On Thursday, Hot Air posted an article about genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida. Yes, you read that right.

The article reports:

…But now there’s a new type of mosquito hanging out in the Florida Keys. It’s one that’s never been seen before because scientists genetically modified the species in an effort to use them in a genocidal war against their own kin. Thus far, the scientists seem to be declaring the experiment a success. But that sort of ignores the fact that there are now five million genetically modified super-mosquitoes roaming around Florida. (Nature Journal)

Researchers have completed the first open-air study of genetically engineered mosquitoes in the United States. The results, according to the biotechnology firm running the experiment, are positive. But larger tests are still needed to determine whether the insects can achieve the ultimate goal of suppressing a wild population of potentially virus-carrying mosquitoes.

The experiment has been underway since April 2021 in the Florida Keys, a chain of tropical islands near the southern tip of Florida. Oxitec, which developed the insects, released nearly five million engineered Aedes aegypti mosquitoes over the course of seven months, and has now almost completed monitoring the release sites.

Based in Abingdon, UK, the firm reported the first results from the experiment during a webinar on 6 April, although it has not yet published the data.

The article explains how the modification is supposed to work:

Okay, so let’s see how this is supposed to work, shall we? This British company, Oxitec, genetically engineered some of the A. aegypti mosquito (also known as the Yellow Fever Mosquito) so that the males inherited a particular new gene. When the males fertilize the eggs of females, the offspring inherit the gene. The gene has no effect on the male offspring but it causes a destructive mutation in all of the female offspring, leading them to die before they can reproduce. In theory, they would begin drastically reducing the population of female mosquitoes until there were so few mating options for the males that the population should shrink drastically.

I don’t want to be anti-science here, but this scares me to death. I realize that scientists know a lot about genetics, but I think they are in dangerous territory here.

As reported by gypsy moth alert:

The gypsy moth was brought to North America from France by Mr. E. Leopold Trouvelot. His purpose was to breed hybrid silkworms that would be hardier than the Chinese species and that could be used to establish a silk industry in the United States. By 1865 he had a million caterpillars feeding under protective netting at his home in Medford Massachussets. In 1869 some of them escaped and were apparently scattered by a windstorm.

Gypsy moths have now spread into most of New England, down the east coast to Virginia, to Michigan and Wisconsin, and to Oregon. They have done tremendous damage to trees in those areas. I am hoping that the genetically modified mosquitoes will at least stay in Florida, but I doubt it.