FDA Says Test of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Is Safe

FDA Says Test of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Is Safe (Source nbcnews.com) It’s probably safe to test genetically modified mosquitoes in Key West, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday, but it’s asking for public opinion before formally approving such an experiment. It’s likely to get an earful. The American public has strong opinions about genetically modified anything, and a quarter of those asked in a recent poll by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center said they thought genetically engineered mosquitoes had actually spread Zika virus in Brazil. The World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other experts say that’s impossible, and say it’s the natural Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that are spreading it by biting people. “By allowing the trial, the FDA will be signaling that science and evidence-based practices should prevail over the hysteria and irrationality long associated with genetically modified organisms,” said Dr. Zachary Adelman, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech University. A British-based company called Oxitec is developing the mosquitoes to fight dengue, a painful and potentially deadly virus that circulates in many countries around the world and which is especially bad in Brazil. The same Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that spread dengue also carry the chikungunya virus, the yellow fever virus and Zika.

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