The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the release of 2 billion genetically altered mosquitoes in Florida and California. The company has created genetically modified mosquitoes.
The experimental program created by the Oxetic is designed to reduce the transmission of harmful diseases such as dengue, zika, and yellow fever.
The program is an extension of one in which millions of mosquitoes were released last year in the Florida Keys eys. US Today reported.
State agencies in Florida and California will have to approve the programs before the releases occur. The program aims to reduce cases like yellow fever by killing the offspring of a common kind of mosquito. Thus, Aedes, aegypti, which spread diseases through its bite.
Scientists at Oxetic which is based in the united kingdom, mass-produced and genetically modified male Aedes aegyti eggs in a lab. These male mosquitoes will be released into the wild to mate with the females and pass a gene that will kill the female offspring which are the only ones that bite and spread disease. The male offspring lives on.
Source: WebMD.