Postpone The Mass Release of Mosquitoes on Bali

Stop or Postpone  Mass Mosquito Gene Drive on Bali

We invite you, the environmentally and socially-concerned men and women

of Bali, Indonesia and the wider world to add your voice to this petition for

Transparency, Safety, and Deeper Consideration

Before 

the release of 200 million Wolbachia Bacteria-infected mosquito eggs in Denpasar, scheduled for November 13, 2023.

The release was casually announced via Instagram, only one month ago 

But unexpected impacts, on the environment and human health, will be permanent.

THIS PETITION AIMS TO:

Outline and evidence the urgent need for a Due Diligence process

to assign Financial, Legal and Operational Liability

For the mosquito program 

Summary of unacceptable risks:

• Millions of biting mosquitoes dependent on human blood will have a catastrophic effect on Tourism: 
• The World Mosquito Program strategy to BREED Wolbachia bacteria into mosquitoes means the people of Bali and tourists must expect to get hundreds of millions more mosquito bites. Mosquitoes must get a blood meal before they can produce their eggs. Every female will lay up to 100 eggs, three times in her adult lifespan.

• Global Petition To Stop Gene Drives: 
• Gene drives have not received approval for open-air release or field testing because they spread a permanent genetic change in an ecosystem and the impacts on human health are impossible to predict, however well-meant. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11248-023-00335-z
• The spread of both the mosquitoes and the Wolbachia bacteria cannot be contained or reversed, after release. Gene Drives: Assessing the Benefits & Risks - Future of Life Institute 
• An international petition  collected over 308,000 signatures this year, claiming that even gene drive research was so danger that it should be stopped globally. 

       https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/gene-drive-moratorium-int-en 

• Who is liable Bali mosquito release?

Are the World Mosquito Program, researchers, funders, mosquito manufacturers and universities financially liable, if it goes wrong or doesn't work? 

Diseases and damages will be nearly impossible to trace. 

We need Bali's Environmental Protection Agency and a relevant Competent Authority, before any release, to declare the extent of their liability or veto the release.  We demand clarity on who is protected from liability as well. 

• No consequences for Bio Tech damage                               

Did a mosquito release generate a more dangerous variant of zika? https://theecologist.org/2016/feb/01/pandoras-box-how-gm-mosquitos-could-have-caused-brazils-microcephaly-disaster                                                                                    

Did Dengue vaccines in the Philippines cause a deadly variant of the measles? https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/05/03/719037789/botched-vaccine-launch-has-deadly-repercussions                                                              

Wolbachia Bacteria feeds parasites that worsen the tropical diseases which the releases are supposed to reduce. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16230105/  

Wolbachia can cause Elephantiasis and River Blindness. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12860672/

• Escalation of Dengue Threat in Sri Lanka after release

In Sri Lanka, there is a mosquito larvae crisis and Dengue cases have doubled since the mass mosquito release 2021. (Crisis24 - Sri Lanka Elevated Dengue Fever Activity).  

In Yogyakarta trial, researchers acknowledge increases in spread 

    https://ugm.ac.id/en/news/19884-ugm-innovation-wolbachia-technology-for-humanity/

• Due Diligence For Bali: 
• We strongly request Due Diligence Protocol that covers funding, transparency, efficacy assessments, safety evaluations, and an in-depth analysis of risks before any release takes place. The regulatory framework for the mosquitoes in Bali needs to address: 
• Risk of spread to other species, the disproportionate and ongoing increase in mosquito population, the risk assessment of vertical gene transfer in imported eggs and the safety of the Wolbachia bacteria and Wolbachia IP technology.

• Hidden information: Wolbachia Bacteria and Wolbachia Technology:

Non-disclosure of the use of Wolbachia (IP) Internet Protocol Technology in the Bali mosquitoes is a matter for National Security. https://riip.hal.science/pasteur-03412240/file/s41598-021-00888-1.pdf 

Wolbachia Bacteria (Natural) and Wolbachia IP Technology (Artificial Intelligence):

  AU_Scaling up model .pdf

The WMP claim that their Wolbachia Bacteria and mosquitoes are both natural and not genetically modified. https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-mosquitos-idUSL1N2LM0WT 

However, inserting an IP technology; using automated micro injection to insert a bacteria; and creating a Gene drive all require genetic engineering.  

• Artificial Intelligence In Mosquitoes: Artificial Intelligence simulations were used to analyse risk and biohazards (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-for-earth-world-mosquito-program) Whoever is responsible for the monitoring, surveillance, data collected, mapping of locations and timing for mosquito egg distribution is protected from liability by patents and exemptions and Microsoft to pay legal costs for copyright infringement, however valid the charge.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-07/microsoft-says-it-will-protect-customers-from-ai-copyright-lawsuits.

• Wolbachia IP Technology in the gene drive in Bali is a massive infringement on National Security and Bio Safety. The Wolbachia IP Technology patent's owner (https://patents.google.com/patent/US7868222B1/en) has claimed exclusive rights to all the digital equipment, data collected and data transmitted using the technology. This demonstrates a conflict of interests for World Mosquito Program. Has the WMP been allowed to put an AI technology into the mosquitoes to deliver information to an unrelated agency for unknown purposes? 

• Bali Testbed For Patented Biotech

             "Toxic mosquito aerial release system", patent details of which can be found at 

this reference.

"Right to computerize the human body. Method and apparatus for transmitting power and data", Unified Patents. Bill Gates' Patent: US-6754472-B1 

Vertical Transmission of Disease in Eggs: 

 It is well documented that mosquito eggs carry Dengue and other diseases.  This knowledge of Vertical Gene Transfer, from generation to generation, should prevent approval to ever mass release eggs. https://www.umu.se/en/news/viruses-detected-in-swedish-mosquito-larvae_5818057/#:~:text=The%20new%20study%2C%20published%20in,female%20mosquito%20to%20her%20eggs.

Zika found:  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35708402/#:~:text=Natural%20vertical%20transmission%20is%20an,when%20horizontal%20transmission%20is%20difficult.

Dengue:  https://academic.oup.com/jme/article/44/3/492/855234 

Chukugunya: https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-016-1505-6  

Malaria: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/october/dormancy-malarial-mosquitoes-may-offer-new-ways-fight-disease.html

Hundreds of millions of eggs are planned for distribution in Bali, imported with their additional undetected disease pathogens. 

WMPs goal is not to decrease the population of mosquito but to spread them. 

• The one species of mosquito that already cant be controlled by fogging is being released in Bali  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7533057/  https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Resistance-profiles-to-different-insecticides-tested-in-Ae-aegypti-from-Denpasar-Bali_fig2_317422393,).
• Mosquitoes are insects but have now have been re-categorized as pesticides. https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-seeks-public-comment-proposed-amendment-experimental-use-permit-genetically  "Like all pesticides, genetically engineered mosquitoes are regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)" Even if we accept that they are not genetically modified, we do not accept that the Bali mosquitoes should escape all regulation. 

Please sign if you want Due Diligence done before this release.

Your Name: _____________________

Date: _____________________

Email Address: _____________________

P.S. Please share this petition with friends, family, and colleagues. 

We will present the results by way of a public consultation to the authorities, to inform decision-making.

If you have any questions or wish to contribute further, please feel free to contact us at reineasophia@gmail.com.