Mutant mosquitoes may come ... help us?

Florida is famous for lots of nasty things.

Palmetto bugs. Giant land snails. State legislators.

But one of the nastiest is the mosquito — the deadliest creature on earth.

Sure, sharks and gators are scary. But disease-carrying mosquitoes kill way more humans than those two toothy creatures combined. By a magnitude of about 30,000-to-1.

Heck, mosquitoes kill more humans than other humans. And that’s saying something.

So, after hearing all that, it might sound disturbing to learn that Florida wants to release millions more mosquitoes in our state.

And not just any mosquitoes … mutant mosquitoes.

These genetically modified male mosquitoes — FrankenSkeeters, if you will — would mate with females and create new generations of baby skeeters that don’t bite or carry disease.

That sounds amazing. And maybe terrifying. Like the plot for Jurassic Park, where the scientists think they have an idea for disrupting nature, only to learn in grisly fashion that nature had other plans.

Now, I know Hollywood isn’t real life. But even if I’m not worried about creating a Skeetersaurus Rex, I wanted to learn more by listening to health experts with concerns and talking to the scientists heading up the project.

I started with the lead Londonbased scientist with the company leading the project, Kevin Gorman, head of global field operations for Oxitec.

Gorman has an intoxicating British accent, which automatically made me trust him more than most Americans. (But then, so did Dr. Hammond in Jurassic Park.)

Gorman is passionate about mosquitoes — particularly about killing the ones that spread diseases like dengue fever, Zika and yellow fever. I think we can all appreciate that.

So his company has come up with a way to genetically modify the males — the gender that

doesn’t bite or spread disease — to impregnate females in a way that will only breed more males.

That’s right, we’re talking about skeeter sex today. My apologies if you’re just sitting down for breakfast.

Now, mosquitoes don’t dance the forbidden polka like we do. “The males form swarms, waiting for the females,” Gorman said. (At least I that’s not how you do it.)

And while the females mate only once, the males want to many times … proving that males are generally dirty birds in any species.

But Oxitec’s male mosquitoes have been genetically modified to breed only more males. (The female larvae die before they hatch.) They call them “friendly mosquitoes,” since their offspring can’t bite or spread disease and should help thin the mosquito population with only one gender.

Now, I’m no biologist. But I am familiar with the concept of the ecosystem — and how everything has its

place. For instance, mosquito larvae provide food for fish. And the tiny larvae eat even tinier microscopic organisms.

So do we need these disease-carrying bugs? Nope, because they were never meant to be here. This particular genus — the disease-spreading Aedes aegypti — is an invasive species. Just like those land snails I mentioned. And most experts agree it’s OK to remove species never supposed to be here, especially if they’re causing problems.

Gorman says Oxitec’s method is sustainable, effective and more environmentally friendly.

That’s why federal and state officials have asked Oxitec to try out their modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. The pilot program has already been approved by a bevy of government agencies, including the EPA, FDA and the Florida Department of Agriculture.

But there’s one group that hasn’t yet given final approval — the people who actually live in the Keys.

At a Tuesday meeting of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, the chief

of staff of the Lower Keys Medical Center voiced concern.

Dr. John Norris said he understands the need to combat these mosquitoes better than most, saying: “I have fought Dengue. I have treated malaria. I have treated West Nile.”

And he welcomes new weapons to fight those battles. But Norris said he and 30 or so other Monroe County doctors just don’t believe they’ve been given all the information about what’s Oxitec’s doing to these bugs or how it worked in past experiments. “Doctors love technology,” Norris said. “But we read the small print. Physicians want more data.”

I’d try to give it to him. In fact, to get back to our sci-fi movie theme, this is the part of the film where the small-town doctor tries to warn everyone about a potential problem, and no one listens. The next thing you know, two-headed sharks are eating everyone in town.

Hollywood theatrics aside, Norris’ concerns were echoed last week by a couple of GMO thought leaders who penned a piece in the Boston Globe expressing concerns. All of them want more peerreviewed data.

So you have local doctors and some national experts objecting. But you also have experts with the FDA and EPA saying it’s safe for humans. And you also have a bunch of Keys residents who the idea — or at least did when they voted to proceed with the GMO mosquito pilot program in a nonbinding resolution in 2016.

Oxitec’s Gorman stressed his company’s goal is to address “a public health concern,” not create one. And to “bring the community along everywhere we go.”

Ideally, that’s what will happen here: Oxitec will first give the local doctors and national experts all the data they want and need to feel comfortable.

Maybe that sounds piein-the sky. But man, we’re already talking about altering the genetic makeup tiny insects . Surely, if we can do that, we can give everyone all the data that show how it was done and prove why it won’t go wrong.