MARATHON, Fla. – A genetically modified mosquito trial was approved at meeting Saturday morning in Marathon.
The vote was 3-2.
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The Florida Keys Mosquito Control Board had decided to go forward with a contract with Oxitec, a biotech company, to release the mosquitoes in the Florida Keys, according to FLKeysNews.com.
Oxitec said the offspring of its mosquitoes die almost immediately, resulting in a smaller population of Aedes aegypti, which carry Zika and other viruses.
The United Nations health agency recently lifted a 9-month-old emergency declaration against the mosquito-borne virus that can result in severe birth defects when pregnant women are infected.
The World Health Organization is instead shifting to a longer-term approach against a virus that has spread across Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond.
