CALIFORNIA-(MaraviPost)-The idea sounds counterintuitive, but scientists say the answer to biting, disease-carrying mosquitoes may lie in releasing millions more of them into the air.
Google-backed biotech company Verily has asked U.S. regulators for approval to release up to 32 million specially treated male mosquitoes across parts of California and Florida.
Unlike their female counterparts, the male mosquitoes do not bite and are genetically altered to carry Wolbachia bacteria, a naturally occurring microbe that disrupts reproduction.
When these males mate with wild females, the Wolbachia bacteria prevent the eggs from hatching, gradually shrinking the local population of disease vectors over several breeding cycles.
The approach targets species such as Aedes aegypti, which can transmit dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.
If approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, the program would rank among the largest mosquito control trials ever conducted in the United States.
EPA officials are still reviewing Verily’s application and have not set a final decision date.
But the scale of the proposal has already drawn attention from public health experts and environmental groups.
Proponents argue that Wolbachia-based suppression offers a targeted alternative to chemical insecticides, reducing harm to pollinators and other wildlife while addressing the growing threat of mosquito-borne disease.
Critics, however, are urging caution, saying large-scale releases require long-term monitoring to ensure no unintended ecological consequences emerge.
For communities in California and Florida that face seasonal surges of mosquitoes, the experiment represents a bold test of whether fighting an insect problem might mean unleashing more insects, not fewer.
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