Deadly virus in Massachusetts sparks mosquito conspiracy theory
As towns in Massachusetts close parks after dusk due to a deadly mosquito-borne disease, social media users shared a video of a helicopter purportedly releasing genetically modified mosquitoes, suggesting a plot to spread the virus. But this is false; the video is more than a year old from a different region, and experts say there is no evidence that the GMO programs can be used to intentionally spread an infection.
"Here's a flashback to just recently when this helicopter was filmed releasing mosquitoes. Anyone know any billionaires connected to GMO's?" says an August 24, 2024 X post from the account @BGatesIsaPyscho.
It includes a video of a helicopter trailed by a dark cloud with the words "helicopter releasing mosquitoes," overlaying the footage.
Similar posts claiming the mosquitoes were intentionally released have circulated elsewhere on X and Instagram, including posts in French.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health confirmed the state's first human case of the eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus this year on August 16 (archived here and here). EEE is caused by a virus spread through the bite of an infected mosquito.
About 30 percent of people with the virus die, and many survivors suffer ongoing neurological problems, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (archived here). Children under age 15 and those over age 50 are considered at higher risk.
The rare but deadly mosquito-borne virus has put 10 communities in Massachusetts on high alert, according to the state's Department of Public Health (archived here). Public health warnings and preventive measures to curb its spread have been implemented, including the closing of parks after dusk, restricting outdoor activities and rescheduling public events in some towns (archived here and here). Targeted mosquito spraying has also begun (archived here).
But the video spreading online is a year old and does not show mosquitoes being released.
Reverse image searches show the clip has circulated online as early as August 27, 2023 when it was shared on TikTok (archived here).
The TikTok does not mention mosquitoes. Instead, the Spanish-language text over the video says: "Miami #QuesEstaTirando?" This translates roughly to: "What is it throwing?"
AFP highlighted several elements to show the footage is identical below:
The older post includes a hashtag identifying the location as West Little River in Miami. Using geolocation techniques, AFP pinpointed the exact location where the video was filmed.
Around the same time, another social media user shared a similar video from a different angle on YouTube, titled: "Helicopter burning blue smoke," alongside the hashtag #MiamiDade (archived here). This suggests the helicopter may have been used as part of a gender reveal announcement.
When modified mosquitoes are released, it is not from a helicopter, but typically boxes on the ground according to Jonathan Larson, extension entomologist at the University of Kentucky (archived here).
"Mosquitoes aren't the sturdiest or biggest of insects, it's likely they would be rendered useless if they were released from a helicopter like this," he said in an August 27 email.
The World Mosquito Program has implemented some drone technology to release mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia bacteria, which are not genetically modified, but Phil Lounibos, distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Florida's Medical Entomology Laboratory (archived here), agreed that a helicopter would be "much too high for releasing mosquitoes that need to survive the drop into a habitat where they might mate with 'wild' mosquitoes."
GMO mosquitoes in the US
Genetically modified mosquito projects, used to curb illnesses by reducing the number of disease spreaders -- are frequently subject to controversy and false claims, many of which have been debunked by AFP.
They are often linked to billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, whose foundation has helped fund projects that develop and release genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to fight dengue and several other diseases in various parts of the world. However, the philanthropy does not finance any modified mosquito release projects in the US, AFP previously reported.
The Environmental Protection Agency has only approved Oxitec to release genetically modified mosquitoes in the United States (archived here).
"Massachusetts is not involved in any of the Oxitec work, and we are not aware of any projects where mosquitoes are released," a spokesperson from the state's Department of Health told AFP in an August 27, 2024 email.
The goal of Oxitec's work in Florida is disease reduction, explained Hannah Tiffin, a medical and veterinary entomologist at the University of Kentucky's Department of Entomology (archived here).
"They are often modified so that after the wild female mosquitoes mate with the 'GMO' male mosquitoes, the females or their offspring have reduced ability to transmit viruses, reduced ability to 'pick up' viruses, or their offspring become sterile and can't reproduce," she said in an August 27 email.
Since only female mosquitoes bite, this reduces the number of potential disease spreaders (archived here). Claims that GMO mosquitoes are being used to intentionally spread EEE have "no scientific basis," she said.
Unrelated to EEE
University of Florida's Lounibos also said EEE is endemic to the United States, with periodic outbreaks "occurring for as long as this disease has been understood."
His August 27 email denounced the online claims as "preposterous fearmongering."
CDC data shows multiple cases of EEE over the past decade, with the most reported in 2019, prior to the approval of Oxitec's experiment (archived here).
Additionally, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus -- the only two species known to have been genetically modified for mosquito control -- are not transmitters of EEE, according to Nathan Burkett-Cadena, associate professor at the University of Florida's Medical Entomology Laboratory (archived here).
The species "are not even found in Massachusetts, Maine or New Hampshire," he said in an August 28 email.
Gates and his philanthropy have been the subject of considerable misinformation. AFP has fact-checked other false and misleading claims about the Microsoft co-founder here.
September 4, 2024 Hannah Tiffin's name and title were corrected in paragraph 21. August 29, 2024 Paragraph 16 was corrected to clarify that the World Mosquito Program does not use genetically modified mosquitoes.
