This submission focuses on the benefits and costs associated with the issuance of the experimental use permit (EUP) requested by Oxitec Ltd. to test the OX5034 Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the states of California and Florida, and the possible wider impacts of approving the EUP to evaluate the efficacy of OX5034 mosquitoes as a tool for suppression of wild Aedes aegypti mosquito populations.
Given current inefficient mosquito-control methods, the high burden of vector-borne diseases, and the positive results of previous field trials of the OX5034 Aedes aegypti mosquito, Reason Foundation urges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move forward as quickly as possible in approving Oxitec’s request for an experimental use permit to undertake additional field trials in Florida and California. Unfounded fears about this safe technology should not prevent it from being implemented as part of the solution to a serious health problem.