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Google requests permission to release 32m mosquitoes in California and Florida
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
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They are targeting the major disease carrying species, so it's not like we will be getting rid of all the pests - and their benefits - the way aerial poision spraying does.
Testing in Singapore reduced disease burden by 70-80% after the release, that's significant improvement in quality of life - I know people who contracted West Nile, it's not fun.
california doesnt seem to have an endemic mosquito borne disease problem, florida does though.
I'd amend that to say: the whole state of California isn't a mosquito infested swamp like Florida is, but there are still plenty of mosquitoes in certain parts of California.
I'm not American so excuse my ignorance, but I was under the impression that Florida was full of swamps and low lying (fresh-ish) water whereas California was significantly drier, with most water in rivers.
The former is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitos (still or stagnant fresh or brackish water), whereas running water and oceans are extremely poor for mosquito breeding.
Seems pretty clear why Florida (and Mississipi etc) have a bigger mosquito problem to me - what am I missing ?
You are quite correct in your current impression of the state differences. My backyard in my previous Florida home bordered on a protected watershed area. I referred to it as Dagobah, and you essentially couldn't go in the backyard for a good part of the year without getting swarmed.
california gets teh occasional mosquito "infestation" wierdly just before winter and right after summer, and nots even every year. since most winters, years have been colder than normal i have seen less mosquitoes than before the pandemic, thats a big stretch. since its quite dry up in norcal. we know historically the south gets mosquitoes due it being swampy and its a breeding ground for mosquitoes, especially invasive ones.
We have west nile and many others. Its very bad. Theres a metric ton of them bugs here.
Source: i live here.