Scare stories of mutant GM mosquitoes aren’t true, but have some truth

DEADLY ‘super mosquitoes that are even tougher’ accidentally created by scientists after bungled experiment,” shouted The Sun in the UK. “Plan to kill off mosquitoes backfires, spawning mutant hybrid insects,” screamed the New York Post in the US.

These headlines appeared last month, in response to a critical study of a trial carried out in Brazil from 2013 to 2015. It released millions of genetically modified male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which transmit serious diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, Zika and chikungunya. The mosquitoes carried an added gene meant to kill their offspring and thus wipe out wild mosquitoes. …