The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes in 20 US states and Washington D.C – what are the implications of this mass experiment?
In early November the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of mosquitoes which have been genetically engineered to carry a common bacterium designed to kill mosquitoes that carry dangerous viruses. The news was reported in Nature, and later confirmed to Gizmodo by MosquitoMate, the company behind the GE mosquitoes, and the EPA. The EPA said they officially registered MosquitoMate’s Asian Tiger mosquito with a five-year license to sell their lab mosquitoes in 20 states across the nation.
Nature reported:
On 3 November, the agency told biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate that it could release the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis into the environment as a tool against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Lab-reared mosquitoes will deliver the bacterium to wild mosquito populations.
The decision — which the EPA has not formally announced — allows the company, which is based in Lexington, Kentucky, to release the bacteria-infected mosquitoes in 20 US states and Washington DC.
The goal is to have MosquitoMate release the Wolbachia-infected A. albopictus male mosquitoes into the wild to mate with wild females in the hopes that the fertilized eggs do not hatch due to faulty paternal chromosomes. As with all mosquitoes, the laboratory grown male mosquitoes do not bite. MosquitoMate believes that over time the infected males will help shrink the population of A. albopictus mosquitoes.
Stephen Dobson, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and founder of MosquitoMate, told Nature that other species of mosquito and other insects are not harmed by the release of the lab mosquitoes. Dobson also stated that MosquitoMate plans to begin selling the mosquitoes locally in Lexington, Kentucky and then from there expand to nearby cities.
The EPA’s decision came after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes designed to prevent the spread of the Zika virus. The FDA’s approval was in relation to a field test of genetically modified mosquitoes engineered by the British biotechnology company Oxitec.
Oxitec is the same company involved in a controversial vote in the Florida Keys during the 2016 Election. In that vote, residents of the Key Haven voted against the release of the mosquitoes in their community. However, shortly after, the trials were approved for a different location in the Keys. Despite the approval, opposition to the controversial project has not ceased. In late November 2016, Health News Florida reported that a coalition of groups, including the Center for Food Safety and the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, have filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Earlier this year the Houston Chronicle reported that Oxitec is working on a deal with Harris County officials to release GE mosquitoes in the Houston area. Oxitec is attempting to sway Houston officials by stating that their product has a nearly 100% success rate. Gizmodo reported:
The company claims that trials in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands have reduced mosquito populations by 90%, calling the success “an unprecedented level” of human control over nature. (The World Health Organization, for it’s [sic]part, has stated that while the technology “has demonstrated the ability to reduce the [mosquito] populations in small-scale field trials” there is still “an absence of data on epidemiological impact.”)
Interestingly, in October 2017, the FDA made another announcement which clarifies that “mosquito-related products intended to function as pesticides” are not “drugs” under the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act, and “will be regulated by the EPA under the Federal Insecticide Act.” This decision led to the November announcement from the EPA and now sets the stage for future experiments with genetically engineered mosquitoes.
Will the first site of genetically engineered mosquitoes be in Houston, the Florida Keys, or one of the newly approved 20 states? Time will tell. For now, it is important to express your thoughts and concerns to local officials. If this is happening in your area and you have concerns, do not sit around doing nothing, or only complain online. Take some type of action. Educate your neighbors and hold your public officials accountable.
Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is the author of three books: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 1 and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 2
Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact [email protected]
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WOW WTF, THE WHOLE ZIKA VIRUS IS BULLSHT AND THEY KEEP PUSHING THEIR AGENDA NO MATTER WHAT THE PUBLIC THINKS!!!! HOW MUCH LONGER ARE WE GOING TO ENDURE THIS ATTACK????
What are the 20 states???? I can’t find this information anywhere!
“The 20 approved states are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia, as well as Washington,
DC.
— Nature.com 2017/11/06
“The 20 approved states are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia, as well as Washington, DC.”
-AUSTIN COUNTY NEWS ONLINE
https://austincountynewsonline.com/epa-just-approved-release-weaponized-mosquitoes-20-us-states-video/
We should have doubts about what the FDA approves for the public as many times it is not in our best interests. FDA lies. We are already being poison in our food, water and air we breath and now this. It is called culling the population. The elites would rather have a smaller population to deal with because it is easier to control. We better start to wake up soon to what is happening before its too late.
There is a global shortage of drinking water so we need less ppl on this planet. They should release the mosquitoes in all Muslim countries b/c Muslim women give birth to eight children per woman, being brainwashed by their religious leaders who say that their God is against the use of contraceptives. Of 7 billion ppl total population in the world there are 1.2 billion Muslims so with their procreation rate the water shortage will be an even worse problem than it already is.
Wow man. Just wow. What an enlightened solution.
Spoken with the intelligence of an average mosquito.
Eugenics implemented on any population will land those participating straight to hell…
Arrests and prosecutions are in order.
“The 20 approved states are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia, as well as Washington, DC.”
Thanks! Most of the states that are typical when it comes to this! I’m starting to see more and more propaganda billboards regarding this bs virus…
I tried to reply to you, including my source, but it got censored (pending). I found the state list at Zerohedge, Nov.9 2017. If I post the url I assume it will get censored again.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-09/epa-just-approved-release-weaponized-mosquitoes-us-states
Depending on the settings, some websites moderate link sharing pretty strictly, it’s a pain. I will look it up. We got to beat these bastards (politically)!
It’s a weapon system being deployed against the human population. Guaranteed. Protect yourself. I’d suggest consuming LOTS of garlic and use the spray and oil as well. To hell with what other people think.
Silence is consent. Speak up or shut up
Just bring back DDT! The safest and most effective pesticide mankind has ever seen.
And no, it never harmed birds or thinned egg shells.
http://junkscience.com/1999/07/100-things-you-should-know-about-ddt/
They warned us about this in 1977 when they said in the Chiffon Margarine commercial, “It’s not nice to fool mother nature.” Of course that was also near the beginning of replacing God with a fictional female entity and/or “science”, but I digress…
They never think of the ramifications do they? I don’t like mosquitoes, but I am sure there’s something that feeds on them or that they’re part of the ecosystem in some small way, but enough that removing them could be more detrimental than having Zika.
Bats do, and tree swallows.
Our beloved AnarchoVoluntyrist, Mr. Broze implores: “Educate your neighbors and hold your public officials accountable.” Oh, the irony here is overwhelming.
what irony? I am writing here as a journalist, not an anarchist.
I perceive that impossible to separate…. and for good reason. Not disparaging the AV position, simply pointing out the impossibility of holding public officials accountable if one isn’t going to participate in politics. And I safely assume the “education process” which would be taken to your neighbors would be consistent with AV promotions… such as hooking them up with Kokesh’s Freedom book. I assume he still avails the free audio version on his site.
This is a serious issue for libertarians who cling to the AnarchoVol “dream”. I can just see the NWO releasing these things on Mr. Ver’s “island” with some sort of poison in them. One bite and you’re dead. Now what?
“which have been genetically engineered to carry a common bacterium designed to kill mosquitoes that carry dangerous viruses….”….gee what could go wrong?….everything!!!! Is this a hidden component of agenda 21?
Gosh we sure didn’t think it would spread to humans…… Sorry.
yes, it is.
I, and hopefully others, consider this to be an attack on the American people by those that serve within our governments.
They do NOT have any LAWFUL authority to do such a thing. The FDA is also bought and paid for as can easily be determined by their actions on many things, up to and including vacines where they say it is the people’s duty to prove that vacciines are harmful, not the corporations’ (big pharma) duty to PROVE that they are NOT harmful BEFORE being released.
They’d never think to study the effect(s) of Wolbachia on birds and other mosquito-eating animals/fish/frogs, etc.!!!