"Miami residents rather be bitten than exposed to chemicals sprayed from planes... "

"In Zika-Stricken Miami, Aerial Pesticide Spray Adds to Fears"

No assurances from health officials would calm some 200 people packing a Miami Beach City Commission meeting Wednesday. They cursed elected officials and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for mixed messages about aerial spraying over South Beach and refusing to detail all locations where adult mosquitoes have been isolated with the virus.

"At first they said they couldn't do aerial spraying, but then they said yes," said Sadie Kaplan, a fitness trainer who fled her home twice to avoid the spraying. "Pick a side. Don't flip-flop."

Some argued the mild flu-like illness that Zika causes in most people doesn't warrant aggressive pesticide use, even booing a doctor presenting evidence of Zika-related birth defects to city commissioners.

"I don't want to be sprayed with pesticides for what I believe is a hoax," said Kiro Ace, a graphic designer who was shirtless but wore a gas mask as he joined protesters chanting, "If you're going to spray, we want a say!"

'I'd rather take my chances with Zika'

Florida man vs Florida mosquito

"Rep. David Jolly Brings Florida Mosquitoes Onto House Floor to Discuss Zika" (video at the link)

"I rise with about 100 mosquitoes straight from Florida...mosquitoes capable of carrying the Zika virus," Jolly said, holding the container. "This is the reason for the urgency, this is the reason for the fear."

"It is our job to respond to the fear and the anxiety and the anger of a population concerned about a pending public health crisis, concerned about mosquitoes," he said. "You see, I brought these mosquitoes here today to convey that fear and that anxiety of millions of Americans and Floridians."

Link

Zika won't sedate athlete sexual appetite: prediction

"Athletes given 450,000 condoms at Rio 2016 Olympics, three times more than in London"

• The increase can be explained by provision of 100,000 female condoms
• There is no suggestion that the increase is related to the Zika virus
• Lubricant will also be available to athletes and staff - 175,000 packets
• Condoms available from a clinic or vending machines in Athletes' Village

"Rio Olympics could spark 'full blown global health disaster', say Harvard scientists"

He said: “While Brazil's Zika inevitably will spread globally, given enough time, viruses always do - it helps nobody to speed that up.

"In particular, it cannot possibly help when an estimated 500,000 foreign tourists flock into Rio for the Games, potentially becoming infected, and returning to their homes where both local Aedes mosquitoes and sexual transmission can establish new outbreaks.

“All it takes is one infected traveller, a few viral introductions of that kind, in a few countries, or maybe continents, would make a full-blown global health disaster.”

Possible use of GMO mosquitoes in Florida to fight Zika virus

"The trial [given preliminary approval by the federal government] would see genetically altered male mosquitoes released into the wild near Key West in Florida. These mosquitoes — of the speciesAedes aegypti — contain a gene that kills the animal (referred to as a "lethality trait") as well as fluorescent markers used for lab identification. When the genetically altered males mate with the local female mosquito population they produce offspring that die while still young, minimizing the spread of diseases carried by the animals, including Zika and dengue.

...Scientist have welcomed the FDA's tentative approval of the trials. Zachary Adelman, an associate professor at Virginia Tech's Department of Entomology, said he was "glad to see that cooler heads have prevailed." He added: "By allowing the trial, the FDA will be signaling that science and evidence-based practices should prevail over the hysteria and irrationality long associated with genetically-modified organisms."

Oxitec, which describes itself as "the only GM insect company in the world," has already carried out trials using its genetically altered mosquitoes in Piracicaba, a city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The company said in January that this reduced the local population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes by 82 percent, and that it was building a new factory in the city to expand the project. Bringing these measures to the US may seem extreme, but it could be necessary as climate change and urbanization help spread mosquito-borne diseases to new regions."

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/11/11207664/genetically-altered-misquitoes-fda-first-approval