{"id":60308,"date":"2017-11-08T16:30:59","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T16:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/?p=60308"},"modified":"2017-11-08T16:30:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T16:30:59","slug":"epa-has-approved-release-weaponized-mosquitoes-20-us-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/epa-has-approved-release-weaponized-mosquitoes-20-us-states\/","title":{"rendered":"The EPA Has Approved the Release of Weaponized Mosquitoes in 20 US States"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The US Environmental Protection Agency has given its approval for MosquitoMate, a Kentucky-based biotechnology company, to release its bacteria-infected male mosquitoes in several parts of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The EPA approval was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/us-government-approves-killer-mosquitoes-to-fight-disease-1.22959\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first reported by Nature<\/a>&nbsp;on Monday (Nov. 6), and confirmed by the company. The EPA didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment from Quartz.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s lab-grown mosquitoes, which it calls ZAP males, are infected with the&nbsp;<em>Wolbachia<\/em>&nbsp;bacteria,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/pesticides\/epa-grants-extension-experimental-use-permit-wolbachia-mosquito\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">naturally occurring<\/a>&nbsp;in many insects, but not in&nbsp;<em>Aedes aegypti<\/em>, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ecdc.europa.eu\/en\/disease-vectors\/facts\/mosquito-factsheets\/aedes-aegypti\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vector for viruses<\/a>&nbsp;such as yellow fever, dengue and Zika. When bacteria-infected males mate with uninfected females, the females produce eggs that don\u2019t hatch. In addition, infected mosquitoes are&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/676813\/in-a-world-first-scientists-have-found-a-way-to-use-bacteria-to-fight-the-zika-virus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">less likely to spread disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to Gizmodo, the EPA on Nov. 3 registered MosquitoMate\u2019s mosquito as a biopesticide, with a five-year license to sell in 20 different states. Entomologist Stephen Dobson, CEO of MosquitoMate, told Gizmodo that the company&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/the-epa-just-approved-lab-grown-mosquitoes-to-fight-dis-1820231191\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">could start selling the infected mosquitoes<\/a>&nbsp;next summer via contracts with government bodies and direct to homeowners, beginning with Lexington, Ky. and expanding to nearby areas like Nashville, Tenn. Quartz reached out to MosquitoMate for comment, and will update when we hear back.<\/p>\n<p>The permitted states include mostly those similar weather conditions to Kentucky, New York,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scpr.org\/news\/2017\/07\/21\/73991\/to-shrink-the-mosquito-population-scientists-are-r\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">and California<\/a>, states where the company earlier conducted trials\u2014as well as Washington DC. In April, the company&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/fkmcd.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/MapJournal\/index.html?appid=d8c2b636e93b40b4b940e6042ef286c6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">began a 12-week field trial<\/a>&nbsp;that involved releasing 20,000 male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Stock Island, in&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/keysmosquito.org\/2017\/04\/18\/fkmcd-releases-wolbachia-mosquitoes-on-stock-island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Florida Keys<\/a>. The male mosquitoes don\u2019t bite, which should make the release of these insects sound less alarming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US Environmental Protection Agency has given its approval for MosquitoMate, a Kentucky-based biotechnology company, to release its bacteria-infected male mosquitoes in several parts of the United States.<br \/>The EPA approval was first reported by Nature on Monday (Nov. 6), and confirmed by the company. The EPA didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment from Quartz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":56471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1000,1031],"tags":[3,7],"organicbytes":[],"countries":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The EPA Has Approved the Release of Weaponized Mosquitoes in 20 US States - Organic Consumers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/epa-has-approved-release-weaponized-mosquitoes-20-us-states\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The EPA Has Approved the Release of Weaponized Mosquitoes in 20 US States - Organic Consumers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The US Environmental Protection Agency has given its approval for MosquitoMate, a Kentucky-based biotechnology company, to release its bacteria-infected male mosquitoes in several parts of the United States.The EPA approval was first reported by Nature on Monday (Nov. 6), and confirmed by the company. 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