Traore’s government sealed all laboratories, halted every operation and ordered all remaining genetically modified mosquito samples destroyed — ending over a decade of research activity in the country.
The project was called Target Malaria. Its method was releasing gene-edited mosquitoes into the wild across African communities. It had been operating in Burkina Faso since 2012, and had received regulatory approval from the country’s own biosafety and environmental agencies just weeks before the ban.
The modified mosquitoes are produced in the United States, Italy and the United Kingdom. The project continues in Ghana and Uganda.
Is Africa right to be suspicious of foreign biotech experiments conducted on its land, even when they come dressed as humanitarian aid?