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Florida Keys to see release of first genetically modified mosquitoes
Fox News
In an effort to fight insect-borne viruses like Zika, dengue fever and malaria, genetically modified mosquitoes are set to be released in the Florida Keys.
Oxitec's male mosquitoes -- which don't bite, unlike the recently-discovered yellow fever-carrying Aedes scapularis mosquitoes -- will be introduced in small areas in a select number of neighborhoods between mile markers 10 and 93 in the Keys. The project, Oxitec hopes, will be successful in passing what Oxitec Head of Regulator Affairs Dr. Nathan Rose calls a "self-limiting" gene from its genetically modified males to their wild mates, ensuring future offspring do not mature into adulthood and reducing the population.More Related News