Claims that the Bill Gates-funded company Oxitec is responsible for a paralyzing mosquito-borne virus spreading through Florida have recently circulated online, primarily on Twitter and TikTok. These claims link the field testing of genetically modified mosquitos in Florida to a mosquito-borne virus spreading in the state and are connected to other claims which suggest that genetically modified mosquitoes are the vector for a new pandemic that Bill Gates has planned.
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The idea that the COVID-19 pandemic and other pandemics are planned is a known conspiracy theory that Logically has previously debunked several times. Logically has also previously fact-checked a similar claim about mosquitoes which suggested governments are using modified mosquitoes to spread disease, judging it to be false.
The genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida are part of a project by Oxitec that Bill Gates did not fund. The virus reported in Florida is the West Nile virus, which has had reported cases in most U.S. states since 1999.
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The virus has no correlation to the release of the mosquitoes by Oxitec, and no reports have mentioned they have caused harm. The belief that pandemics are planned by governmental or global business is a known conspiracy and unsubstantiated. Therefore, this claim has been marked as false.
