Google plans to release 32 million mosquitoes in major biological experiment
Tech giant to release millions of sterile insects into the wild (photo: Unsplash)
Is Google artificially regulating populations?
Mosquitoes are the main carriers of a number of dangerous diseases in the United States. These include St. Louis encephalitis, dengue, Zika virus, yellow fever, and West Nile virus, which currently leads in the number of infections in the country.
The Debug project has been in development for more than ten years, specifically to find technological and safe methods to combat these threats.
Method
Instead of using chemicals or GMOs, Google applies natural mechanisms:
Over the next two years, millions of male mosquitoes infected in advance with the Wolbachia bacterium will be released into the wild.
This microorganism occurs naturally in the environment, but in mosquitoes, it causes complete sterility.
When infected males mate with wild females, the eggs simply do not hatch. This breaks the reproduction chain.
What about safety?
Google emphasizes that people should not fear mass mosquito bites. Due to the biological characteristics of this species, only female mosquitoes drink human blood.
Since the company releases only males, the total number of biting insects will not increase. Instead, over time, the natural population of harmful mosquitoes will sharply decline.
Timeline and implementation
The proposal by the tech giant is currently in the final stage of review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agency is officially accepting public comments and feedback until June 5.
After that, the government body will issue a final decision and determine whether to grant Google official permission to release the insects into cities.
