More than 750 Million genetically modified mosquitoes will be released into the Florida Keys over the next two years.
Final approval from the region’s Mosquito Control District comes months after the EPA approved an experimental use permit for the project.
The goal of the project is to reduce the mosquito population in Florida, and along with it the spread of deadly diseases such as Malaria, West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis.
The project is being run by British-based Oxitec, a biotech company which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation
Oxitec has been experimenting with mosquitoes as a delivery system for vaccines for years.
The company has developed a self-limiting technology that kills off female mosquitoes. Only female mosquitoes actually sting and can therefore spread disease. When male mosquitoes, who have been genetically equipped with a certain type of protein in laboratories, are released into the wild and mate with females that protein is passed on to female offspring only, killing them before they reach maturity.
Surviving male offspring can then mate again with other wild females. The technology can survive for up to ten generations after which no genetically-modified mosquitoes remain.
Critics of the experiment spoke at the virtual meeting on Tuesday in opposition of the vote.
Director of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, Barry Wray, told the voting body that they “have no idea” how the modified mosquitoes will affect the Florida Keys’ ecosystem.
Wray has previously said his organization has asked Oxitec to prove the safety of their mosquitoes, with no response.
A petition opposing the release of mosquitoes has reached nearly 240,000 signatures.