Mosquitoes - A Better Solution

[The sound of a mosquito can be heard and then a banging sound, and a blue screen appears with text: Whack!]

[Image changes to show new text: The Deadliest Creature In the World]

Narrator: You might think of mosquitoes as just a little annoying, but did you know they're actually the deadliest creature in the world?

[Image changes to show a close view of a mosquito sucking blood from an arm, and text appears: Every year mosquitoes claim over 1 million lives]

Every year, mosquitoes claim over 1,000,000 lives 

[Image changes to show a revolving world globe, and symbols appear around the globe of a skull, a person, a money bag, a syringe and a cross symbol]

and overwhelm healthcare systems across the globe, mainly in the poorest countries.

[Image changes to show a symbol of a female mosquito on the left attached by a line to a person and blood can be shown flowing along the line and into the mosquito, and text appears: Female, Human Blood]

It is only the female mosquito that bites humans to draw blood, 

[Image changes to show symbols of diseases on a series of microscope slides, and text appears: Zika, West Nile, Malaria, Chikungunya, Dengue]

leaving behind a wide range of diseases.

[Image changes to show a mosquito sucking blood at the centre, and dotted lines appear hitting the outer circle around the mosquito and bouncing off]

Even worse, they're becoming more resistant to insecticides,

[Image changes to show a symbol of a handshake above text: A Better Solution]

So CSIRO has partnered with Oxy Tech to deploy a better solution. 

[Image changes to show a symbol of a male mosquito, and text appears: Friendly male mosquito, Self-Limiting Gene]

Oxy Tech have developed the friendly male mosquito, which contains a self-limiting gene that prevents any female offspring from surviving.

[Images move through to show a mosquito symbol inside a factory, a box of eggs on the right of the factory, and a plane on the right flying towards a pinpoint dot on the far right, and text appears: Produced in Factory, Delivered Through Mail]

Eggs are produced in a factory and can be delivered to remote communities through the post.

[Image changes to show water droplets being added to the box symbol, and then the image shows mosquitoes emerging from the box, and a DNA strand appears on the left, and text appears: Water added, Males only]
Once there, water is added and the friendly male mosquitoes emerge to mate, 

[Image changes to show a crossed symbol of an Asian Tiger Mosquito on the left, and a Yellow Fever Mosquito on the right, and text appears: Asian Tiger Mosquito, Yellow Fever Mosquito, 90%]

reducing the future female mosquito population and suppressing the targeted disease carrying species by more than 90%.

[Image changes to show a crossed symbol of a pesticide bottle, a ticked symbol of a light bulb with leaves inside, and a ticked box symbol, and text appears: Pesticide Free, Environmentally Friendly, Highly Scalable]

It's pesticide free, environmentally friendly, cost effective and highly scalable, 

[Image changes to show a shield with a tick inside, and symbols appear around the shield of a person, a money bag, and a world globe]

safeguarding people and the planet 

[Image changes to show symbols of people in circles all interconnected with lines, and then the image changes to show a letter, and text appears on the letter: Defeating mosquito borne disease through the male]

while promoting economic activity by building indigenous capability in pest management business models, defeating mosquito borne disease through the male.

[Image changes to show a cloud of mosquitoes flying over the letter, and then the image changes to show a blue screen, and text appears: Join the Fight, Stop the Bite, Find out More About Investment Opportunities, Contact, Mary.Frey@CSIRO.AU]

Join the fight. Stop the bite.

[Music plays and the image changes to show the CSIRO logo, and text appears: CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency]