The EPA approves a plan to take on mosquito-transmitted viruses.
In short, a biotech company will release special infected mosquitoes which will breed with wild potentially disease carrying mosquitoes, but no offspring will survive.
The news was first reported by the journal Nature.
Here is the longer version A biotechnology company called Mosquitomate have infected lab grown mosquitos with a bacterium called Wolbachia pipientis.
The bacterium does not affect humans or other animals.
Infected male mosquitos will be released in 29 states.
Including New York, Kentucky, and California.
Washington D.C. will also play host to these lab grown mosquitos.
Before we all freak out, male mosquitos do not bite.
And again, the bacterium only affects mosquitos, but not humans or other animals.
Here's how the plan works.
When one of these infected male mosquitos mate with wild mosquitos, any fertilized eggs will not produce offspring due to chromosomal issues stemming from the infected male.
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This would impact a particular species of mosquito called the Asian Tiger Mosquito, and not all mosquitoes.
The Asian Tiger Mosquito has been known to transmit Zika and yellow fever.
The plan would take some time to reduce the population of the Asian Tiger Mosquito.
The EPA has not formally announced its approval of the plan.
But Mosquito [UNKNOWN] touted the approval on Twitter.
For more coverage, checkout CNET.com.
I'm Iyaz Akhtar and I'll see you online.
