The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a field trial to release genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys.
In a detailed report, the FDA says using the genetically modified mosquitoes will pose no significant threat to the environment or to people.
British firm Oxitec wants to release male mosquitoes, whose offspring don’t survive. The company says the modified insects would drop the disease-spreading mosquito population by 90 percent.
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District will hold a referendum this November on whether to use the mosquitoes.
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