Google Seeks Permit to Release 32 Million Mosquitoes in Florida

Google’s Debug project has applied for a federal permit to release up to 32 million specially bred mosquitoes across Florida and California over two years, in an effort to reduce populations of the Aedes aegypti mosquito — the species responsible for transmitting dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever.

The mosquitoes being released are male, meaning they cannot bite. They carry a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia that renders them unable to produce viable offspring when they mate with wild females. No genetic modification or chemical agents are involved. As infertile pairings accumulate over time, the wild mosquito population declines.

The Environmental Protection Agency published the permit request in the Federal Register on May 6 and is accepting public comment through June 5.

The approach, known as the Sterile Insect Technique, has been in use since the 1950s for other pests including fruit flies and screwworms. Debug has been deploying it in Singapore since 2018, currently releasing over 10 million mosquitoes per week. Singapore’s National Environment Agency reports 80 to 90 percent suppression of Aedes aegypti populations and more than 70 percent reduction in dengue cases in targeted areas after six to twelve months of releases.

The project has also been made available in the British Virgin Islands. Florida and California would be its first North American deployments.