The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of genetically modified (GMO) mosquitoes to combat the spread of the Zika virus, which has caused so much suffering and death in Brazil and other countries, and is now appearing in Florida. The approved technique, developed by Oxitec, involves instilling fatal genes in male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. These genes would be passed 100% on to offspring produced by wild females, exterminating the population and thus eliminating the virus’s means of spread.
