Bio-engineered mosquitoes to be used to reduce wild mosquito population in the U.S.
According to latest reports, the U.S will release bio-engineered mosquitoes in many parts of the country to check the wild population of mosquitoes that transmit fatal diseases like Zika, yellow fever, and dengue.
As per the Kentucky-based pest control company, MosquitoMate, the lab-grown male Asian Tiger mosquitoes are infected with reproduction-preventing bacteria that are not risky to other animals and insects.
The approval for the release of bio-engineered mosquitoes in Washington D. C. and other 20 states was given on 3rd November, 2017 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the program would be executed in the next summer.
Since the MosquitoMate hasn’t conducted any trial in the Southeastern region of U.S., the permission for the release of mosquitoes hasn’t been granted for this region. A successful trial was reported for the region of Florida and the company is planning to file an application for mosquito release in this region as well.
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US News and World Report mentioned that similar projects are going to be implemented soon in Brazil and China.
