Posted on 05/30/2026 5:57:06 PM PDT by Red Badger
America's most infamous tech company has a bold, potentially risky plan to supposedly reduce the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses, assuming the federal government will sign off on the proposal.
As The New York Post reported, Google wants federal approval to unleash approximately 32 MILLION mosquitoes into the states of California and Florida over the next two years.
This is supposedly part of an effort to halt the spread of several serious mosquito-borne illnesses, including West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis, dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever.
The Google researchers particularly focused on West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis. The former is the leading mosquito-borne disease in the US and is widespread in California amongst local bird and mosquito populations.
The Post notes that the project is part of Google's Debug initiative, which was launched more than a decade ago.
More from the Post on how this plan would work:
Researchers say the latest proposal targets Culex mosquitoes, a species known for transmitting West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis.
Rather than releasing biting insects, the company plans to release male mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacteria. When the infected males mate with wild female mosquitoes, the offspring do not survive, helping suppress mosquito populations over time.
Because only female mosquitoes bite humans, experts say the releases would not increase the number of biting mosquitoes.
Google claims that artificial intelligence and robotic systems would be used to breed, sort, and release the mosquitoes.
The Post reports that the proposal is currently being considered by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is accepting public comments through June 5 before deciding whether to issue an experimental use permit.
Last week, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin angrily shot down wild social media rumors that the agency was planning to release 2 billion genetically modified mosquitoes into Florida and elsewhere.
While this does not conclusively prove that the EPA is leaning one way or another regarding Google’s plan, it suggests Zeldin could be opposed.
VIDEO AT LINK.................
Exactly. It didn’t seem to harm me…yet!
“Because only female mosquitoes bite humans, experts say the releases would not increase the number of biting mosquitoes.”
Since mosquitoa spread disease via bites, how would this help - unless the males mate with the females and produce other “infected” females.?
Haha...Lucky I do not use Google (for searches)...but hub does...sigh
Thanks - whether I click links to other articles in the main one depends on my interest level - I appreciate your pointing it out though.
I wonder when others will decide it’s a bad thing because it deprives birds and such that eat mosquitoes of their food.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.