A few years ago, the Malaysian government embarked on a not-so-secret plan to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes into the wild in a bid to destroy the dengue-causing Aedes clan.
Over 6,000 male mutant mosquitoes were released into a forest near Bentong, Pahang in December 2010 during the trial phase conducted by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) and a British biotech firm called Oxitec Ltd.
The plan was for the male GM mosquitoes to mate with female Aedes and produce eggs that would die before adulthood.
Another batch of 6,000 male Aedes mosquitoes were also released at the same time for the purpose of scientific comparison. By Jan the following year, the trial concluded and all mosquitoes in the area were killed with insecticide.
But now, The Star Online’s Loh Foon Fong reports, the government has decided to axe the plan, which received widespread criticm over its safety and environmental implications.
Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told the daily that the strategy was found to be not cost effective enough for implementation.
“We did not proceed further after the initial study,” he was quoted as saying.
According to the report, IMR’s Medical Entomology Unit and WHO Collaborating Centre for Vectors head Dr Lee Han Lim said a four-year study concluded that the ‘biology, behaviour, mating competitiveness and the capacity to transmit disease of the genetically modified Aedes aegypti were not altered’.
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