USA: against the Zika virus, U.S. public supports introducing genetically engineered mosquitoes.
Despite the American public is historically opposed to genetically modified organisms, the results of a preliminary study carried out in February shows that 78% of respondents support the use of engeneered mosquitoes to fight the virus.
As Nicole Widman, of Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and lead researcher on the study (and related by PCTonline) said: “Yet when it comes to fighting the Zika virus, public sentiment comes out pretty strong in favor of using these technologies to our advantage.”
The research was carried out on a sample of 964 US. “It’s too soon to say what all the implications of our findings mean, but we are already conducting further data analysis,” said Wallace Tyner, co-researcher with Widmar in the Department of Agricultural Economics. “We can certainly say that what we’ve discovered is startling, and we’re pleased that the U.S. public has demonstrated a willingness to be open to all the tools we’ve got in fighting this outbreak.“
