GM Mosquito Release In Cayman Islands Ends Prematurely
There’s been a lot of buzz about GM mosquitoes to prevent the spread of the Zika virus. The Cayman Islands in the Caribbean took on a project to test their ability to ‘curb’ whatever those mosquitoes were supposed to be capable of doing: to prevent the spread of the Zika virus and dengue fever.
The UK-based genetic modification firm Oxitec, ‘creators’ of those GM mosquitoes, aka “bio-bugs,” apparently secured a mosquito release project for their GM male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to ‘impact’ the spread of dengue fever and Zika, which our friends at the Institute for Responsible Technology, under the leadership of Jeffrey Smith, opposed and obviously provided counter scientific information to Cayman authorities.
Widget not in any sidebars
Something rather interesting happened, however: the project was stopped by the Mosquito Research and Control Unit, a few months after the project began. Apparently and according to MRCU, the project was stopped because it “appears to have fallen short” of its goal (?).
Oxitec was shutting down its operations and leaving the Caymans. The project cost the Cayman government $588,000.
According to Cayman News Service [1]
Nevertheless, it remains unclear how effective the project, which involved the release of millions of genetically modified insects into the environment, really was and whether the reason to curtail the programme related to a cost or efficacy issue.
However, “MRCU and Oxitec are considering a further, no-cost collaboration in 2019,” per a press release dated November 10, 2018.
However, this may not be the end of GM mosquitoes being released. Other countries, including the United States, are considering and/or doing it.
It will be interesting to learn what the Caymans found out, or realized, about their experiments.
Reference:
[1] https://caymannewsservice.com/2018/11/mrcu-gm-mosquitoes/
Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies. Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.
Catherine’s latest book, published October 4, 2013, is Vaccination Voodoo, What YOU Don’t Know About Vaccines, available on Amazon.com.
Her 2012 book A Cancer Answer, Holistic BREAST Cancer Management, A Guide to Effective & Non-Toxic Treatments, is available on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook.
Two of Catherine’s more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick (2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process (2008)
