With Zika virus now being spread by mosquitoes in Miami, you would think the citizens of the nearby Florida Keys would welcome all efforts to control the pests that spread it. Yet a battle is building between officials and the public.
At issue is a . Known as the sterile insect technique, this is a tried and tested way to halt disease outbreaks. Female mosquitoes that mate with these males produce no offspring, so the population drops quickly, sometimes within weeks. Tsetse, screw-worm and Mediterranean fruit flies have all been successfully targeted.
But trying to make male mosquitoes sterile by exposing them to gamma radiation 鈥� the usual method 鈥� is tricky. They tend to be more vulnerable to the radiation than other insects. They become sterile, but are also weakened to the point of being unable to successfully compete for mates.
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There is an alternative. That is to modify male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes 鈥� the primary carrier of Zika 鈥� to get them to make excessive amounts of a protein which in turn causes offspring to be non-viable.
Words are power
This seems an ideal solution 鈥� one that . But the technique used has two words at its core that are sparking : 鈥済enetic modification鈥�.
A .
It found that 58 per cent 鈥渙pposed鈥� or 鈥渟trongly opposed鈥� the release, with 42 per cent neutral or supporting it. The language used in the survey may have had an unfortunate effect; questions emphasised the genetic modification aspect over the broadly familiar and understandable sterilisation aspect.
One wonders what a survey would find if, rather than talking about the sterile insect technique, it asked about unleashing 鈥済amma-irradiated mosquitoes鈥�.
The fate of the trial is complicated by the fact that three of the five members of the have declared that they will abide by an upcoming non-binding public referendum on the topic.
Playing to win
Ideally, the case for running the trial could yet be made and public support secured. But if opposition wins the referendum, bowing to public fears would underscore how easily science can be politicised.
The Florida officials face a catch-22 situation if they press ahead despite a no vote. They will be using the most effective control method with the best hope of heading off a Zika outbreak, better than pesticides and draining standing water.
But the public and media will be ready to pounce, and will see any accidents or mistakes, even tangentially related to the release, as catastrophic. Importantly, mistrust and resentment toward science-based policy would grow.
It鈥檚 rarely good to let fear overcome science. But releasing modified mosquitoes despite the objections of local communities would risk undermining the willingness of policy-makers to pursue other science-supported goals.
With the threat of climate disruption growing, the difficult conclusion is that we can鈥檛 afford to let a dispute about mosquito control erode our ability to respond to far greater problems heading our way. The Florida officials must go with whatever the people decide.
