In a pilot project last year, millions of mosquitoes were released in the Florida Keys, and the EPA on Monday approved continuing the initiative in Florida as well as expanding it into four counties in California, pending clearance from the states’ regulators.
Perls was particularly concerned by the lack of verified transmission of illnesses like dengue, chikungunya, Zika, or yellow fever in California from Aedes aegypti: “There’s no imminent threat and there are a lot of unknowns,” she said.
According to Fensom, the insects were created with the intention of causing the population to die out over time.
Perls went on to say that without the data, it was impossible to know if the mosquitoes and their offspring would behave as Oxitec planned.
Perls expressed fear that a hybrid species may emerge that would be difficult to exterminate.
