Table 1 Comparison of the main area-wide vector control technologies [41, 47, 65,66,67,68]
Strain/technology | Mosquito species | Objective | Fertility | Persistence of the modification in the environment | Spread of the modification in the environment | Precedent for the technology prior to its release release into the environment | Specific complexities for community agreement model (beside complexity of explaining the technology) | Existing community agreement model | Regulatory approvals/authorisations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oxitec Friendly mosquito technology | Aedes aegypti | Suppression of dengue-transmitting mosquitoes | Fertile males, no female progeny | Self-limiting strain, the gene can be passed to the offspring but its frequency declines over time | Limited due to self-limiting characteristics and Aedes aegypti limited geographical spread | No release of GM insects for public health purpose before | Scalability in very large urban environments | Community engagement but no documentation of community authorisation, in the US referendum were used | National regulatory approvals under GMO/environmental legislations required for research and wide scale use (commercial or philanthropic) |
World Mosquito Program Wolbachia mosquitoes | Aedes aegypti | Reduction of the ability of mosquitoes to transmit dengue | Fertile | Self-sustaining, the Wolbachia bacteria is transmitted to the offspring | Incremental but slow due to Aedes aegypti limited geographical spread | No release of Wolbachia-carrying insects for public health purpose before | Scalability in very large urban environments | Yes, a common model with difference in implementation according to the national context | National regulatory permits as required in the legislation of the country |
SIT mosquitoes | Anopheles gambiae | Suppression of malaria transmitting mosquitoes | Sterile | None due to the sterility | None due to the sterility | SIT in agriculture but not in public health | None | Community engagement but no documentation of community authorization | National regulatory permits as required in the legislation of the country |
Target Malaria non gene drive sterile male mosquitoes | Anopheles gambiae | Suppression of malaria transmitting mosquitoes | Sterile | None due to the sterility | None due to the sterility | No release of gene edited mosquitoes before SIT technologies provided some precedent | None | Yes model for community agreement | National regulatory approvals under GMO/environmental legislations required for research |
Target Malaria non gene drive fertile strain | Anopheles gambiae | Suppression of malaria transmitting mosquitoes | Fertile | Self-limiting strain, the gene can be passed to the offspring but its frequency declines over time | Limited due to the self-limiting nature of the strain | The release of the Target Malaria non gene drive sterile male, and Oxitec friendly mosquito provide some precedent | Complexity of agreement over various geographies where the release activities might take place | Subject of this paper and of the upcoming paper describing the model | National regulatory approvals under GMO/environmental legislations required for research |
Target Malaria gene drive strain | Anopheles gambiae | Suppression of malaria transmitting mosquitoes | Fertile | Self-sustaining, the gene would be passed at a high proportion of the progeny (potentially over 95%) | Incremental, the spread increases at each generation as the gene drive becomes more frequent in the population | No release of gene drive mosquitoes, the previous Target Malaria strains will offer some precedent as well as the Wolbachia one, though the difference in spread and behaviour between Aedes and Anopheles reduces the comparison | Complexity of agreement over various geographies and transboundary implications. Complexity of the agreement considering the persistence in time | Not yet | National regulatory approvals under GMO/environmental legislations required for research and wide scale use (philanthropic) |