Friendly and Sparks: Oxitec’s Lab-Altered Mosquitoes

The escalating agenda to release experimental technologies using disease vectors

Oxitec, the Bill Gates-funded biotech company focused on releasing lab-altered disease vectors globally, has announced their new Wolbachia mosquito technology, “Sparks™.” Oxitec’s Sparks mosquitoes will now “complement” their Friendly™ Aedes aegypti mosquito platform.

“Sparking Joy by Eliminating Dengue

Sparks™ is a new initiative to scale Wolbachia Replacement Technology (WRT), a proven, non-GMO approach to block dengue transmission, using the strength of Oxitec’s platform and global partnerships.

Leveraging two decades of expertise and leadership developing and scaling biological solutions to address disease-spreading vectors and agricultural pests, and supported by a significant investment from the Gates Foundation, Sparks™ will rapidly scale WRT supply and pursue access-enhancing pricing for communities most in need as set forth by World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.”

Oxitec is widely known for their genetically modified (GMO) mosquitoes that introduce lethal genes into target mosquito populations. Despite concerns raised in release areas like Jacobina, Brazil and the Florida Keys, including the creation of hybrid “super mosquitoes” resistant to insecticides and the potential for the spread of antibiotic resistance due to the use of tetracycline in the manufacturing process, the GMO mosquito method continues to be unleashed on multiple global locations. The World Mosquito Program (WMP) acknowledges that “as no impact assessment has been done, it hasn’t been proven to be safe for humans.”

Oxitec promotes their Friendly GMO technology platform as a method that “can be applied to all kinds of pests” – from mosquitoes to moth caterpillars to ticks, and even potentially to animals beyond arthropods.

“Friendly males carry a self-limiting gene that when passed on, prevents their offspring from surviving to adulthood. With regular releases of Friendly males, the number of offspring – in most versions of the technology, specifically the damaging female offspring – is reduced, resulting in a reduction in the pest insect population.”

Meanwhile, the World Mosquito Program, also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been pushing their own lab-altered mosquitoes on targeted areas of Asia, Latin America, and Oceania. WMP calls their mosquitoes the “Wolbachia Method,” a population replacement technique where both male and female mosquitoes, lab-infected with Wolbachia bacteria, are intentionally released to breed and replace the existing wild mosquitoes.

Oxitec is now expanding their product lines to include what they’re referring to as “Wolbachia Replacement Technology” (WRT). The new Sparks mosquito platform using WRT is promoted as a “promising addition to the toolbox to combat rising dengue rates.” Sparks appears to use a similar approach as WMP’s Wolbachia Method where lab-infected females that bite, breed, and spread disease are intentionally released along with lab-infected males. A multi-million-dollar investment from the Gates Foundation is behind the product’s development.

“As Oxitec is the first company in the world to build a sustainable commercial operation designed to deliver mosquito-based solutions at scale, it is uniquely suited to pursue WHO targets and rapidly increase Wolbachia supply globally.

Given that, funding from the Gates Foundation will jump-start Oxitec’s launch of Sparks™ and enable an accelerated effort to build production capacity and global distribution infrastructure to rapidly increase supply and deployment of Wolbachia in a manner that helps expand access to and uptake with needful communities.”

The lab-altered disease vector agenda continues to escalate, and mosquitoes are not the only focus. Last year, Oxitec launched their “Friendly™ Cattle Tick Program” – developing ticks with Friendly lethal genes to be released into the environment of targeted locations.

“With $4.8 million of new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxitec will initiate development of a Friendly™ solution for the invasive Asian blue tick, Rhipicephalus microplus.”

Hawai‘i Unites is watching closely for new developments in mosquito technologies as we continue challenging the reckless agenda of the multi-agency partnership pushing the release of lab-altered mosquitoes on the Hawaiian Islands. Numerous mosquito technologies are being deployed around the globe. In the linked article below, we outline the techniques commonly used and describe the differences with the experimental Wolbachia-bacteria-infected Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) mosquitoes currently being released on sacred lands in East Maui:

“Mass-production of lab-altered mosquitoes in the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ insectary in Hawai‘i is a goal for the State, and the intention is to produce and release a variety of biotech mosquitoes throughout the islands ‘into perpetuity’ (forever). With millions of dollars in funding continuing to pour in for these mosquito experiments, the agencies involved are moving quickly to advance their timeline and expand their reach.”

These agencies’ future plans for Hawai‘i involve the development of “next generation tools” for release into our environment, including dangerous mosquito gene drives and CRISPR gene-edited precision-guided Sterile Insect Technique (pgSIT) mosquitoes. The Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) is also making their own plans to release lab-altered mosquitoes throughout the islands to “control mosquitoes of public health concern.” With no information presented yet by the DOH, we don’t know at this point which mosquito technologies are being looked at for that program. Could Oxitec’s Sparks and GMO Friendly mosquitoes be among the methods under consideration by the DOH for release in Hawai‘i?

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Hawai‘i Unites has taken state agencies to court to stop the release of bacteria-infected mosquitoes on Maui, ground zero for these dangerous biotech experiments in Hawai‘i. Our case can set a precedent to strengthen environmental laws for all islands and impact the course of this agenda worldwide. Your tax-deductible donations support the work that we’re doing to protect the ‘āina and help us continue to move our active court case forward.

Mahalo,
Tina Lia
Founder
Hawai‘i Unites
HawaiiUnites.org

Hawai‘i Unites is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of our environment and natural resources. Your tax-deductible donations help us to fulfill our mission of honoring and protecting our sacred connection to the natural world.

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Report a Mosquito Bite

The State of Hawai‘i and its multi-agency partnership Birds, Not Mosquitoes have been releasing bacteria-infected mosquitoes in East Maui and conducting pilot study releases on Kaua‘i since 2023. As part of our ongoing research and documentation, Hawai‘i Unites has been compiling reports from throughout the islands about unusual mosquito bite reactions. If you’ve been bitten by a mosquito and would like to report the incident, please complete our Mosquito Bite Incident Report.

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