Oxitec’s Friendly male mosquitoes are engineered using precise genetic tools; they are just like their wild relatives — but with the addition of two extra genes that create the non-biting, self-limiting and non-persistent characteristics of the Friendly male mosquito.

“We call this method ’self-limiting,’ because the released insects and the self-limiting gene that they pass on disappear from the environment,” says Meredith Fensom, Head of Global Public Affairs at Oxitec. “This method can be applied to all kinds of insect pests — from the mosquitoes that transmit such diseases as dengue and Zika, to moth caterpillars that destroy maize fields.”

The safety and efficacy of Oxitec’s insects is demonstrated by more than 100 peer-reviewed publications about the technology, available on the company’s website.

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As farmers around the world have become more and more dependent on insecticides, the insects’ growing resistance and the chemicals’ non-targeted nature [has] farmers scrambling for less harmful solutions. The farm-Friendly™ versions of common farm pests such as diamondback moths and olive flies are designed only to target the pests in question — eliminating the need for toxic chemicals and preserving the health of the soil, pollinators and the overall ecosystem.

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