by Mark Schwendau

Last spring of 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleared the release of 2.4 billion genetically-modified mosquitoes in California and Florida from the Bill Gates Oxitec biotech firm.

The company claimed the non-biting Aedes aegypti males would be engineered to only produce viable male offspring. Oxitec said their plan would reduce the number of invasive Aedes aegypti, which can carry diseases like Zika, yellow fever, and dengue. However, the Walter Reed Biosystematics Units of 2022 also warned that this variety of mosquitoes was associated with the following 50-some other viruses and two species of Plasmodium as well. This mosquito also mechanically transmits some veterinary diseases.

Oxitec said female mosquitoes would die, while males would reproduce and spread the self-limiting gene to the next generation, eventually leading to population declines. While the aforementioned diseases weren’t yet spreading in California, the invasive insect was flagged as a growing risk in other parts of the country, such as Florida.

“Given the growing health threat this mosquito poses across the U.S., we’re working to make this technology available and accessible,” Oxitec CEO Grey Frandsen said in a statement. “These pilot programs, wherein we can demonstrate the technology’s effectiveness in different climate settings, will play an important role in doing so.”

Still, critics warned more tests should have taken place in controlled environments. There is also a question as to why the EPA was allowed to approve the release of these genetically modified bugs without coordination and input from the CDC.

Now, for the first time in 20 years, cases of the deadly malaria disease have shown up in both Florida and Texas. Four cases have been found in southwest Florida and one in southern Texas. The CDC reports that more than 240 million malaria cases occur each year worldwide, and 95% of those cases are in Africa. Ironically, the majority of cases previously transmitted into the United States were from people who traveled from other countries both legally and illegally. Now, Florida has issued an Emergency Malaria Alert Statewide.

Malaria is a very serious disease transmitted by the bite of an infected female mosquito, according to the CDC. While malaria can be fatal, the CDC says, illness and death from the disease can usually be prevented. The disease is common in other parts of the world but not in the U.S.

Although rare, malaria can also be spread through blood transfusions, organ transplants, unsafe needle-sharing practices, and from mother to fetus, according to the CDC.

It is not known if the release of the Oxitec mosquitoes is responsible for these events but their mosquitoes contain a genetic marker so scientists can easily identify them from wild populations in the future.

The Oxitec experiment began as a pilot project the EPA approved in 2020. In 2021, Oxitec released 144,000 genetically-modified mosquitoes to the Florida Keys. It also released mosquitoes in Brazil, claiming that in just 13 weeks, the technology suppressed 95 percent of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes there.

Supporters of the Oxitec experiment say using nature to fight nature is ingenious. Supporters say the mosquitoes rarely travel more than 500 feet from where they’re born, reported Lisa M. Krieger for Mercury News. But that is a known falsehood, as has been reported by any mosquito abatement company. Mosquitos can be blown as a scourge in and out with the wind.

But critics have raised some serious concerns and a warning. They point out that in science, there’s no such thing as 100 percent effective and that no [genetically-engineered] female mosquitoes will survive. Also, The Guardian reported opponents are also concerned about mosquitoes coming into contact with Tetracycline, an antibiotic used in agriculture. Some experts say this could allow the genetically-modified female mosquitoes to survive.

Also, the nonprofit climate science research organization Climate Central offered in a May report of this year that the number of “mosquito days,” or periods where mosquitoes thrive in warm and humid weather, has increased in more than 170 U.S. locations over the past several decades. Mosquitoes thrive in dark, humid places like under sinks, in bathrooms, and laundry rooms, according to the CDC. Once they’re in your home, they may start laying eggs.

The first step to minimize mosquitoes in or around your home is to check for and eliminate any standing water. Common examples are potted plant trays, old tires left outside, and clogged rain gutters.

Malaria offers the following symptoms; fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and fatigue. The CDC warns people may experience nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Symptoms usually start about ten days to four weeks after infection, but people may come down ill as late as a year after infection.

Copyright © 2023 by Mark S. Schwendau

Mark S. Schwendau is a retired technology professor who has always had a sideline in news-editorial writing where his byline has been, “Bringing little known news to people who simply want to know the truth.”  He is a Christian conservative who God cast to be a realist.  His website is www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.