Citizens object to Oxitec’s modified skeeters
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Concerned Monroe County residents packed the Harvey Government Center Dec. 4 for a town hall meeting hosted by Oxitec and the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District Board to express general aversion to plans for a release of genetically modified mosquitoes.
The Aedes aegypti GM mosquitoes are being bred in Marathon by British-firm Oxitec. The bugs’ naturally occurring counterparts carry dengue fever and other diseases. If released, the GM mosquitoes would interbreed and sterilize partners so they couldn’t go on to reproduce.
There is an alphabet soup of federal agencies in on the regulatory end; included are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture.
District Executive Director Michael Doyle started the meeting by recounting the reason he got into public health. He remembered doing field work in Africa in 1992 and coming across a village hit hard by mosquito-borne malaria.
“That really changed my views from insects as an interesting ecological topic to potentially lethal enemies, so to speak, and what it can do people and families.”
When he came to Key West in 2011 following a two-year dengue outbreak, Doyle said he was “looking for solutions. There isn’t anything that reduces Aedes aegypti down low enough to comfortably not have a potential for dengue transmission of disease transmission. We’re underestimating the potential risk. And, in many cases, overestimating the risk of this particular genetic technology.”
Oxitec’s Head of Public Health Research, Derric Nimmo, said the company’s GM mosquitoes have killed more than 90 percent of targeted dengue-carrying mosquitoes in three Brazilian trials, plus others in Panama and the Cayman Islands.
“This type of mosquito bites humans almost exclusively,” he said. “This mosquito lives in and around your house. There is no cure or effective vaccine available. None of the current control methods are effective enough. It’s a numbers game.”
Nimmo said the GM mosquitoes “will only ever remove Aedes aegypti,” and the offspring die off. “It’s self-limiting. It doesn’t persist in the environment—there’s nothing left.”
Marathon resident Beverly Welber asked for clarification on the FDA’s roll in the process and implications of “eradicating” Aedes aegypti from the environment.
“Any drug that has been taken off the market by the FDA was at one time approved by the FDA. I think the concern that people have…is to understand any kind of independent evaluation that the FDA might be making; to be reassured somehow whatever might come is planned for; that we don’t find ourselves in a few years in a situation with consequences that can’t be anticipated.”
Laura Epstein, policy advisor with the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, responded: “When you’re talking about an approval, right now what everyone is talking about is an investigational trial.”
She said a full-blown approval would follow a trial and require a separate application and review process.
“FDA regulates genetically engineered animals…under the new animal drug authorities. That requires a pre-market approval process. Sponsors come to us first. They have to demonstrate that the product is safe and effective. In this case, we are working with other federal agencies as well who have relevant expertise.”
Regarding the point about FDA approval being followed by a product being recalled, Epstein said, “There is a post market process. For new animal drugs, once there’s a full approval, there are requirements for reporting what we refer to as any adverse events.”
Nimmo, commenting on any potential implications of removing Aedes aegypti completely, said, “It’s a non-native species. We’re actually restoring,” the environment.
A full video of the more than two hour meeting is available on www.keysmosquito.org.
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