A British biotech company seeking federal approval to release millions of genetically modified mosquitoes at 12 sites in the Florida Keys to combat naturally occurring mosquitoes that spread deadly diseases like Zika and dengue fever has touted for months its success in an identical pilot project carried out in the Cayman Islands as evidence of the proposal’s efficacy.
But emails released this week to a United Kingdom activist group through a freedom of information request reveal scientists working for the Cayman government’s Mosquito Research and Control Unit dispute the results reported by the company, Oxitec.
“None of the scientists at MRCU would have said that the project was a success,” Dr. Alan Wheeler, assistant director of the MRCU’s research and development office, wrote in a Feb. 18 email to Nancy Barnard, then-acting MRCU director.
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Wheeler wrote in an Oct. 25, 2017, email to Catherine MacGillvray, an information officer with the Government Information Service. “Targets were not set for the release and therefore, no targets were achieved. MRCU was expecting to see a reduction in the region of 90%+ as had been reported in all other Oxitec releases. This was not achieved and the figure of 62% reduction is also not accepted by MRCU.”
Read full, original post: Previous GMO mosquito project’s success may have been overstated, emails reveal
