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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

2012-04-13 |

Brazil tests GM mosquitoes to fight dengue

More than ten million modified male mosquitoes were released in the city of Juazeiro, a city of 288,000 people, over a period of time starting a year ago. The results were released at a workshop in Rio last week (28–29 March), where the project’s co-ordinator, Aldo Malavasi, said they were “very positive”.
“From samples collected in the field, 85 per cent of the eggs were transgenic, which means that the males released are overriding the wild population. This [should result] in the decrease of Aedes mosquitoes, and in the decrease of dengue transmission,” he told SciDev.Net. Malavasi is also the president of Moscamed — the Brazilian firm that produced the mosquitoes.

2012-04-04 |

First phase of Oxitec’s Brazil trial successfully completed, every household informed

An International workshop has been held at Juazeiro, Brazil, to review the first phase of a project to evaluate the potential for Oxitec’s genetically modified dengue mosquito strain, Aedes aegypti OX513A, to be used as part of the campaign to control the Dengue mosquito in Brazil. The first phase results have successfully demonstrated the ability of Oxitec male mosquitoes to mate with wild females, validating the Oxitec approach. [...] As part of the first phase of the trial project representatives visited every house in the trial area, met with local leaders and press, both print and TV, held local community meetings and published leaflets and other information resources. [...] the response of the local community and wider public had been “very encouraging.”

2012-04-03 |

Inside the mosquito factory: Can malaria be stopped by British-bred genetically modified mosquitoes?

Toronto bioethicist Jim Lavery, who researched the social and ethical implications of GM mosquito releases in Mexico for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in 2011 that when it comes to a contest between genetic modification and saving lives, the choice is simple. ‘The stakes are different when people are bitten by flying things and dying.’ In its Oxfordshire laboratory, Oxitec is using the technology of gene transfer, more commonly known as genetic modification or genetic engineering, to see if it can stop the mosquito from being an effective carrier of malaria. It’s an urgent business: for each minute the two men stand in front of the mosquito cages, an African child dies.

2012-03-30 |

British company wants to release ”suicide mosquitoes” in Panama

Panama has become a battlefield of sorts over the issue of genetically modified organisms. In 2010 Oxitec and the Gorgas Memorial Institute, a Panamanian government-owned research laboratory, created a ”research partnership.” As Oxitec spokesman Michael Conway put it: ”The project is in the evaluation stage at present --- the Gorgas Institute [is] interested in evaluating the potential of our approach to offer a solution in Panama. During this stage, we are not receiving payment for our involvement. The Government of Panama is providing funding to provide equipment and materials for the project, while Oxitec is providing technical assistance, support and training.”

2012-03-20 |

GE bug makes Floridians part of Oxitec’s grand experiment

”We cannot stress strongly enough how dangerously misguided this application is. Oxitec hopes to use the neighborhoods and precious ecosystem of the Keys as their private, for-profit laboratory. The shame of it is, the company has no evidence the GE mosquitoes will even work in their stated aim of controlling Dengue fever. This feels much more like Oxitec testing its living, breeding technology than a serious attempt to control disease, and the people of Florida deserve protection.”

2012-03-08 |

Field release of GE mosquitoes in Florida (USA) could be grounded until 2013

A proposed launch of genetically altered mosquitoes in Key West -- a project that has drawn national attention and some controversy -- could be grounded until next year [...] In fact, the district’s inability to find a state or federal agency to serve as government regulator strongly suggests the first test of the genetically altered mosquitoes to battle dengue-carrying mosquitoes could be pushed back to summer 2013, [district biologist Coleen] Fitzsimmons said Tuesday. None of the agencies so far contacted by the Mosquito Control District “says they are willing to take on our proposed trial,” Fitzsimmons said.

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.

2012-02-03 |

GM mosquito release not transparent, say German scientists

A group of independent scientists say that the release of genetically modified mosquitoes in the Cayman Islands, Malaysia and Brazil was not sufficiently transparent or properly regulated which risks undermining the research of what they say is promising technology. The German scientists published a paper on Monday based on their analysis of the insect release which found a deficit in the scientific quality of regulatory documents and a general absence of accurate experimental descriptions available to the public before the release started.

2012-02-01 |

GE mosquito industry and scientists develop risk assessment and approval procedures

Mosquitoes such as Aedes aegpyti are less likely to play a significant ecological role compared with species associated with natural wetlands that may be an important food source for birds, bats, fish and other animals. But this doesn’t mean that the community or government regulators will be immediately supportive of GM mosquito release. So while there’s no doubt that any new technology that assists the fight against malaria or dengue will be welcome, the question of how the environmental risks associated with GM mosquitoes will be assessed, on balance, with the potential benefits to human health remains unanswered.

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.

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