Florida Keys Mosquito Control District Director Michael Doyle says an expert panel convenes next month in the nation's capital to discuss the proposed release of genetically modified mosquitoes in Old Town Key West, which he said is "encouraging" for the proposal.</p><p>Doyle said during the district's monthly meeting Wednesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration appointed him to the panel, which is scheduled to meet Feb. 19 in Washington, D.C.</p><p>He didn't have the names of other members and what the specific charge of the panel is.</p><p>But he did say "they are taking definite steps to evaluate the potential benefits and risks of the technology, and using known experts from other agencies."</p><p>A British company, Oxitec, breeds genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the dengue-fever carrier that caused a 2009 outbreak of the disease in Key West.</p><p>The controversial trial would release altered mosquitoes into the wild that carry a gene preventing them from mating. If they do, their offspring would die before reaching adulthood, hopefully causing the wild breeding population to decrease dramatically.</p><p>County health officials confirmed 93 cases of dengue in Old Town since 2009 but there have been none since. Dengue causes bone pain and related maladies, but isn't typically fatal.</p><p>The district and Oxitec had long been seeking a federal agency to permit the trial, and found one last year in the FDA.</p><p>"What they're being asked to approve is beyond the normal human health issues that they're experts at. They're organizing a group of experts in other fields ... to help evaluate the permit," Doyle said. "My role is the local mosquito issues and how it would be applied and where and how many."</p><p>The FDA press office did not respond to two phone messages and an e-mail seeking comment.</p><p>Oxitec spokesman Derric Nimmo said his company would not be represented on the panel but has been in contact with the FDA in recent months.</p><p>"It's an internal discussion on risk assessment from their point of view. We'll be addressed with those questions afterward," he said. "From our point of view, the FDA is moving very quickly on this. We can hopefully answer all the questions they have."