By G Vinod
PETALING JAYA: The Department of Biosafety today dismissed as untrue an allegation that the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) released genetically modified (GM) male mosquitoes last Wednesday at uninhabited sites in Malaysia.“IMR did plan to release the mosquitoes on that date, but cancelled it,” said the department’s Director of Evaluation and Research, Dr Mohamed Mohd Salleh. He declined to explain the reasons for the cancellation.
The allegation was made in a letter from the Third World Network (TWN) to the Minister of Health and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment. TWN sent copies of the letter to several NGOs, one of which forwarded it to FMT.
According to Mohamed, IMR has yet to fix a new release date.
He said officials would hold a forum for residents of the affected areas before scheduling a release.
“It will be a closed door forum between our officers and the residents,” he added.
He said the authorities had already consulted the public in August and had considered “all safety aspects” of the release.
“We published this in Berita Harian and the New Straits Times and had a grace period of 30 days to gather public feedback,” he said.
“We also used our website to engage the public.
“We received feedback from 32 respondents and two thirds of them were agreeable to the release.”
He said the National Biosafety Board (NBB) would have used more media outlets to engage the public if it had had the funds.
Responding to fears that the mosquito larvae may survive in the presence of the antibiotic tetracycline, which is widely used in agriculture, Mohamed said the mosquitoes would be released far away from any farming site.
“We have told IMR that the mosquitoes must be released at least 500 metres away from any agriculture or veterinary site in order to reduce risk of the progeny surviving.
“Plus, the local councils and the Department of Environment are working with us to ensure the places proposed are free from tetracycline.”
Addressing a concern expressed by experts that there is a three percent chance of the progeny surviving, Mohamed said that IMR would “clean up” the release areas.
“The GM male mosquitoes will die in three days anyway,” he said. “However, the authorities will also do fogging at the areas twice to ensure none will survive.”
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