One X user comments: “What’s going on with Bill Gates and his mosquito farm?
There’s an uptick in EEE virus in humans, especially in New England area!
Bill Gates is invested in GMO mosquitoes.
So does billionaire Bill Gates have anything to do with EEE?
To combat this public health problem, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting the company Oxitec, among others, which is experimenting with genetically modified mosquitoes.
Only female mosquitoes transmit EEE Oxitec confirmed to DW that no genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in Massachusetts.
The virus also existed long before the use of genetically modified mosquitoes.
Bill Gates a frequent target of conspiracy theories Bill Gates has often been the target of disinformation and conspiracy myths.
For example, social media users also suspected that the genetically modified Oxitec mosquitoes were behind the dengue outbreak in Brazil at the beginning of the year and cases of malaria in the US in 2023.
Gates, one of the world’s richest people, founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation along with his ex-wife, Melinda Gates.
Mid-August saw the announcement by the Massachusetts health department that this year’s first case of Eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) had occurred. The first infected death in 2024 was announced at the end of August by the state that borders it, New Hampshire.
The US Centers for Control and Disease Prevention report that 30% of cases of EEE are fatal and that the disease is spread by a particular type of mosquito. Neurological issues plague a large number of survivors. There isn’t a vaccine or medication available right now.
Thus, a number of US states have recently implemented temporary and localized lockdowns as well as the use of pesticides to reduce the number of mosquitoes in order to lower the risk of mosquito bites.
Claim: Many people on social media are drawing a link, among other places, between the recent outbreak of EEE cases in the US and the introduction of genetically modified mosquitoes bred by Oxitec, a company supported, among others, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (here, here, here, and here).
“What’s up with Bill Gates and his mosquito farm? There’s an uptick in EEE virus in humans, especially in the New England area! Well what I mean is BG has a fkn mosquito farm in Medallin Colombia so yeah did they get out?” asks a user on X.
Someone posts on Facebook that “mosquitoes are the source of EEE.”. In GMO mosquitoes, Bill Gates has invested. In light of the impending presidential election, what are the chances of an unexpected EEE pandemic in the US?
What role does EEE play in the life of billionaire Bill Gates?
Verified by DW: Untrue.
Among all insects, mosquitoes are among the deadliest. Only the females bite, and only then can different kinds of pathogens, such as viruses and parasites, spread. Over 700,000 people worldwide pass away from illnesses spread by mosquitoes each year.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding an organization called Oxitec, among others, to conduct genetically modified mosquito experiments in an effort to address this public health issue. The biotech business was granted official authorization in 2020 to release the mosquitoes that were bred in labs, albeit they were only allowed to leave Florida. Reducing the number of pests is the goal.
“Genetic modification of male mosquitoes will render them sterile, preventing the formation of viable offspring through mating between sterile males. It gradually reduces mosquito populations, and Brazil has found success with this approach, according to Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.
Certain sterile animals, like irradiated worms in agriculture, have also been employed in these kinds of studies and have been studied for a while.
EEE mosquitoes only bite females.
No genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in Massachusetts, Oxitec confirmed to DW. Since the genetically modified mosquitoes were last released in Florida in November 2023, there is very little chance that they are geographically or chronologically connected to the ongoing EEE outbreak. The animals wouldn’t be able to spread EEE either, as they are male and don’t bite.
Furthermore, the virus was around long before genetically modified mosquitoes were used. It is 90 years old that we are aware of. Therefore, this virus is not new. And the virus is spread by mosquitoes. We occasionally experience sporadic outbreaks of that because it is endemic to our area. The scientific director of the Center for Vector Biology and Zoonotic Diseases in Connecticut, Dr. Philip M. Armstrong, gave an explanation.
He continued, “The summer has been warm and reasonably wet, which has made it ideal for mosquito breeding.”. especially the mosquito that carries the triple E virus, which is found in these freshwater swamp ecosystems in our area. “.”.
Conspiracy theories often target Bill Gates.
Conspiracy theories and misinformation about Bill Gates have frequently been directed towards him. People on social media, for instance, speculated that the dengue outbreak in Brazil at the start of the year and the US malaria cases in 2023 were caused by genetically modified Oxitec mosquitoes.
The Microsoft founder was charged with surreptitiously implanting COVID-19 vaccine-containing microchips during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, false information that he was on trial for using children as test subjects for polio vaccines went viral in India.
With his ex-wife, Melinda Gates, Gates, one of the richest persons in the world, established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In the entire world, it is the biggest private foundation. It has contributed tens of billions of euros globally, since its founding in 2017, to thousands of health care-related projects and organizations, including vaccine research and vaccination campaigns.
One of the things that makes many people so suspicious of Gates and encourages misinformation is his actual influence on the state of global health care. Conspiracy theories surround this billionaire, making him their target. One common feature of these narratives is a strong mistrust of society’s elites.
The original language of this essay was German.
