Claim: Debbie Wasserman Schultz Says Gov. Rick Scott "cut nearly $1 million from mosquito control and closed down the state’s mosquito research lab a few years ago.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Notre Dame College of Science
text: lakes and used for environmental research. Prof. George B. Craig Jr. becomes the director of the Vector Biology Laboratory in 1957 and, for the next two decades, performs important research into the genetics of Aedes aegypti. The New York Times called Craig "one of the world's foremost experts on mosquitoes". and the National Academies Press called him "an internationally recognized expert on the biology and control of mosquitoes" and that his "contributions made ... to medical entomology are almost incalculable". The Jordan Hall of Science opens in 2006, after an investment of more than $70 million donated by Chicago business

title: Zika Authorization Plan Act of 2016
text: Congress called the Zika Response and Preparedness Appropriations Act of 2016. This bill would have amended the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize grants for state mosquito control programs through FY2020. The bill would authorize $200 million per year for each fiscal year 2016 through 2020 for grants for state mosquito programs. Specifically, the bill amended Subsection (f) of section 317S of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–21(f)) as follows: "(f) Authorization Of Appropriations.—To carry out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020". The bill was introduced in

title: Climate change in Washington
text: drier summers (chance of drought, particularly east of the Cascades). The mosquitoes will also survive longer because the warmer winters will not eliminate as many bugs as it usually does. Documentation of the West Nile Virus is just beginning in Washington State, but Colorado has been grappling with cases of it since 2002. Total costs there have been estimated at $120 million or $670 million (P. 58), both . Louisiana has been battling cases since 2001, with total costs of $190 million by 2006. In the hopes of avoiding these costs, the Washington Department of Health spends $246,000 per year

title: Sylvia Mathews Burwell
text: Development Authority splitting $152million for the domestic effort. In response to Congressional complaints that the money was not being spent fast enough, Burwell informed Congress that without further funding the CDC's funding to fight Zika would be depleted by September 30, 2016. After Burwell moved funding from other HHS programs, Congress finally appropriated $1.1billion to fight the spread of Zika in the United States. By the end of September 2016, the United States reported 23,000 cases in the territory of Puerto Rico, 3,000 cases in the states, and 21babies born in the United States with microcephaly testing positive for Zika.

title: Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District
text: saw a sharp reduction in the number of positives in the mosquito and avian population. Unfortunately, in 2007, California experienced a resurgence of West Nile virus activity. Within the District, 32 human cases were reported leading to 3 fatalities. These fatalities were the first in the District since 2004. In August, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for the three counties in Central California hardest hit by the virus. The Governor made approximately $10 million in emergency WNV funds available to mosquito control agencies throughout the State. GLACVCD increased control, surveillance, and public education efforts with grants received

title: Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
text: of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). In a separate agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, Scotts agreed to pay more than $6 million in penalties and spend $2 million on environmental projects. According to the Justice Department, both the criminal and civil settlements are the largest under FIFRA to date. Scotts has developed several genetically modified grasses, including herbicide-tolerant Kentucky bluegrass and creeping bentgrass. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Scotts Miracle-Gro $500,000 when modified DNA from GM creeping bentgrass, was found within relatives of the same genus ("Agrostis") as well as in native grasses

title: Scott Carroll (biologist)
text: insect repellent development, testing and registration, providing US EPA compliant efficacy evaluations of both conventional and biological insect repellents. Amanda Mascarelli of the LA Times has written several articles on insect repellents with the help of Carroll-Loye. In July 2014 Carroll appeared on Good Morning America assisting reporter Becky Worley with a mosquito box in a story comparing DEET based sprays with Picaridin. In conservation biology Carroll cautions against over-zealous "native species bias" which he believes may sometimes result in environmentally unwise, expensive and ultimately unsuccessful non-native-species eradication attempts, appearing as one of 19 authors (led by Mark Davis) of

title: Rick Scott
text: Hialeah, Florida, Scott did not indicate whether or not he believes global warming is a problem or whether Florida's Department of Environmental Protection has made or is making preparations for its potential consequences. In March 2015, accusations were made that his administration had instructed Department of Environmental Protection officials to avoid the terms "climate change" or "global warming" in any official communications. Scott denied the claims that his administration had banned the terms. Scott cut $700 million from Florida's water management districts over his tenure as Governor. The cuts stirred controversy in 2018 when Florida faced a water contamination crisis.

title: Genetically modified organism
text: Florida Keys Mosquito Control District has achieved only 30–60% population reduction with traps and pesticide spraying. In 2016 FDA approved a genetically modified mosquito intervention for Key West, Florida. UK firm Oxitec proposed the release of millions of modified male (non-biting) mosquitoes to compete with wild males for mates. The males are engineered so that their offspring die before maturing, helping to eradicate mosquito-borne disease. Final approval was to be based on a local referendum to be held in November. Andrea Crisanti, a molecular biologist at Imperial College in London is working on ways to stop the A. gambiae mosquito

title: Chris Stewart (politician)
text: weaponry carried by federal agents, he also sponsored a bill (H.R. 4934) to demilitarize federal regulatory agencies. In 2016, Stewart introduced a bill to allow unused Ebolavirus funding to research and combat the Zika virus. The proposal was adopted as part of a separate bill the next year, Zika Response Appropriations Act, a bill to shift $622 million in unused Ebola funding to fight the Zika virus. Chris Stewart (politician) Christopher Douglas Stewart (born July 15, 1960) is an American author, businessman, and politician known for his bestsellers "Seven Miracles That Saved America" and "The Miracle of Freedom: Seven Tipping

title: Gene drive
text: larvae collected in the targeted zone, demonstrating they had out-competed males in the wild for mates. Egg counts had been reduced by 88 percent. The result was a 62 percent suppression rate of the virus-carrying mosquitoes, according to data provided by officials there. About 400,000 insects are released there weekly. In August 2016 the U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) issued a “Finding of No Significant Impact" (FONSI) to biotech company Oxitec's plan to release genetically modified male "Aedes aegypti" (mosquitoes) into the Florida Keys. The intent was to stop the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, including Zika. The modification adds

title: Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District
text: California's human case rate was 3/100,000 which was low compared to other states. The District expended an additional $500,000 on resources, labor, and community outreach. This unprecedented effort (including the "Wipe Out West Nile Virus" campaign), protected and saved lives. West Nile virus transmission continued throughout the state and the District in 2005. The District also implemented the use of ArcView database and mapping system to assist with mosquito surveillance and control activities. Los Angeles City passed an ordinance allowing for the swift remediation of standing water. By 2006, West Nile virus transmission continued throughout the state; however, the District

title: Mosquito control
text: studies to determine the types of mosquitoes prevalent in an area but are typically far too inefficient to be useful in reducing mosquito populations. Some biologists have proposed the deliberate extinction of certain mosquito species. Biologist Olivia Judson has advocated "specicide" of thirty mosquito species by introducing a genetic element which can insert itself into another crucial gene, to create recessive "knockout genes". She says that the "Anopheles" mosquitoes (which spread malaria) and "Aedes" mosquitoes (which spread dengue fever, yellow fever, elephantiasis, zika, and other diseases) represent only 30 out of some 3,500 mosquito species; eradicating these would save at

title: Political positions of Jeb Bush
text: least $100 million." In 2003, Bush put together an "unprecedented" package of over $500 million in state and local incentive money to lure the Scripps Research Institute to expand into Palm Beach County, Florida. The package, described by the "Los Angeles Times" as "incredibly generous ... even by the standards of economic development deals," offered "new facilities, equipment and enough operating money to pay staff salaries for years" in an effort to spur the biotechnology industry. In promoting the plan, Bush made ambitious predictions of 40,000 jobs in spin-off jobs within 15 years of operation. Twelve years later, the plan

title: Sylvia Mathews Burwell
text: low. In February 2016, in response to the spread of the Zika virus, the Obama administration requested that Congress appropriate $1.9billion to fight the spread of the disease. Congress did not initially take action, leaving Burwell to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to reprogram $589million in funds previously designated as part of the response to Ebola, to fight the spread of the Zika virus. Of the initial Zika funding, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) received $222million to lead the domestic fight against the virus with the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and

title: Alexander Raikhel
text: of breeding mosquitoes to internally eliminate diseases they typically pass on to the animals they feed on. In January 2002, Raikhel moved from Michigan to the University of California, Riverside, in Southern California. That year, Raikhel was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and also awarded a MERIT award, a ten-year grant to continue his mosquito research by the National Institutes of Health. In 2009 Raikhel was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his "groundbreaking contributions to understanding mosquito physiology". The same year he was named a fellow of the

title: Petitcodiac River
text: earlier comment from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which had hinted at a possible negotiation. Unwilling to wait, the provincial government came forward with an initial $20 million on 7 July 2008, to begin the first phase. The approach of Phase 2 was met with various complaints. A biology professor at the Université de Moncton noted that $200,000–$250,000 worth of pesticide would be required to keep the mosquito population around the city of Moncton from doubling once the gates open. Flood warnings were issued by the provincial Department of Supply and Services for the town of Riverview, warning that

title: 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic
text: prevent or treat Zika." Zika is often difficult to distinguish from other illnesses that are spread by mosquitoes, like dengue, West Nile, and chikungunya, among others. President Trump’s budget proposal for 2018 proposed stripping $800 billion from Medicaid over ten years. Democratic Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey said that this decision "endangers our ability to manage public health emergencies like Zika." Some efforts to contain the spread of Zika virus have been controversial. Oxitec, the company behind the "self-limiting" mosquitoes, which pass on a fatal gene to their offspring, released in Brazil, has faced criticism from environmental groups, who

title: Rick Scott
text: had grown to $147 million, $149 million on December 31, 2016, and $232 million on December 31, 2017. As of August 2018, his net worth is estimated at $255 million. Early in gubernatorial tenure, Scott said he created a blind trust for his holdings to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. In October 2018, "The New York Times" reported that the blind trust in question was blind in name only, and that there were various ways in which Scott could know what his precise holdings were. The holdings in question included investments in companies and funds that Scott

title: Mosquito net
text: 2015 "Nature" study, mosquito nets averted 68% of an estimated 663 million averted cases of malaria infection since 2000. It is also one of the most cost-effective methods of prevention. These nets can often be obtained for around $2.50–$3.50 (2–3 euros) from the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), and others. ITNs have been shown to be the most cost-effective prevention method against malaria and are part of WHO’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Generally LLINs are purchased by donor groups and delivered through in-country distribution networks. ITNs protect people sleeping under them and simultaneously kill mosquitoes that contact the