And these genetically modified males will only mate with aedes aegypti females since mosquitos do not interbreed. There is no danger with this release since males don't bite -- they only mate -- and the genetic modification gives them a very short life anyway, which after all is the whole point.

When they mate with females, her offspring share the genetic modification, and they die before they mature. Problem solved.

Note: aedes aegypti also spreads dengue!

So who would be against this?

Unless they don't understand science and have watched too many Hollywood movies.

beginning in about November (vote taken) when it may not rain for weeks, even months. Won't be very much standing water around for mosquitoes to breed in. They cannot breed in moving bodies of water like the Ocean or Gulf. Science. Droughts are issued. Don't water your lawns, etc. Will these sterile male mosquitoes find enough local lady friends to mate with? The local mosquito population will go down in the Dry Season.

It gets very dry here in South Florida by January/February. I cannot speak to the Panhandle area, but I would think that the Keys weather is very similar to the mainland south.

The lifespan of the adult female mosquito is six to eight weeks. Once she mates, she bites. If most of the males she encounters are the GMO males, the offspring will die before they mature enough to mate, causing a relative collapse in the population that will persist into the next wet season. That's the theory, anyway. It will decrease the immediate population and that will decrease the probability of a large Zika outbreak.

There have been 15 symptomatic cases around Miami. Zika can be a subtle disease, some 80% of people exhibiting no symptoms to a few aches and pains they pass off as overexertion. Kids who get it will be immune for life. The problem is with pregnant women, Zika is diabolical enough to be an STD as well as mosquito borne.

The good news is that all four vaccine types in the works are safe and effective in early trials. A dengue vaccine is now being tested widely in Mexico and results should be out in the next year or so.

FDA is waiting until November so the local residents can vote on the issue. It says so in the article. Non binding vote, but at least the residents deserve a chance to have their say in the matter. By November the fear of being bitten by a mosquito in the majority of the country will be over. Weather alone will take care of mosquitoes.

Of those 15 people identified, 12 were men and 3 were women. 6 had no symptoms at all, but were identified by door to door urine samples in the neighborhood. Possibly could be more than that when you consider that people move around, visit other areas, etc. No way to know who was in that area on any given date. How many people come and go in a big city like Miami?

The released mosquitos are not "all" males. They are mostly males. At the scale needed, it is not possible to separate them by sex with 100% accuracy.

Hence, there is a statistical risk that a released adult female will transmit the virus from an infected individual to an uninfected individual. The point is that there is expected to be a net decrease over time of the mosquitos.

This is not a panacea, as Oxitec mosquitoes had been released in Brazil to combat dengue prior to the Brazilian Zika outbreak.

But any mosquito with the trait dies quickly. So any messiness has a null effect. The idea is that the offspring die before they reach adulthood, which they do.

And the tests in Brazil (and one presumes other places) show results consistent with smaller aedes aegypti populations, therefore less Zika and dengue spread.

In other words, it works, which is all that is being claimed here.

Thank you for your clarification.

At least per release? If offspring are designed not to survive through sexual maturity.

... contain a "zombie virus" or some such nonsense?

Deft move.

You have just done it!

"A bold experiment, a deadly mistake"

What have I done?! Lol.

They will be the ones with the flip-up sunglasses and they can be observed driving funny.