Sarah
Knapton, science editor
3 AUGUST 2016 • 6:57PM
Millions of genetically modified
mosquitoes could be released into the state of Florida to combat
Zika virus after 15 people caught the disease from local insects.
Congress could decide within
weeks to grant an emergency licence to British biotech company Oxitec, which
has engineered a line of insects whose
offspring are unable to grow to adulthood, and so cannot reproduce.
The company has already build a
lab in the Florida Keys and is just waiting for the green light from the
government and health officials.
Trials in the Cayman Islands and
Brazil have already shown the technique can wipe out up to 96 per cent
of dangerous aedes aegypti mosquito and Oxitec believe that the
technique could eventually eliminate diseases like Zika,
Dengue and Yellow Fever.
Oxitec Chief Executive Hadyn
Parry who attended a recent Congress hearing and called for emergency use, said
they were expecting a decision soon.
“The Zika threat is
here and now and there is now local transmission in Florida so that is why I
urged Congress to seriously consider emergency use,” he said.
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