Are GM Mosquitoes The Solution Or The Problem?

This is just one of the questions we are now faced with in the wake of this latest wave of the Zika virus outbreak in Columbia and Brazil after GM mosquitoes, whose scientific name is OX513-A, or 'Friendly Aedes Aegypti,'  were released in Juazeiro this past summer, as touted by Oxitec,  exactly where the recent outbreak of the Zika virus is most prevalent,. They were also released in China in 2015, Brazil and Panama in 2014, and in the Cayman Islands and Malaysia in 2010.  The GM mosquito experiment in Brazil has been ongoing since 2011, however they were first introduced into society in 2009 in the Cayman Islands, in part, thanks to a generous $5 million donation by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.



Information posted on the blog of Bill Gates shows that mosquitoes are the deadliest killer in the world, even exceeding human vs human.

Florida is also contemplating the use of these GM mosquitoes but is so far said to be awaiting approval.

There have been 6 cases of the Zika virus reported in the U.S., (the preceding link will open in Google but not Firefox), including Arkansas and Virginia.  Four cases in Canadian travelers have also been reported by officials there.

As mosquitoes go, only the females bite, so it is said they make a concerted effort to release only the male mosquito but it has been shown that some .03 percent of the GM mosquitoes released are female and that somewhere between 3.5 and 15 percent of the offspring that are supposed to be genetically engineered to die survive to adulthood.

There is actually a way to tell whether there is a GM mosquito near you.  The GM mosquito 'fluoresces.'  I guess this is one place where the new and upcoming 'bionic eye' will come in handy, eh?

As has been reported, there is not only a suspected link between the Zika virus and GBS, but there is now question whether or not it may be being spread via sexual transmission and women in El Salvador are being cautioned not to get pregnant until 2018.

In 2012, information obtained by GeneWatch UK through freedom of information laws revealed that Oxitec attempted to conceal the fact that its technology fails to prevent reproduction in the presence of low levels of tetracycline, a cat that is now out of the bag.

GM mosquitoes aren't the only biotech bugs on the block.  Oxitec, who has close links to multinational pesticide and seed company, Syngenta, also has been releasing other GM species of insects in various global locations for several years now, including fruit flies, pink bollworm moths, and diamond-back or cabbage moths, and they aren't the only company with GM species.  There are even experimental chimera farms now found in the U.S., where they are testing the use of animals for growing human body parts, such as organs.  Gee, I wonder if they are using non-GMO feeds... Hmmm...  Oh, well.  Like that's the real question here anyway, right?  Ya.  Like, can I get me some GMO labels over here, please?  Oh, and a pacifier?  Thanks!  Doh!!

Are GM mosquitoes the problem or solution?  

Perhaps time will tell.  

Perhaps we'll never know.

Perhaps the latest controversy will be just the right stick in the arm to wake everybody up.

Perhaps not.

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Well: What Do You Know? Part 11: GMO's- Changes In Food For Thought

Zika Virus and Guillain Barre Syndrome