This spring, the Florida Keys will likely become guinea pigs in the next battle of the war against tropical disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Residents of Key West have historically combated these flying pest populations by spraying chemical pesticides, but the nature of chemical pesticide application and the innately fast breeding times of mosquitoes inevitably became an evolutionary laboratory. Many species of mosquito, especially the non-native species Aedes aegypti, have largely become resistant to these pesticides, meaning that the Florida Keys are threatened once more by outbreaks of dengue fever or chikungunya, tropical diseases carried on the wings of the notorious pest.
Never fear, the British company Oxitec is here with genetically modified mosquitoes to wrest the Keys back from the buzzing tyranny of the mosquitoes. Many people may not be familiar with genetic modification of organisms outside of some crops like corn. Oxitec has managed to insert destructive genes into the DNA of male A. aegypti mosquitoes so that the eggs that result from mating between a GMO mosquito and a natural female will never hatch. Releasing these GMO male mosquitoes into the wild will cause a crash in mosquito populations, as much as a 90% reduction in the number of mosquitoes according to trials carried out in Malaysia, Brazil and the Cayman Islands.
While the FDA seems likely to approve the use of these bioengineered mosquitoes, residents of Key West seem more than hesitant to jump on the bandwagon. Residents have expressed frustration at the proposal’s relevance considering the last outbreak of dengue fever occurred in 2009, the first outbreak reported in 75 years. Public health administrators, however, see the release of bioengineered mosquitoes as a preventative measure that should be taken to prevent future outbreaks that could be brought to the islands by the swarms of tourists that visit every year. Besides, Oxitec says, this mosquito is an invasive species and has no place in the natural ecosystem of the Keys.
To release populations of insects that have human-tinkered genomes, or to let nature run its course? That seems to be the question at hand, and I personally have an answer that will likely be rather unpopular. I say leave the Frankenstein mosquitoes in the laboratories. Five years of dengue-free populations do not warrant the release of man’s “just in case” solution.
I find it insulting that marketing reps are pitching themselves as environmental allies, trying to restore the natural order of things by removing an invasive species on a concrete jungle like Key West. Show me any remaining natural system on Key West, and I’ll show you the real invasive species here: humans. To attempt to further synthesize a chain of unique islands by replacing yet another natural component with a mosquito species that bears the trademark of our scientific tampering is to beat the dead horse.
Key West’s nature has long since expired. Maybe these mosquitoes are a ghost that has come back to haunt the island’s human invaders, and perhaps out of cynicism and nostalgia for what was once wild, I’m siding with one of the world’s most unpopular insects.
Kenna Rewcastle is a senior in College Scholars. She can be reached at [email protected].
