Google wants to release 64m mosquitoes in US

 Tech giant Google wants to release more than 64 million “good mosquitoes” in the United States in an attempt to stop “bad mosquitoes” that spread various deadly diseases in humans.

 The “good ones” carry a naturally occurring bacterium called Wolbachia, which makes them unable to breed, thus displacing the “bad mosquitoes” with good ones in the long run.

 According to Google’s Debug program, mosquitoes are the deadliest animals on the planet. They carry and spread diseases like dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya, diseases that make hundreds of millions of people sick every year. And these diseases are spreading faster than ever, Google claims.

 “Most of these diseases don’t have effective vaccines or treatments. Attacking mosquitoes with pesticides is unsustainable because they’re becoming less effective over time and can be toxic. Clearing standing water is not enough because people can never find all the places that mosquitoes breed. We need a new approach,” the Mountain View-based company states on its Debug website.

 In an online notice published by the EPA, Google is looking for authorization to release 32 million mosquitoes- the Culex quinquefasciatus species to be precise- in California and Florida over a two-year period, potentially totaling more than 64 million mosquitoes being released.

 The goal is to collect data to see whether a mob of sterile male mosquitoes could lead to a future where pesticides are no longer needed to fight off disease-spreading mosquitoes.

According to the EPA, Google’s plan could be of regional and national significance. However, before issuing a permit, the agency wants to know how the public feels about Google’s plan to release tens of millions of mosquitoes, reports cybernews.