes aegypti, officially known as OX513A, is engineered to have two genes inserted into its DNA: one makes the insects glow, the other makes them self destruct.
The fluorescent gene verifies that the gene modification was successful and helps researchers track them in the wild. The lethal gene kills the mosquito in two to three days.
While the plan called for the release of only males, accusations arose that Oxitec was downplaying the chance a female could be released. And what would happen if it bit someone? This idea was pushed by opponents, even though extensive research showed a bite would pose near-to-no risk for humans.
“It was made with herpes and E. coli. Let’s just start there,” Mara Daly, an Islamadora resident with one son said in an interview.