Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

The government is deploying mutant super-mosquitoes to flight Zika in Florida. No, really

Published Aug 5th, 2016 5:30PM EDT
Zika-Killing Mosquito
Image: Shutterstock

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

The genetically-enhanced super-insects are normally what end up killing the humans in just about every sci-fi dystopia ever. But the FDA doesn’t appear to seen that memo, so on Friday morning, the “What Could Go Wrong?!” department green-lit the use of genetically modified Zika-killing mosquitoes in the Florida Keys.

On Friday morning, the FDA officially approved field trials of a genetically modified mosquito made by biotech company Oxitech. The FDA concluded the trials “will not have significant impacts on the environment.”

DON’T MISS: Leaked video shows off the iPhone 7’s Lightning EarPods from every angle

The trial will involve the release of thousands of modified male mosquitoes. They have been genetically altered to pass on a gene that will prove fatal to any offspring they have with wild females, which should kill off the majority of the local mosquito population, or at least keep it under control.

Field trials have already been conducted overseas, including in Brazil, but this will mark the first time the mosquitoes are deployed on US soil. Now that the FDA has signed off, it’s up to Oxitech to deal with state regulators and set up a trial location in the Florida Keys.

If all goes to plan, it could prove to be an effective way of controlling mosquito population. Of course, the law of unintended consequences (and every Marvel movie) basically prove that a new, more resistant super-mosquito will evolve, feast on the Zika virus, and take over the country.

Chris Mills
Chris Mills News Editor

Chris Mills has been a news editor and writer for over 15 years, starting at Future Publishing, Gawker Media, and then BGR. He studied at McGill University in Quebec, Canada.