Biotech company calling for expedited decision on GM mosquito trial in Florida to fight Zika

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis.

The head of a British biotech company that has developed a genetically modified mosquito in an effort to lower the population of the insects that spread the Zika virus called for federal regulators today to expedite a decision about conducting a test of these mosquitoes in Florida.

Hadyn Parry, the CEO of Oxitec, spoke at a congressional hearing today about his company’s mosquitoes, which are genetically modified in an effort to reduce the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

The GMO mosquitoes are all male and hence do not bite. When released into the wild, they mate with females and produce nonviable offspring, thereby reducing the mosquito population without the need for pesticides. They have already been used in Brazil and the Cayman Islands to fight the spread of the Zika virus.

When asked by the panel to explain the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations’ response to Oxitec’s application, Parry said “it’s complicated.” He said the company initially filed in 2011 to test the GMO mosquito.

Read full, original post: GMO Mosquito Company Calls for Expedited Action to Allow Test Against Zika Virus

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