According to a report in the Jamaica Gleaner, the Cayman Islands is to introduce genetically engineered mosquitoes to reduce the insect population in the fight against vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus.
Premier Alden McLaughlin in an address to the Legislative Assembly yesterday, said the non-biting genetically engineered male mosquito will breed with female Aedes Aaegypti mosquitoes, which carry and transmit the diseases.
McLaughlin said the offspring will inherit a gene which will cause them to die before reaching adulthood, ensuring that they do not reproduce.
According to McLaughlin, the programme arose out of a partnership between Cayman’s Mosquito Research and Control Unit and the United Kingdom-based biotechnology company Oxitec, the Gleaner reported.
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Science has come a long way and this is very possible, let’s hope it goes according to plan and does not backfire. Only to realize the we have created another gene that we wipe us out or make us lab rats for their own study. May God watch over us, and don’t forget the past where science has already caused this world much pain.