Genetically modified mosquito release? No, plane image only shows airshow smoke | Fact check

Isabella Fertel, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Photo shows plane releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in Ohio

A Sept. 9 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a collage that includes a mosquito being injected with a syringe, airplanes and a U.S. map highlighting the state of Ohio. A second image shows an airplane trailing a plume of smoke.

“Modified mosquitoes have officially made it to Ohio,” reads the text in the post.

A previous version of the post on Instagram garnered more than 2,000 likes in five days before it was deleted. Other versions of the post continue to circulate on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Our rating: False

The photo in the post shows a plane trailing smoke, not mosquitoes, during an air show over Labor Day weekend near Cincinnati. The Environmental Protection Agency has not announced or approved any program involving genetically modified mosquitoes in Ohio.

Airplane in photo trailing smoke, not mosquitoes

The photo used in the Instagram post is a screengrab taken from a video originally shared on TikTok on Sept. 3. The original also includes the hashtags #ohioriver, #cincinnati, #newportkentucky and #labordayweekend2023.

An annual celebration called Riverfest took place on Sept. 3 in the Cincinnati and Newport, Kentucky, area, with events taking place on both sides of the Ohio River. Festivities included multiple flyover performances by members of the Cincinnati Warbirds, a local club dedicated to preserving historic military aircraft.

The trail shown behind one of the pictured airplanes, a T-6 Texan "Tweety Bird," is made up of smoke from burnt mineral oil, according to Warbirds president James Stitt.

The aircraft is equipped with a smoke system that sprays "mineral oil into the hot exhaust manifolds of the engine, which vaporizes into a harmless cloud of smoke," Stitt told USA TODAY in an email. "It is very common in airshows everywhere."

Stitt called the notion that the smoke trail in the photo is actually a swarm of mosquitoes "ludicrous."

There was no plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes or other insects as part of the event, Ben Breuninger, a spokesperson for the Cincinnati city manager’s office, told USA TODAY in an email.

Other planes that participated in the Riverfest flyovers, including a B-52 Bomber from the Tri-State Warbird Museum in Batavia, Ohio, also left trails of smoke oil, according to Stephanie Felts, a spokesperson for the museum.

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Only one company approved to release GMO mosquitos

The release of genetically modified mosquitoes, which carry a gene that results in female offspring not surviving into adulthood, is being evaluated as a way to manage local mosquito populations. The Environmental Protection Agency has only approved one company, Oxitec, to release genetically modified mosquitoes.

While the company was approved to conduct field testing in parts of Florida, Texas and California, Oxitec has only ever worked in the Florida Keys, according to company spokesperson Jamie Lester. The company has never released mosquitoes in the Cincinnati area or elsewhere in Ohio, Lester told USA TODAY in an email.

Furthermore, Oxitec’s mosquitoes are “not released by plane, helicopter or in any other sudden mass release,” Lester said. “Mosquitoes cannot be released in the kind of quantities claimed in this video.”

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USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment, and they did not provide any evidence to support the claim.

PolitiFact and the Associated Press also debunked this claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Photo shows plane trailing harmless smoke, not mosquitoes | Fact check