We refer to the letter “ GM mosquitoes: Not just Bentong's concern ” by Cheah Hooi Giam and would like to clarify issues raised by the writer.    

With regards to precautionary principle for release, we wish to inform that Malaysia is not the first country to release these GM mosquitoes. The Mosquito Research and Control Unit of the Cayman Islands have already conducted an open field release for purpose of suppression whereas Malaysia is only conducting a limited field trial release with the objectives of studying the flight distance and longevity of the male GM mosquitoes compared to the wild type. This data will be compared to results obtained through the semi-field controlled experiments which were previously conducted by IMR.

A thorough analysis on all aspects of biosafety was carried out by Genetic Modification Advisory Committee and also the National Biosafety Board (NBB) and the risk management and emergency response plan was found to be sufficient measures in the context of a limited field trial (please refer to item 6 in the NBB Decision Fact Sheet ).

The Environmental Impact Statement by the United States Department of Agriculture on the release of insects carrying dominant lethal gene (RIDL), i.e. GM pink bollworm and GM fruit fly were also reviewed and taken into consideration as this RIDL technology is similar to that applied in the production of GM mosquitoes. Through risk assessments, the USDA has concluded that the release of GM organisms is safe to human and the environment when the release is conducted in a proper manner. This is also in accordance with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which advocates the precautionary principle approach. This principle is the very basis of our Malaysian Biosafety Act 2007.

We also would like to clarify that Cayman Island released more than three million male mosquitoes and it is proven to reduce Aedes aegypti population by 80 percent (please refer to the article in the Sunday Star dated Nov 14, 2010 and article in SciDev Net dated 11 November 2010). 

The Department of Biosafety has been communicating with the Department of Biotechnology, a biosafety regulating body for India. Based on the communications in September 2010, it has been confirmed that there has been no application for field trials of GM mosquitoes in India.

The government is taking every effort available to control the acute situation of death arising from dengue and to stop further spread of dengue. Therefore, there is a need for every practical method available to be looked into and evaluated accordingly. Should the use of this new GM mosquito technology be proven successful, it may be incorporated into the current Integrated Pest Management programme to target the remaining Aedes mosquitoes which cannot be managed by the existing control methods.

It is important to note that not all developed countries have this problem. Nevertheless, countries like the United States of America (Florida), Vietnam, Brazil, India and Thailand are  looking into this option and are at various stages of research with regards to the GM mosquito technology.

On the issues of liability and redress, a new international treaty has been adopted recently to provide international rules and procedure on this issue for damages to biodiversity resulting from living modified organism (LMO).  

A new regulation under the Biosafety Act 2007 will soon be developed consistently with this protocol including provisions for LMO released locally. Malaysia has been involved in biotechnology activities for a long time and these issues are given priority since the National Biotechnology Policy was implemented in the year 2005. Hence, any liability and redress issues incurred through conducting these biotechnology activities will be addressed by existing legislation until a specific liability and redress regulations are developed under the Biosafety Act 2007.

We are also aware that public consultation is mandatory for any application for release under the Biosafety Act 2007. In this regard, the National Biosafety Board had initiated efforts in engaging the public and NGOs to give their inputs on this application. During the 30 days of public consultation period which was made public through announcements in the newspapers and website of the Department of Biosafety, it was stated that the public may refer to the fact sheet available in the website for further information regarding the application and they may contact the Department of Biosafety for further enquiries.

The National Biosafety Board has made a requirement for the applicant to obtain prior consent from the local residents of the area where the field trial will be conducted.

In view of this issue, we would like to reiterate that the Ministry and the Department are very concerned in protecting human health, the environment and biological diversity in this country.  We also would like to thank the writer for highlighting the issues to us. For more information, please contact the Biosafety Department at [email protected]

The writer is from the corporate communications unit of the Ministry Of Natural Resources & Environment Malaysia