SUN JOURNAL • January 9, 2021
For trout-fishing addicts, black flies are a bittersweet experience: You loathe their presence in your eyes and nostrils, but recognize the symbiotic relationship between black fly swarms and rising trout. What if there were no black flies? Here in the Florida Keys, 750 million genetically engineered mosquitoes will be released by a British company. Oxitec is partly funded by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, who hopes to rid the world of malaria. The goal in Florida is to reduce the mosquito populations. The next thing you know sales teams from Oxitec will be proposing black-fly control in Maine. No thanks. ~ V. Paul Reynolds