From the San Francisco Chronicle
June 3, 2026
Google is seeking permission from federal regulators to release up to 32 million sterile mosquitoes in California — a pest control technique meant to quell the spread of an invasive mosquito species that’s been expanding to many parts of the state, including the Bay Area.
The Mountain View tech giant has requested a permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to initiate a project that would release up to 16 million mosquitoes in California in the first year of the project and another 16 million in the second year, according to a notice published May 6 in the Federal Register.
The proposal appears to be part of Google’s “Debug Project,” a group of scientists and engineers working to eliminate disease-carrying mosquitoes, according to the company’s website. Debug did not respond to questions from the Chronicle.
The application with the EPA seeks to use a bacteria called Wolbachia that makes male mosquitoes sterile. When male mosquitoes are infected with Wolbachia, they become unable to breed with wild mosquitoes that do not have the same bacteria, according to a description of the method on Debug’s website.
Using Wolbachia to sterilize male mosquitoes is one type of “sterile insect technique.” Pest control professionals have used SIT a long time with other insects, often to protect crops.
With respect to mosquitoes, SIT has traditionally used radiation to sterilize male mosquitoes before releasing them to mate with female mosquitoes to produce nonviable eggs that do not hatch. Over time, this helps lower the population of that particular species of mosquitoes. Male mosquitoes do not bite or spread disease, so the technique does not raise the risk of humans getting bit or contracting mosquito-borne diseases.
This method using Wolbachia bacteria was tested in Singapore in a two-year trial from 2022 to 2024, and reduced the mosquito population and risk of dengue infection among residents, according to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February.
Debug previously partnered with the local mosquito abatement district in Fresno County 2017 to do a pilot project using the Wolbachia method in 222 acres of residential neighborhoods. It significantly reduced the female mosquito population.
Sterile insect technique is promising, and some mosquito abatement districts in California are already using it — both the radiation and the Wolbachia methods — in small areas, like subdivisions, said Peter Bonkrude, district manager of the Marin/Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District. But questions remain about whether the technology is scalable and cost-efficient to do in large areas.
Google’s proposed project to release millions of sterile mosquitos may be able to help answer these questions.