WARNING: Experts say GM mosquitoes could transmit modified DNA to humans

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Zika, genetically modified, mosquitoes

---

(NaturalNews) Genetically modified mosquitoes that have been released in Brazil, and may soon be released in Florida to combat the Zika virus, have the potential to directly inject modified DNA into any humans they bite.

The lab-bred GM Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, according to Oxitec – the biotech company that breeds them – are genetically programed to mate with wild females and transfer a gene that is fatal to any offspring.

But critics of the technique say too little is known about the potential for long-term environmental damage, as well as how humans will react to the injection of the gene if they are bitten by a GM Aedes aegypti mosquito.

The Zika virus is not new. As reported by Collective Evolution, it has been around since at least 1947. What's more, the virus is marketed by two companies, and the Rockefeller Foundation owns the patent on the virus.

There is also the fact that the virus – which is generally weak, causing mostly mild symptoms that disappear in a few days – may not be the cause behind a rash of babies born with microcephaly in Brazil, where the current outbreak began. There could be other environmental factors working in conjunction with the Zika virus, or something else altogether.

Microcephaly limited to just one region of Brazil; Zika might not be sole cause

"We can see there is a kind of cluster in [part of] the northeast region with high prevalence and high severity, of miscarriage and congenital malformation that is really severe," Fatima Marinho, coordinator of epidemiological analysis and information at Brazil's Ministry of Health told The Globe and Mail.

"But we didn't find this in other states – even the [adjacent] states didn't see the same situation as in the epicenter. ... We were preparing for an explosion and it didn't come," Marinho added.

"So we started to think that in this central area maybe more than Zika is causing this intensity and severity. This is an area that was under attack by viruses: Some parts even had measles," during the time the bulk of the microcephaly cases arose, Marinho said.

Brazilian researchers won't know the answer for months, but in the meantime, additional DNA-changing mosquitoes are due to be set loose in Florida, where some homegrown Zika cases have turned up. But thus far there have been no U.S. cases of Zika-linked microcephaly.

As reported by CBS News, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has "confirmed" that Zika virus causes some babies to be born with abnormally small heads, but the Brazilian Health Ministry says that researchers are not entirely certain that is correct. Also, scientists do know that other viruses and environmental toxins can cause the condition.

'Zika hysteria dominating the scientifically illiterate media'

In recent days, Natural News founder and editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and author of the new book, Food Forensics, reported that the lack of microcephaly cases in other places where the Zika virus has been prevalent proves that the "doomsday" scenario being painted by the CDC and others is evidence of a "massive hoax."

And many are concerned about the transfer to humans of the genetic code carried by GM mosquitoes: What effect will the gene have on the ecosystems in which humans dwell?

That's because the tactic of introducing the GM mosquitoes into the environment to kill Zika-carrying breeds is not 100 percent foolproof. Some of Oxitec's own research notes that the antibiotic tetracycline, which is very pervasive in Brazil's livestock sector, could render as many as 15 percent of the GM mosquitoes ineffective. But the natural order of things is still affected by the passing along of DNA.

"Zika hysteria dominated the scientifically illiterate media, in much the same way that the climate change hoax also grabs headlines," writes Adams. "In both cases, you have the combination of false fear and bad science, amplified by a scientifically illiterate (but politically compliant) mainstream media, and believed by a gullible population of cowardly consumers who fall for every quack science hoax perpetrated on them by dishonest government."

Sources for this story include:

TheGlobeAndMail.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

CBSNews.com