- NEWS
Biotech firm Oxitec launches controversial field test of its insects in Florida after years of push-back from residents and regulatory complications.
After a decade of fighting for regulatory approval and public acceptance, a biotechnology firm has released genetically engineered mosquitoes into the open air in the United States for the first time. The experiment, launched this week in the Florida Keys — over the objections of some local critics — tests a method for suppressing populations of wild Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which can carry diseases such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.
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Nature 593, 175-176 (2021)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01186-6
US government approves 'killer' mosquitoes to fight disease
Florida abuzz over mosquito plan
Self-destructing mosquitoes and sterilized rodents: the promise of gene drives
