News Animals

Genetically modified mosquitoes have been OK’d for a first U.S. test flight

As dengue cases rise in the Florida Keys, a much-debated public health tool gets a nod for 2021

Aedes aegypti

The first U.S. tests of any free-flying genetically modified mosquito are now OK’d for 2021 to fight the dengue-spreading Aedes aegypti (shown).

Oxitec

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

After a decade of fits and starts, officials in the Florida Keys have voted to allow the first test in the United States of free-flying, genetically modified mosquitoes as a way to fight the pests and the diseases they spread.