Genetically modified male mosquitoes will be released at Florida Keys early next spring as part of the government's bid to stop the spread of Zika virus.
However, residents in the area protested the plan to release genetic mosquitoes as there are no reports of Zika-infected cases along Florida Keys.
These genetically modified mosquitoes are males. As a result of mating with their female counterparts, these genetically altered mosquitoes are designed to kill their offspring as a means of controlling their population.
According to kunc.og, for a while now, authorities struggle to keep control of the spread of the Zika virus in Florida. Although there were no reported cases in the Florida Keys, there were over 200 reported Zika cases across the state.
But residents opposed the new technology to fight Zika virus. One resident said, "I am going to ask you, beg you, plead with you, not to go through with this."
Over the last five years, the state works with the British company Oxitec to get approval. Oxitec still has to get a go signal from the US Food and Drug Administration, reported The Guardian.
Pregnant women who were infected with the Zika virus can transmit the disease to their unborn babies, who can then be born with birth defects.
Zika virus first spread through Brazil before it hit Puerto Rico and Miami, Florida.
