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GE mosquitoes in Malaysia

compilation of all relevant GENET-news articles

GENET-news articles on GE mosquitoes

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GE mosquitoes on the Cayman Islands

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2012-02-16 |

Controversy about GM mosquito risk assessments

Decisions to release genetically modified (GM) insects into the wild should be made more openly and based on better science, according to a review. The authors say that, so far, the environmental impact assessments for such releases have been “scientifically deficient”, and that without timely, publically available risk assessments the public may turn hostile to the GM mosquitoes before “it is possible to determine what value they possess”. The review, by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany, comes on the heels of a heated debate about the safety of releasing GM mosquitoes into the wild.

2012-01-17 |

Government of Malaysia considers release of GE mosqitoes in populated areas

Genetically-modified mosquitoes may be released in populated areas as part of the Health Ministry’s study to counter the breeding of the dengue-causing Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. [...] “We have received some objections from the people to the idea of releasing GM mosquitoes in populated areas but that is not the reason we are delaying the release of these mosquitoes. “More studies are needed before we can decide whether to release these mosquitoes in populated areas,” he told a press conference after attending the Chang Ming Thien Foundation cheque presentation ceremony here yesterday.

2011-02-16 |

Transparency is essential for GE mosquito trials

Transparency is essential. The Malaysian authorities went to some lengths to inform people that the trials were going ahead, holding open forums and briefing the media, which gave the experiments wide coverage. [...] By contrast, efforts by the Cayman Island authorities seem to have amounted to not much more than producing little-reported leaflets and a video, posted on YouTube and broadcast on television, which failed to say that the mosquitoes were genetically modified — the main concern of critics. [...] Oxitec acknowledges that there are lessons to learn from its experiences. Best placed to judge the results of this are the people of Brazil, the planned site of the company’s next experiment.

2011-02-10 |

GM mosquitoes: Why not spent the money on improving drains and sewerage systems?

[Sungai Siput MP Dr D Jeyakumar] said 3% to 4% of them would be female and could copy the role of the wild female Aedes to spread dengue. He said such biological suppression could not completely eliminate the species from the environment and the government would have to go on purchasing, releasing and killing the GM mosquitoes. ”We would need billions of these transgenic mosquitoes for an average sized city,” he said. ”Wouldn’t it be more logical and productive if that same sum were spent in improving the drains and sewerage systems in our urban areas?”

2011-02-02 |

A quiet release of GE mosquitoes in Malaysia

The covert manner in which GM mosquitoes were released in Bentong calls into question the level of transparency of the whole affair. WITH transparency being one of the key watchwords in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s administration, it was heartening to note the efforts made by the National Biosafety Board to elicit public feedback during the approval process for the Institute for Medical Research’s application to release genetically-modified male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Bentong, Pahang, and Alor Gajah, Malacca.

2011-02-01 |

GM mosquito release in Malaysia surprises opponents and scientists - again

Some 6000 transgenic mosquitoes developed to help fight dengue were released in Malaysia on 21 December, according to a statement issued by the country’s Institute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Just like the first releases ever of the mosquitoes, on the Caribbean island of Grand Cayman in 2009 and 2010, the news came as a surprise both to opponents of the insects and to scientists who support them.

2011-01-27 |

Institute for Medical Research (Malaysia) announces completion of field trial for GM mozzies

The Institute for Medical Research has completed one run of its field trial involving genetically-modified male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes at a forest near Bentong, Pahang. IMR director Dr Shahnaz Murad said the institute released about 6,000 GM mosquitoes at the site on Dec 21, along with a similar number of normal male mosquitoes. ”The experiment was successfully concluded on Jan 5,” she said in a press statement here yesterday.

2011-01-19 |

Why steamroll Malaysian GM aedes trials despite protests?

The Consumers’ Association of Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia call upon the National Biosafety Board to revoke the approval given to the Institute for Medical Research in October 2010 to release genetically modified male aedes aegypti mosquitoes for the purpose of a field experiment. The applicant and implementer of the field trial is the IMR which had developed the GM mosquitoes in a joint research with UK-based biotech company Oxitec Ltd.

2011-01-06 |

Dengue war: Rainy season prompts delay in GM mosquito release

The rainy season in December prompted the postponement of the release of the genetically-modified Aedes aegypti mosquito in Bentong and Alor Gajah, said Biosafety Department official Dr Mohamed Mohamad Salleh on Wednesday. He denied that the delay had anything to do with protests from 23 local non-governmental organizations who had sent an open letter to the government in December protesting the plan to release of the GM mosquitoes.

2010-12-20 |

No GM mosquito release last week, says Biosafety Department of Malaysia

The Department of Biosafety today dismissed as untrue an allegation that the Institute of Medical Research released genetically modified male mosquitoes last Wednesday at uninhabited sites in Malaysia. ”IMR did plan to release the mosquitoes on that date, but cancelled it,” said the department’s Director of Evaluation and Research, Dr Mohamed Mohd Salleh. He declined to explain the reasons for the cancellation. [...] According to Mohamed, IMR has yet to fix a new release date.

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