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© RIA Novosti. Oleg Lastochkin

09:01 24/07/2014

MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Brazil is going to raise a swarm of genetically modified mosquitos to fight dengue, an acute tropical disease that affects over 50 million people every year, the New Scientist magazine reports.

According to New Scientist, a UK-based biotech company Oxitec plans to open a factory in Campinas to raise millions of GM blood-suckers and release them into the wild to mate with females, whose offspring will die before reaching adulthood.

Oxitec hopes this will help cut the numbers of dengue-carrying insects. There is no vaccine to prevent dengue, also called breakbone fever, meaning all you can do is spray insecticides on a large area of land to kill as many mosquitos as possible.

The UK mosquito-breeding company plans to release its swarm in the town of Jacobina in Bahia, a Brazilian state that is one of the most affected areas in the country.

http://en.ria.ru/society/20140724/191175974/Brazil-to-Fight-Dengue-with-GM-Mosquitos.html

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Categories: GMO - Genetically Modified Organism, Lethal or Unintended Side Effects, Vaccine

Tags: Brazil, Campinas, Dengue fever, Jacobina, Moscow, New Scientist, Oxitec, RIA Novosti