Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
GM Mosquitoes Show Promise In Tackling Insect-Borne Diseases, Study Shows; Some Concerned Over Possible Unintended Consequences
"Genetically modified mosquitoes could prove effective in tackling dengue fever and other insect-borne diseases," according to the results of a study by a U.K.-based scientific team published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on Sunday, BBC News reports (Black, 10/30). "In the 2010 trial, conducted on Grand Cayman island, researchers released 3.3 million male mosquitoes that had been genetically altered in such a way that they were born sterile, meaning they can't have viable offspring," which "triggered a population collapse," the Wall Street Journal writes. "'We saw an 80 percent reduction in the target area' compared with the mosquito population in a similar zone where genetically tweaked males hadn't been released, Luke Alphey, co-founder and chief scientist at Oxitec Ltd., the U.K. start-up behind the experiment, said in an interview," according to the newspaper (Naik, 10/31).
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