Field trials of disease-resistant GM mosquitoes raise a number of ethical issues and concerns, such as protecting the public and the environment from harm, balancing benefits and risks, collaborating with local the community, avoiding exploitation, and obtaining consent from research subjects.
How do RIDL mosquitoes help humans?
RIDL as used in the SIT strategy is a sophisticated new technology that can eliminate local populations of vector mosquitoes much more efficiently than insecticides and without side effects or pollution. In doing so, it uses male mosquitoes that do not take blood meals and do not transmit the dengue virus.Aug 1, 2011
What are the dangers of genetically modified mosquitoes?
GM mosquitoes do not pose a risk to people, animals, or the environment. The EPA evaluated the potential risk of releasing GM mosquitoes into communities and determined that there is no risk to people, animals, or the environment. For more information, see EPA's Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment .
How are RIDL mosquitoes genetically modified?
Oxitec uses the RIDL (release of insects carrying a dominant lethal gene) approach to insert the LA 513 transposon into the mosquito's DNA to produce offspring that die in the larval stage unless fed tetracycline.
How are Aedes aegypti genetically modified?
Scientists mass produce male Aedes aegypti eggs in a lab. They program these males to carry a gene that they'll pass to their offspring when they mate in the wild. The gene is designed to kill female offspring since only female mosquitoes bite and spread disease.
How was the OX513A mosquito developed?
OX513A is a mutated version of a “sterile” mosquito. Other sterile insects are created by a method called SIT, short for sterile insect technique, where the males are sterilized by gamma rays before being introduced into the wild to interfere with mosquito baby-making.