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Environmentalists slam mosquito plan

Environmentalists have condemned a trial plan to deploy millions of genetically modified mosquitoes in Malaysia to fight dengue fever, a report said yesterday.

Malaysia has expressed concern about the insect-borne scourge after 25 people were killed in the first three months of the year.

The New Sunday Times newspaper said the genetically modified (GM) male mosquitoes will be freed at a fishing village south of Kuala Lumpur, in an attempt to kill Aedes mosquitoes which spread dengue fever.

Environmental groups, however, oppose the plan.

“Like all GM organisms, once they have been released in the wild, how do you prevent them from interacting with other insects and produce mutants which may be worse than the Aedes mosquito,” said Gurmit Singh, chairman of the Center for Environment Technology and Development.

Malaysia has seen a rise of 16 percent in dengue cases every year since 2003, according to the government. Fatalities from dengue in Malaysia reached record levels in 2004, when 102 people died.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in the first three months of this year, more than 9,800 cases of the disease were reported, with 25 fatalities.

The field trials for the GM mosquitoes will be undertaken by the Malaysian health ministry and Oxiter, an insect bio-tech company.

The newspaper said lab trials over the past year had been a success, and that field testing would begin by early next year.

The technique involves releasing GM-made Aedes mosquitoes to mate with females. Lethal genes from the males cause the larvae to die.

Only female mosquitos can transmit dengue fever.
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