A Silver Spring-based company is releasing diseased mosquitoes in the Washington, D.C. area, in hopes they will infect Asian Tiger Mosquitoes and reduce their numbers.
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❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Bee Safe Mosquito Control, a Maryland-based company, has begun releasing male mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria in the D.C. area, hoping they will spread the disease to aggressive Asian Tiger Mosquitoes and reduce their populations. These “ZAP males” make female mosquitoes infertile after mating, preventing them from producing offspring. Skeptics of insect programs warn that the potential risks to human health and to species that feed on mosquitoes are unclear.
📺 DETAIL: The Asian Tiger Mosquito is a common pest in the region and is capable of transmitting diseases such as Dengue Fever, Zika, and Yellow Fever. The ZAP males are sourced from MosquitoMate, a Kentucky-based company with EPA approval for this biopesticide technology, which has already shown success internationally, reducing Dengue cases by over 98 percent in parts of South America. Bee Safe began deploying the mosquitoes in June and plans to release 600,000 by the end of the season.
💬 KEY QUOTE: “We’re definitely the first in the DMV to do this… It’s super cool that we’re at the forefront of it,” said Todd Montgomery, owner of Bee Safe Mosquito Control.
🎯 IMPACT: The release of the diseased mosquitoes is intended to significantly reduce the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses in the region, offering a safer alternative to chemical pesticides. However, campaigners have raised concerns that the insects could expose people to novel allergens, or inadvertently create dangerous hybrid mosquitoes that are not rendered infertile and enter the wild gene pool.
📺 FLASHBACK: Similar mosquito control efforts have been implemented in California and Florida by Alphabet’s Debug program, with plans to release millions of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in those states.
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