U.S. approves GMO mosquito test, but no release imminent

MIAMI — Federal authorities gave final approval Friday to a plan to release genetically modified mo squitoes in Florida, but none of the insects will be immediately dispatched in the state’s fight against the spread of Zika.

After considering thousands of public comments, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine concluded the proposal from biotech firm Oxitec to release its mosquitoes in an island neighborhood just north of Key West would not significantly affect the environment, the FDA announced.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency contributed to the FDA review. Local officials will hold a nonbinding vote on the proposal for Florida Keys residents in November.

The FDA approval came hours before Florida’s Department of Health confirmed a new Zika infection within a 1-square-mile zone encompassing Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. That brings the state’s tally of non-travel-related Zika cases to 16, in addition to 351 travel-related infections.

In the Keys, Oxitec would release nonbiting male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes modified with synthetic DNA to produce offspring that die outside a lab. The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District approached Oxitec after a dengue outbreak in Key West ended in 2010. The district wants new ways to eradicate Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which it considers a significant and expensive threat in the tourism-dependent island chain.

Brazil and the Cayman Islands are releasing Oxitec’s insects as part of other mosquito control operations. Anti-GMO activists have criticized Oxitec for allowing the release of some modified female mosquitoes, which do bite humans.