NEWS

Click here for latest MosqGuide project newsletter (containing news on recent developments in relation to malaria, dengue, GM mosquitoes and other related subject matter)

MosqGuide team meeting in Thailand

MosqGuide team members, John Mumford, Megan Quinlan and Pat Kittayapong, met to discuss mosquito management in Trat Province, Thailand.

Imperial College MosqGuide team member on EFSA Working Group for Environmental Impact of GM Insects

A team member from MosqGuide partner, Imperial College London, has joined the EFSA Working Group on Environmental Impact of GM Insects to help develop guidance on environmental risk assessment criteria.

EFSA has been requested by the European Commission to develop guidance documents for the risk assessment of GMOs.  This has already been completed for GM plants, and the new guidance will cover GM animals, in three sections: fish, insects and mammals/birds.

The draft guidance documents will be prepared by special working groups of EFSA’s Panels on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) who will develop these in close cooperation. As for all guidance documents, EFSA will consult Member States and relevant stakeholders during the process, early in 2012. In addition, public consultations will be held on these guidance documents before they are finalised.

To effectively assess environmental safety, taking into account the diversity of animal habitats, the GMO Panel is setting up three dedicated working groups. These groups will draft specific guidance for GM fish, GM insects, and GM mammals and birds.

All draft guidance documents will be subject to public consultation in 2012 before the final adoption by the respective Panels concerned. These will be announced on the EFSA website and in EFSA’s weekly email newsletter (EFSA highlights).

The final guidance documents are due to be adopted by the second half of 2012.

Defining Environment Risk Assessment Criteria for Genetically Modified Insects to be placed on the EU Market

For more information on EFSA's work on GMOs please go to:

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/gmo.htm

February 2011

MosqGuide partners involved in release trial of transgenic mosquitoes in Brazil

MosqGuide partners, the University of Sao Paulo, and Oxitec have recently been involved in release of transgenic mosquito strain OX531A into an open environment as part of the  “Projecto Aedes Transgenico or PAT” in collaboration with Moscamed Brazil.  The project is based in Juazeiro , Bahia State. .  Approval for the release was granted by CTNBio in mid December and extensive public engagement is being conducted.  The project has recently been discussed on National Television.  Links to the videos (in Portuguese) are available on YouTube:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUQ_zaxf7Bc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzYzf_WWBTU&feature=related

Moscamed gives a lecture on transgenic mosquitoes for the students of a municipal school close to the release area.

MosqGuide partner involved in release of GM mosquitoes in Malaysia

Oxitec’s lead Aedes aegypti product, OX513A, has been released in the first ever outdoor trial of GM mosquitoes in Asia. This landmark trial is the first in an expected series of trials in Malaysia to demonstrate the potential of OX513A to control the mosquito that spreads dengue fever and chikungunya.

This first trial studied the longevity and dispersal of Oxitec’s male sterile mosquitoes and compared them to wild ones. Some 6,000 OX513A males were released in an uninhabited area near Bentong, Pahang State, with 6,000 wild males. The trial was carried out by Malaysia’s Institute for Medical Research, a result of a long collaboration between Oxitec and Malaysia’s Ministry of Health.

 The trials followed national consultation held in August and September 2010 in which the regulator (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) proactively wrote to 9 local NGOs to obtain their views. In addition, the Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (GMAC) invited two NGOs (WWF and Third World Network) for further discussions on several issues, and included them, where appropriate, in its risk assessment process. GMAC also considered comments raised during the public consultation and addressed those that were not already included in the Risk Assessment. For the uninhabited trials, the IMR was required to put up large multi-lingual posters in the trial site for at least two weeks prior to the start of the trial, and in addition the IMR also pro-actively participated in public for a organised by the Bentong Council and the Malaysian Chinese Association ahead of the uninhabited trials. The regulator has stipulated more public forum with residents prior to trials in inhabited locations