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GENET-news articles on GE mosquitoes

compilation of all relevant GENET-news articles

GE mosquitoes in Malaysia

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GE mosquitoes on the Cayman Islands

click to read news on GE mosqitoes from the Cayman Islands only

2012-09-14 |

Four in five dengue mosquitoes died in Cayman trial

Genetically modified mosquitoes released by U.K. biotechnology start-up Oxitec Ltd. wiped out 80 percent of the bugs that carry dengue in a Cayman Islands study, according to a report today in the journal Nature Biotechnology. More than 3 million of the male mosquitoes, members of the Aedes aegypti species that carries dengue, were released in a trial that closely held Oxitec and the Mosquito Research and Control Unit on Grand Cayman conducted in a 16-hectare (39.5-acre) area in 2010. At the end of 23 weeks, mosquito numbers had dwindled by four-fifths in the treated area of the site, compared with the untreated area, the researchers reported.

2012-09-14 |

Risk assessment on genetically modified mosquitoes divides scientists

”Any type of genetic modification is subject to mutation,” said Dr. Alfred Handler, a research geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. More experiments are needed to see if adverse mutation is possible, he said. Handler, who does research on insects, also mentioned the small percentage of altered insects that survive after they're released. Although the survivor insects may be no more dangerous than regular Aedes aegypti, it is still important to know why they are surviving, said Handler, who worries the insects may eventually become resistant to genetic modification. Oxitec says the survivors are too small in number to be significant. Should a negative trait begin to occur in the modified insects, [Dr. Andrew McKemey, a field trial manager at Oxitec] said, the fix is simple. ”If there's a problem, you stop releasing new insects,” he said, adding the insects can only live up to eight days after their release.

2012-09-05 |

British firm’s GM mosquito could quell fears of West Nile and EEE

Concerns over mosquito-borne illnesses, such as West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis, have prompted interest in genetically modified mosquitoes that carry a ”lethal gene” that causes their offspring to die before reaching adulthood. [...] Mosquito-control officials in the Florida Keys are hoping to release them in their district to deal with the ”constant threat of dengue.” The proposal has ignited public outcries from residents, who say the so-called ”Franken-skeeters” could have unintended consequences on the environment. Some of them have taken their protest to an online petition site, Change.org.

2012-08-09 |

GE mosquitoes to combat dengue in Brazil - but are there ecological implications?

Brazil is using genetic engineering to help fight dengue fever [...] - but are there ecological implications? [...] The management of Moscamed stresses that the tests cause no harm to the ecosystem. But virologist Schmidt-Chanasit is skeptical. ”This mosquito, the Egyptian mosquito, has existed in Brazil for decades now. It’s been completely integrated,” he says. That means it’s become a part of the food chain. And Schmidt-Chanasit also warns that the consequences of genetic modification in general are still very hard to predict. The virologist is also very doubtful as to whether the project will be successful in the long term. ”The virus is variable and can adapt to other mosquitoes,” he says. After all, aedes aegypti may be the most common carrier of the virus today, but it’s far from the only one.

2012-08-09 |

First-ever U.S. survey on GE mosquitoes shows mixed support

Researchers from North Carolina State University have conducted the first nationally representative survey in the United States to gauge public opinion on the use of genetic manipulations to drive down mosquito populations and related diseases. While public support varies, depending on how the mosquitoes are characterized, a plurality opposes the effort when potential risks are explained. ”We wanted to know what the public thinks about this issue, since modified mosquitoes are already being released in other parts of the world, and are under consideration for use in the U.S.,” says Dr. Michael Cobb, an associate professor of political science at NC State who oversaw the poll.

2012-07-24 |

GM mosquitoes may be released in India

Genetically Modified mosquitoes could soon be unleashed in the country to control the population of their own dengue and chikungunya virus transmitting species. British company, Oxitec, which developed the technology, partnered with a company in the country to test and evaluate GM mosquitoes. According to the World Health Organisation, dengue is a fast emerging pandemic-prone viral disease in many parts of the world. According to the ministry of health and family welfare, there were 1,209 dengue cases and six deaths in the state last year while this year there have been 96 cases and one death. About 70 cases of chikungunya have been confirmed this year.

2012-07-18 |

Florida (USA) abuzz over GE mosquito plan

The US Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing an application from Oxitec, based in Abingdon, UK, and says that the mosquitoes will not be released without federal approval, which is not expected to happen soon. [...] An opaque system for reviewing applications does little to clear up the confusion. ”The more questions we ask, the more confused we are,” says de Mier, a Key West business woman, who started the petition in April. [...] Although the FDA process is neither clear-cut nor rapid, a media report that month prompted concerns among residents after it suggested that officials were hoping for a mosquito release as early as January 2012. Doyle [director of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District] then organized a public meeting in March that de Mier attended, and which prompted her to start her petition. ”I thought that if I presented the facts in a reasonable manner, people would respond in a reasonable way. But that's not happening,” Doyle says.

2012-07-18 |

Oxitec scientists clip wings of Asian Tiger GE Mosquito

Oxitec scientists have reported the creation of a new flightless strain of the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus. The breakthrough, reported in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, could help stop the spread of this dangerous and invasive pest. [...] The team has genetically modified the mosquitoes with a 'flightless' gene so that the females are unable to fly. Oxitec releases male mosquitoes carrying the flightless gene: male mosquitoes can't bite or spread diseases, and when Oxitec males mate with wild females, their flightless daughters are unable to feed or reproduce, and soon die. Successive releases will lead to a rapid reduction in the overall population of these mosquitoes in an area.

2012-07-17 |

Malaria parasite killed by gene-modified germs in study

Benign bacteria residing in mosquitoes' guts can be recruited to destroy the parasite that causes malaria, offering a potential way to prevent infections, according to U.S. researchers. Genetically modifying the germ enabled it to produce proteins toxic to the parasite without harming the insects, scientists from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh wrote today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. The proportion of mosquitoes carrying the parasite fell by as much as 84 percent, the researchers said.

2012-07-17 |

GM mosquitoes will soon be unleashed in India to fight dengue fever

Behind an unmarked door at the side of an anonymous second world war Nissen hut in the middle of Oxfordshire, a group of scientists are attending to the needs of hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes. They provide horse blood for the females to feed on, moist beds for them to lay their eggs, and add genes that transform the mosquitoes into what could be the most decisive tool yet invented to combat mosquito-borne disease. The mosquitoes developed and raised here at the laboratories of Oxitec, a British biotech company based near Didcot, have already infiltrated wild populations in Brazil, Malaysia and the Cayman Islands, and will soon be unleashed in Panama and India.

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