Up to 775,992,000 bacteria-infected mosquitoes could be released in Maui every week for the next 20 years, according to Hawaii Unites.WORLD COUNCIL FOR HEALTH‘Maui is ground zero for these mosquito releases’Lia said her group is concerned that the mosquitoes currently being released are experimental.“The state has lied about the fact that foreign bacteria is being brought into Hawai‘i through the infection of these mosquitoes, and the mosquitoes themselves are foreign organisms that originate from outside the islands. The state has also lied about the documentation showing that up to 3,103 lab-altered female mosquitoes that bite, breed and spread disease are allowed to be released weekly on Maui,” Lia added.“There are no biosecurity protocols for these imported mosquitoes and no mitigation plan in place if something goes wrong,” she said.“Wolbachia bacterium is a life form, and there’s no way for this project to be self-contained. The bacteria can transmit horizontally in the environment to wild mosquitoes and other insect vectors of disease.”“Mosquito populations on Maui might be overtaken and replaced by these lab-altered mosquitoes,” Lia said.“What if it turns out that they are more capable of spreading disease?” Lia asked. “Southern house mosquitoes transmit human diseases including West Nile virus, encephalitis and elephantiasis, and they’re a potential vector of Zika virus.”
