Showing posts with label genetic engineering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genetic engineering. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

The “Zika” Virus Was Created and Patented By The Rockefeller’s, The goal Is to kill Millions of People

By conspiracyclub | Feb 2, 2016


According to WHO “Zika virus expands explosively” and the infectious agent, possibly genetically modified mosquitoes Panda foremen psychopaths who control world power, is already present in 23 countries in Latin America.

In Spain Valladolid it has been diagnosed in the third case of the virus in Spain zika in a man who had returned from an area of risk for this disease as Colombia.

Panda criminals who rules the world is the same that controls anti WHO reports to hide their interests while reporting falsehoods to allow countless harmful to health from certain vaccines and transgenic glyphosate herbicides criminal Monsanto, to the permissibility of harmful technologies such as phone masts or wireless waves, or even fear of Ebola spreading or complicity with swine flu and some others of atrocities.




These bullies are the same who profit by Big Pharma to hide preventive medicines for the benefit of the proliferation of medical products unsuitable for the population.

Well, not to tire reiterándonos to denounce these tipejos, Zika virus (ATCC® VR-84 ™) was patented, yes, patented in 1947 by the Rockefeller Foundation, one of the families more interested in manipulating power even in scientific medicine to study in universities to train future professionals who unknowingly diagnose and prescribe as learned bases.



Source:

http://www.lgcstandards-atcc.org/products/all/VR-84.aspx?geo_country=es#history

Babies With Genes From Three People Could Be Ethical, Panel Says

KRWG | By ROB STEIN | Feb 3, 2016




Editor's note: This post was updated Feb. 3, 2016, at 12:25 pm to include a statement from the Food and Drug Administration.

Would it be ethical for scientists to try to create babies that have genetic material from three different people? An influential panel of experts has concluded the answer could be yes.


The 12-member panel, assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, released a 164-page report Wednesday outlining a plan for how scientists could ethically pursue the controversial research.

"The committee concludes that it is ethically permissible" to conduct such experiments, the report says, but then goes on to detail a long list of conditions that would have to be met first.

For example, scientists would have to perform extensive preliminary research in the laboratory and with animals to try make sure it is safe. And then researchers should initially try to make only male babies, because they would be incapable of passing their unusual amalgamation of DNA on to future generations.

"Minimizing risk to future children should be of highest priority," the committee writes.

The report was requested by the Food and Drug Administration in response to applications by two groups of scientists in New York and Oregon to conduct the experiments. Their goal is to help women have healthy babies even though they come from families plagued by genetic disorders.

A statement issued by the FDA immediately after the report's release raised questions about whether the FDA would permit the research to move forward.

The FDA email praised the "thoughtful work" of the panel and said the agency would be "reviewing" the recommendations. But it noted that federal law "prevents the FDA from using funds to review applications in which a human embryo is intentionally created or modified to include" changes that could be passed down to future generations. As a result, the email says, any such research "cannot be performed in the United States."

"I think it's a great step in the right direction," Mark Sauer, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University who is a member of one of the teams, said of the National Academies report in an interview before the FDA issued its statement.

Sauer calls the report more of a "yellow light" than a "green light," because of the long list of caveats and cautions. But that is "better than a red light," he says.

"Most importantly to us is that it allows the work to continue to hopefully produce children without these disorders," Sauer says.

Critics, however, say the number of women who could benefit from the experiments are so small that it's not worth crossing a line that's long been considered off limits – making genetic changes that could be passed down for generations.

"The possibility of what you could call mission creep is very real," says Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, a watchdog group based on Berkeley, Calif. "People are talking about going forward not just with this but with the kind of genetic engineering that will produce outright genetically modified human beings."

Once that happens, Darnovsky says, "I think you get into a situation of where some people are genetically enhanced and other people are the regular old variety of human being. And I don't think that's a world we want to live in."

The goal of the research to help women carrying diseases known as mitochondrial disorders, which are only passed down by women through defects in the genetic material in their eggs.

Specifically, the defects are in a type of genetic material known as mitochondrial DNA.

Unlike the DNA that most people are familiar with — the 23 pairs of human chromosomes that program most of our body processes and traits — mitochondrial DNA consists of just 37 genes inside mitochondria, which are structures inside cells that provide their energy.

Mitochondrial disorders range from mild to severe. In many cases there is no treatment, and the affected child dies early in life after suffering progressive, debilitating symptoms.

In the experiments, scientists would take eggs from women carrying defective mitochondrial DNA, remove all the genes except for the mitochondrial DNA, and then do the same thing to eggs that have been donated by women with healthy genes.

The DNA of the woman who wants to have the healthy child would be transferred into that egg, which would then be fertilized in the laboratory with sperm and implanted in her womb to develop.

The British government recently approved such experiments in that country.

But this remains controversial, not only due to the fact that the resulting children would have DNA from three people. Because the transplanted DNA could be passed down for generations, critics fear it could accidentally introduce errors into the human gene pool that could create new diseases.

They also worry it would set a precedent that could open the door to creating designer babies, in which parents can pick and chose the traits of their children.

Because of such concerns, making any change in DNA that could be passed down for generations has long been considered off limits.

The committee report acknowledged that making babies with DNA from three different people could create have "psychological and social effects" on the offspring, including issues about their "conception of identity."

In addition, the committee acknowledged the possibility that it could lead to attempts at genetic "enhancements."

Such work would raise thorny regulatory issues, the committee noted. For example, the federal government is prohibited from funding research that involves destroying human embryos. As a result, "even an agency request" for data from such research in support of FDA approval "could well be controversial," the report says.

Nevertheless, the committee says the potential benefits make the work worth pursuing with careful oversight.

Moreover, the FDA could at some point even consider letting experiments proceed to try to create female babies if certain criteria are met, the report said, including the production of "clear evidence of safety and efficacy from male" experiments and signs that it would be publicly acceptable.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Zika virus: WHO declares global public health emergency, says causal link to brain defects ‘strongly suspected’

The Washington Post | By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Lena H. Sun and Brady Dennis  | February 1 at 5:00 PM


The World Health Organization designated the Zika virus and its suspected complications in newborns as a public health emergency of international concern Monday. The action, which the international body has taken only three times before, paves the way for the mobilization of more funding and manpower to fight the mosquito-born pathogen spreading "explosively" through the Americas.


Zika, first identified more than 50 years ago, has alarmed public health officials in recent months because of its possible association with thousands of suspected cases of brain damage in babies. The WHO has estimated that the virus will reach most of the hemisphere and infect up to 4 million people by year's end.

[What is Zika? And what are the risks as it spreads?]

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said at a media briefing Monday that the primary reason for the designation was the "strongly suspected" causal relationship between Zika and the rare congenital condition called microcephaly. Even before that association is scientifically confirmed or disproved, members of an 18-member advisory panel said the seriousness of the cases being reported required action. Chan concurred, saying the consequences of waiting were too great.

“Even the clusters of microcephaly alone are enough to declare a public health emergency because of its heavy burden" on women, families and the community, Chan said.

What you need to know about the Zika virus
Play Video1:10

Authorities have confirmed more than 30 cases of Zika virus in the United States. Here's what you need to know. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

In addition, she noted, there is significant concern given the lack of vaccines and rapid, reliable diagnostic tests, as well as the absence of any viral immunity in the population since the Americas are being affected for the first time. A potential link to Zika is also suspected in adults who have been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare condition that can cause paralysis.

According to the latest figures on the epicenter of the outbreak, Brazil has 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, with 270 confirmed with evidence of an infection.

[Zika virus and microcephaly: Is a mosquito bite actually responsible for the brain defect?]

The WHO declaration represents its highest level of alert and is only invoked in response to the most dire threats. The first time was in 2009 during the H1N1 influenza epidemic that is believed to have infected up to 200 million worldwide; the second in May 2014 when a paralyzing form of polio re-emerged in Pakistan and Syria; and the third in August 2014 with Ebola in West Africa.


Identifying a global public health emergency now allows the WHO to help coordinate surveillance efforts, such as recording and monitoring cases of Zika, microcephaly and other neurological complications. Officials said countries need to standardize their surveillance for microcephaly, in which an abnormally small head signals incomplete brain development.

Zika’s emergence as a major concern has taken infectious disease experts by surprise. The virus has been popping up in various parts of the world for decades, but individuals have typically only suffered mild symptoms such as a rash or body aches. Nearly all those infected in the past recovered fully, though there were rare cases of complications.

In recent months, however, as reports about brain-damaged newborns began increasing, health officials have worried about Zika's impact on fetal development and have focused on trying to protect pregnant women from the virus. In January, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel advisory urging pregnant women to avoid travel to areas where the virus is actively spreading. That advisory has been expanded repeatedly and now lists more than two dozen countries and territories in Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

[Graphic: What you need to know about the Zika virus]

The WHO said Monday there is no reason for travel or trade restrictions at this time. Instead, health officials there reiterated their advice to pregnant women to wear appropriate clothing, use insect repellent and take other practical measures, such as sleeping under a bed net to avoid being bitten.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the WHO’s declaration is the "official global sounding bell that governments and others need to start really paying attention to this."

Infectious disease experts and others have pressured the WHO to escalate its response to Zika for several months, warning of the mistakes world leaders made during the Ebola crisis when a lack of coordination delayed quarantines and treatment. Chan seemed to reflect their calls when she asked rhetorically during Monday's media briefing, "Can you imagine if we do not do all these works now and wait until the science comes out, then people will say, 'Why don't you take action?'"



In the capital of El Salvador, health workers are negotiating entry into violent, gang-run neighborhoods to fumigate and to educate residents about avoiding infestations.

Bruce Aylward, the WHO's director of outbreaks and health emergencies, said that the evidence pointing to both a “temporal and geographic association” between Zika and microcephaly was strong.

"This is definitely the right measure to be taking at this time based on the information available," he said.


Some public health experts said the WHO did not go far enough.

Lawrence Gostin, a public health and law expert at Georgetown University, said it was a mistake that WHO did not issue a travel alert for pregnant women visiting Zika-affected countries. The organization's failure to do so puts it at odds with the CDC's travel warning to pregnant women.

The countries affected typically have younger populations, which means more women of childbearing age who will be worrying about the virus and its potential harm. Some of these countries have had among the world’s higher birth rates recently.

[The latest Zika news]

From 2011-2015, according to data from the World Bank, Guatemala had 27 births per 1,000 people; Haiti, 25; and Bolivia, 24. The rate in Brazil – South America’s most populous country by far – was 15 births per 1,000 people during that same period.

Gostin said parents concerned for the welfare of their daughters should advise them to avoid going to affected areas if they are pregnant. "If this wave of Zika infections is followed by a wave of birth defects in nine months, it would be unconscionable," he said in a statement.

Some countries are asking women to indefinitely delay pregnancy. But most Latin American countries also restrict access to contraception and abortion, and that puts a heavy and unfair burden on young and often poor women, he said.

Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, sees most countries in the Americas as ill-equipped to preemptively fight the disease. It already has moved rapidly from South America north into Mexico.

“What do you do that’s meaningful to prevent microcephaly?” Hotez asked. “It’s going to go beyond the current health budget of these countries. You’re going to have to get the buy-in of the presidents of these nations.”

Zika may even be harder to defeat than Ebola, according to Hotez. While that virus was more deadly and could spread from human to human, it was easier to contain by isolating infected patients and ensuring safe burials. Ebola affected roughly 30,000 people in four West African countries. Zika could affect millions of people throughout the entire Western Hemisphere.

Brazil mobilizes against outbreak of mosquito-borne virus



South America’s biggest country has seen a rise in cases of a disease triggered by the little-known Zika virus being linked to a spike in birth defects.

“This is more challenging and more complicated because of the vector and what you’re up against,” Hotez noted.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Brazilian Heath Minister Marcelo Castro said the outbreak is his country is worse than previously believed because an estimated 80 percent of people who become infected with the virus do not exhibit known symptoms.


Castro also said every municipality in Brazil will be required to report all Zika cases to a central database starting next week. In further controls, Brazil will join other nations in banning blood donations from people who had the virus.

Castro warned last week that Brazil was “badly losing” the battle against the mosquito blamed for spreading Zika and said that more than 220,000 members of Brazil’s military would be mobilized in eradication efforts. The plans included distributing mosquito repellent to about 400,000 pregnant women, according to Brazil’s O Globo newspaper.

Brian Murphy contributed to this report.

Monday, February 1, 2016

British scientists granted permission to genetically modify human embryos

The Telegraph | By Sarah Knapton | 10:00AM GMT 01 Feb 2016

Scientists will genetically edit human embryos to work out what causes failure to implant or miscarriage Photo: Alamy


British scientists have been granted permission to genetically modify human embryos by the fertility regulator.

The Francis Crick Institute could begin the controversial experiments as early as March after the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority(HFEA) gave the green light this morning.

The scientists want to deactivate genes in leftover embryos from IVF clinics to see if it hinders development.

It will only be the second time in the world that such a procedure has been undertaken and the first time it has been directly approved by a regulator. A Chinese team carried out similar experiments last year to widespread outcry.

'Understanding the crucial process of embryo development could help us understand causes of infertility, miscarriage and some genetic diseases'
Alastair Kent, Director of Genetic Alliance UK

Currently around 50 per cent of fertilised eggs do not develop properly and experts believe that faulty genetic code could be responsible.

If scientists knew which genes were crucial for healthy cell division, then they could screen out embryos where their DNA was not working properly, potentially preventing miscarriages and aiding fertility.

The initial pilot, which will also have to pass an ethics evaluation, will involve up to 30 embryos and the team would like to work on a further three genes, which could bring the total of to 120.

Critics warn that allowing embryos to be edited opens the door to designer babies and genetically modified humans.

But lead scientist Dr Kathy Niakan said that the research could fundamentally change our understanding of human biology and give hope to prospective parents.

“We would really like to understand the genes that are needed for an embryo to develop into a healthy baby,” she told a briefing in central London last month.

“Miscarriage and infertility are extremely common but they are not very well understood. We believe that this research could improve our understanding of the very earliest stages of human life.

Human embryos could be genetically modified for the first time in Britain this Spring Photo: Alamy

“The reason why I think this is so important is that most human embryos fail to reach the blastocyst stage. Over 50 per cent will fail so this window is absolutely critical.

“If we were to understand the genes, it could really help us improve infertility treatment and provide crucial insights into the causes of miscarriage.”

The team at Francis Crick are already in talks with fertility clinics across the country to use their spare embryos.

Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Crick, said: “I am delighted that the HFEA has approved Dr Niakan’s application. Dr Niakan’s proposed research is important for understanding how a healthy human embryo develops and will enhance our understanding of IVF success rates, by looking at the very earliest stage of human development - one to seven days.”

Currently it is not illegal to edit human embryos for research purposes although it has never been done before because they technology has not been available.

When China announced it had carried out similar experiments last year there was a widespread outcry.

A spokesman for the HFEA said: “Our Licence Committee has approved an application from Dr Kathy Niakan of the Francis Crick Institute to renew her laboratory’s research licence to include gene editing of embryos.

“The committee has added a condition to the licence that no research using gene editing may take place until the research has received research ethics approval.

“As with all embryos used in research, it is illegal to transfer them to a woman for treatment.”

All cells in a human embryo have the same DNA code, but they divide into specialised cells depending on gene expression.

Between day five and seven of human development and embryo has around 200 cells of three different types. One set will go on to form the foetus , while another type becomes the placenta, and the third kind the yolk sac which nourishes growing baby. The aim of the new project is to find out what causes the cells to turn into different kinds, a process known as ‘lineage specification.’

The new genetic editing technique, called Crispr, acts like molecular scissors to snip out part of the DNA code so that scientists can see if it was needed.


The embryos will be edited when they are just a few days old

Dr Niakan said: “If you imagine the genome as volumes in an encyclopaedia, at some point in the development some of the cells will start to read a different volume compared to its neighbour cell. One cell will read a volume slightly differently even though they have the same library.”

'It is the very future of the way in which societies accept persons with disabilities that is at play since such gene editing procedures infer that they should not have been brought into existence'
Dr Calum MacKellar, Director of Research of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics


“Crispr is so efficient and precise that it can go inside a single volume, open up, a specific page, identify a single word, and alter a single letter,” added Prof Niakan.

The first gene that the team is planning to deactivate is OCT4, which in mice appears to be crucial for the healthy development of foetal cells.

However British scientists were among 150 experts who in November called for a worldwide ban on genetic editing of embryos claiming the practice could open the door to ‘irrevocably altering the human species.’

Dr Calum MacKellar, Director of Research of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics said: “Allowing the gene editing of embryos opens the road to genetically modifying all the descendants of a person as well as full blown eugenics which was condemned by all civilised societies after the Second World War.”

“It is the very future of the way in which societies accept persons with disabilities that is at play since such gene editing procedures infer that they should not have been brought into existence.”

Gene therapy has been available since the 1970s but it is only recently that scientists have developed technology which can snip out parts of genetic code

The technique could permanently remove harmful mutations which lead to inherited diseases like Huntingdon’s, cystic fibrosis and haemophilia, critics say it could have unexpected side effects any may damage healthy strands of DNA.

Alastair Kent, Director of Genetic Alliance UK, said: "“Understanding the crucial process of embryo development could help us to understand causes of infertility, miscarriage and some genetic diseases.

"The team at the Crick Institute have explained to the HFEA why they would like to use genome editing to investigate embryo development and the HFEA have authorised the research to proceed. We hope that this avenue of research is fruitful, and that genome editing is as powerful a research tool as it currently seems to be."

Is technology causing us to 'evolve' into a new SPECIES? Expert believes super humans called Homo optimus will talk to machines and be 'digitally immortal' by 2050

Daily Mail | By SARAH GRIFFITHS | PUBLISHED: 06:14 EST, 1 February 2016






If you're under the age of 40, there is a good chance you will achieve 'electronic immortality' during your lifetime.

This is the idea that all of your thoughts and experiences will be uploaded and stored online for future generations.

That's according to a futurologist who not only believes technology will let humans merge with computers, that this will create an entirely new species called Homo optimus.

And, he claims this could occur as soon as 2050.

The predictions were made by Dr Ian Pearson as part of the lead up to The Big Bang Fair 2016.

He believes that within the next 35 years, humans will 'live' online, and our pets could even 'talk' to us, like real-life Furbies.

He also claims transhumanism – the idea we can make people technologically better – will be the norm by 2050.

'With optimised genomes and bodies enhanced by links to external technology, people could be more beautiful...more intelligent, more emotionally sophisticated, more physically able, more socially connected, generally healthier and happier all round.'

As humans embrace technological advances and gradually become androids, we could gradually see Homo sapiens being replaced by Homo optimus.

'We can expect our evolutionary process to change in response to technology.

'What's exciting is that it is no longer nature which is forcing changes on us but our own breakthroughs enabling changes we want, ' Dr Pearson explained.

 
Futurologist Dr Ian Pearson claims that in the next 35 years, humans will be able to communicate with computers to evolve better senses, memory and even intelligence. Electronic gold skin and tiny implants between cells could enable a direct link with devices, while we could 'wear' muscle too (illustrated above)
Futurologist Dr Ian Pearson claims that in the next 35 years, humans will be able to communicate with computers to evolve better senses, memory and even intelligence. Electronic gold skin and tiny implants between cells could enable a direct link with devices, while we could 'wear' muscle too (illustrated above)

As humans embrace technological advances and gradually become androids, we could gradually see Homo sapiens being replaced by Homo optimus. This conceptual image shows four stages of human evolution (left to right) showing Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens
As humans embrace technological advances and gradually become androids, we could gradually see Homo sapiens being replaced by Homo optimus. This conceptual image shows four stages of human evolution (left to right) showing Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens

WE MAY TURN INTO 'FAIRIES' TO EXPLORE SPACE 

Biotech and nanotech developments will make it possible to develop small brains with far greater capabilities, so the rest of the body could be scaled down accordingly.
There are big advantages in being tiny for space travel, Dr Pearson explained, because it is a lot easier to accommodate and transport tiny people.
'It is not frivolous to suggest that most space travellers will be rather like fairies, and wings would make it easy to get around in zero gravity too,' he said.
'This could give rise to some weird and wonderful future forms and creations – from changing video displays on our faces to controlling our own dreams - our (evolving) imaginations are the only limit.'

Dr Pearson believes that with a full link between the human brain and a computer, people could move their mind into an improved android body.

'This would allow people to have multiple expistences and identities, or to carry on living long after their biological death,' he wrote in the 'Future Human Report.'

While this technology could be available as soon as in 2050, it may become cheap enough to be widespread by 2070.

Plus, by the end of the century, there will likely be several types of humans, including human-machine hybrids, and people living in android bodies, as well as 'smart creatures'.

Dr Pearson continued that anyone under the age of 40 today will have a good chance of electronic immortality, meaning they could essentially 'upload' their personality so it can continue posting after their death. In the film Transcendence (pictured) the character played by Johnny Depp uploads his consciousness onto a computer
Dr Pearson continued that anyone under the age of 40 today will have a good chance of electronic immortality, meaning they could essentially 'upload' their personality so it can continue posting after their death. In the film Transcendence (pictured) the character played by Johnny Depp uploads his consciousness onto a computer

Research from academics and experts, collated by Dr Pearson for The Big Bang Fair, suggests humans will be able to directly communicate with electronics  and we could clone teeth, fix surfaces and edit genes to make them self-replace (illustrated above)
Research from academics and experts, collated by Dr Pearson for The Big Bang Fair, suggests humans will be able to directly communicate with electronics and we could clone teeth, fix surfaces and edit genes to make them self-replace (illustrated above)

WHAT THE FUTURE COULD LOOK LIKE - FROM SKIN TO MUSCLE TIGHTS

Research from academics and experts collated by Dr Pearson for The Big Bang Fair suggests:
  • We will be able to connect directly with technology through 'electronic skin' or tiny implants between our skin cells.
  • Electronic 'support tights' will boost leg strength with wearable polymer gel muscles 1cm thick.
  • Smudged make-up will be a thing of the past with smart make-up applied on top of a membrane on the skin surface to give a flawless, changeable look.
  • Nanotechnology will monitor and repair our bodies from the inside, making self-replacing teeth a possibility.
  • Technology will be used to enhance pets and wildlife, with the potential to hear our pets talk or to increase their IQ, and to create real versions of kids-craze Furbies. 

'We will certainly technologically advance some of our pets and even wildlife too and we might create entirely new species such as real Furbies,' Dr Pearson continued.

The predictions mean futuristic characters such as Dug the talking dog in Pixar's Up and the human-robot hybrids popular in hit TV shows like Humans could be a reality.

The Big Bang Fair – the UK's largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) for young people - will give access to technologies shaping these developments, from a sensor placed on the skin that allows people to hear music using bone conduction, to robot orchestras.

'We will certainly technologically advance some of our pets and even wildlife too and we might create entirely new species such as real Furbies,' Dr Pearson continued
'We will certainly technologically advance some of our pets and even wildlife too and we might create entirely new species such as real Furbies,' Dr Pearson continued

'It's the young people who come to the fair who will help drive through the innovations our experts are predicting,' said Paul Jackson, chief executive of EngineeringUK, organisers of The Big Bang Fair.

'Today's young people will not only get to experience 'wearing' muscles or owning smart-pets, they will decide what these look like.'

The Big Bang Fair is free and runs from 16 to 19 March at the Birmingham NEC.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

IS THE ZIKA VIRUS IN BRAZIL BEING SPREAD BY GENETICALLY MODIFIED MOSQUITOES FUNDED BY BILL GATES?

Birdflu666 | December 12th 2015

IMAGE SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The recent outbreak of Zika virus in Brazil could be linked to the release into the wild of genetically modified mosquitoes in recent field trials in Brazil funded by the Bill and Gates Foundation, it has emerged.

https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/07/08/genetically-engineered-mosquitoes-nearly-eradicate-dengue-fever-spreading-types-in-brazil-trial/

http://www.healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/outbreak-microcephaly-connected-zika-virus-brazil-12715

The Zika virus, which has been detected in 18 of the 26 states in Brazil, is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. A generically modified version has been developed by a British biotech company called Oxitec.

The results of a trial in Brazil published this summer involved genetically engineered mosquitoes that allegedly fight the spread of dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya, and zika virus.

But scientists have warned the study had too few controls in place to ensure that the mosquitoes released into the wild did not end up spreading dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya, and zika virus.

In short, these genetically modified mosquitoes could be the cause of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil and other parts of South and Central America.

“If these mosquitoes are completely safe, then why the hush-hush?” says Gurmit Singh, chair of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development in Malaysia, another country slated for an Oxitec field trial.

http://news.sciencemag.org/2010/11/gm-mosquito-trial-strains-ties-gates-funded-project

Oxford Insect Technologies, a British biotech company, has developed the insect with funds from the Bill and Gates foundation. It conducted the first outdoor trials with transgenic Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the Caribbean island of Grand Cayman in autumn 2009.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxitec