Bill Gates-linked “Super Mosquitoes” not spreading disease in Mass., other states

the un.news – Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has not released genetically modified mosquitoes to plague Massachusetts and other Northeastern states. Oxitec, a biotech company he helped fund, is not behind the recent outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis.

The rare but serious disease causes brain swelling that is fatal in about a third of all cases. Survivors often experience lasting neurological problems. There is no vaccine or treatment for eastern equine encephalitis, which is also called “EEE” or “Triple E.”

It is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. The U.S. sees an average of 11 documented cases each year, but outbreaks can lead to clusters of infections.

On Tuesday, New Hampshire announced that a person in the state had died from EEE. Four other states, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont and Wisconsin, have reported cases this year.

Due to the elevated infection risk, public health officials in Massachusetts recommend staying inside at night to avoid mosquitoes. Four towns in the state have enacted a voluntary curfew. The town of Plymouth, about 40 miles southeast of Boston, has also closed its public parks each evening.

A 2019-2020 outbreak killed seven people in Massachusetts out of 17 confirmed cases.

Symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea and seizures.

Bioengineered Mosquitoes

Oxitec edits the genes of male mosquitoes to make them unable to produce living female offspring. Male mosquitoes do not bite, so they cannot transmit diseases. When released into the wild, the males pass this edited gene on to their male offspring. This helps control mosquito populations and curbs the spread of diseases.

There are over 3,500 species of mosquito, but only a small handful can infect humans. Of those that can, not all species can transmit the same diseases. 

Public health records from Massachusetts since 2022 and New Hampshire since 2018 list 11 mosquito species that have tested positive for EEE. On its website, Oxitec lists four mosquito species that the company genetically modifies. None of these four species are among the 11 documented carriers of EEE.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation financed Oxitec’s project to fight malaria abroad, but hasn’t backed any of the company’s work in the U.S.

“Four billion people are at risk from mosquito-borne diseases,” said Bill Gates on X (formerly Twitter). “We can get that number down if we invest in new tools – like a set of techniques for genetically modifying mosquitoes – to complement the ones we already have.”  

In May 2020, after a two-year study, the Environmental Protection Agency deemed Oxitec’s technology safe for the public. The agency authorized field trials in the Florida Keys, which are underway using a mosquito species that carries neither malaria or EEE. Oxitec is not approved to release mosquitoes elsewhere in the U.S.

Viral Claims

Social media users have expressed alarm about Oxitec’s mosquitoes and erroneously blamed them for the New England EEE outbreak.

On Sunday, X user Matt Wallace said, “I have reason to believe they are going to mass-spread an extremely deadly disease using mosquitoes before the 2024 election.” The post received 4 million views and was shared by 15,000 X accounts. “Parts of Massachusetts are currently on lockdown after a case of EEE was detected,” he continued.

In another post Sunday, Wallace wrote, “Bill Gates is about to initiate one of the most evil plans in human history.” He went on to detail how Gates would use genetically modified “Super Mosquitoes” to spread disease and “allow a one-world government to form.” The post has been viewed 2.3 million times.

According to Snopes, Wallace is an influential “purveyor of misinformation” online.

Conservative political commentator Gunther Eagleman responded to Wallace, saying, “Bill Gates belongs in prison.”

“Mass Murderer Bill Gates is up to his demonic eugenicist tricks again,” wrote another X user on Tuesday. “Now Mosquitos are introducing EEE.” The post contained footage purportedly showing a helicopter in the process of dropping a load of mosquitoes.

“The air-dropped genetically-engineered mosquitos have plagued America’s skies for years,” the user wrote.

AP News debunked the same video in 2023, concluding that it showed a gender reveal. AP noted at the time that Oxitec does not release insects from helicopters.

Gates, who has donated billions to fund global healthcare and climate change initiatives, has become a perennial boogeyman for conservative conspiracy theorists.

In May 2020, 44 percent of Republicans believed the unfounded theory that Gates was “plotting to use a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign as a pretext to implant microchips in billions of people and monitor their movements,” according to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll.

Independent presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. published claims about Gates in his 2021 book The Real Anthony Fauci. In it, he accuses Gates and former White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci of launching “a historic coup d’état against Western democracy” by influencing media to promote COVID vaccines.

Gates categorically denies his involvement in any such nefarious schemes. “In a way, it’s so bizarre you almost want to see it as something humorous, but it’s really not a humorous thing,” he told USA Today. “It’s almost hard to deny this stuff because it’s so stupid or strange that even to repeat it gives it credibility.”

Published 4:30 PM EDT, Thurs. August 29, 2024

By the un.news Staff