caymans ➽ A British bio-engineering company is battling bugs and using Grand Cayman as ground zero. Oxitech is out for a veritable mosquito extinction program. Oxitech genetically modify the insects to pass on a “death gene” to their offspring, which means no more females and a quick population crash. Sterile male mosquitos are released into the wild, where they mate and pass on the poisoned gene. Oxitech has already released the males all over the island and claims to have crashed the mosquito population by 80 percent. Let’s see what happens before we get some of them here. What if mosquitos are an integral part of the food web?
Jamaica ➽Imported bananas are wreaking havoc with the local market, according to a story in the Jamaica Gleaner. Robert Chambers, managing director of Maroon Pride Banana Chips, based in Maroon Town, St James, says his company
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is on the verge of closure as dwindling production based on the lack of demand has forced him to lay off the majority of his staff. “Maroon Pride usually produces 7,000 dozen banana chips a week with a workforce of 35 persons functioning five or six days a week. Now, we have 10 or less persons working for a day per week or one day in two weeks, so production is down to sometimes three days for the month and 700 dozen. We cannot continue like this,” he said. ➽ High taxes are making it hard for Brits to enjoy Caribbean vacations. Jamaica’s tourist industry has been experiencing effects of the financial downturn with stopover arrivals out of the UK down 1.8 per cent over the same period last year. Almost one third of holidaymakers said they would travel less often due to the increased cost of travelling through taxes, such as air passenger duty (APD) which was increased last November. Britons accustomed to vacationing in Ocho Rios are staying closer to home.
COZUMEL ➽After a weakened Rina forced cruise ships to steer clear, Cozumel
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caribbean island news had some cleaning up to do. Some parts of the island saw as much as a foot of rain. ➽ Cozumel’s Iron Man triathlon competition later this month sounds like a punishing ordeal, what with 112 miles of biking, a 26.2 mile run, and a 2.4 mile swim. The average time it takes the athletes to finish the entire thing? More than 12 hours.
CUBA ➽ The Communist island is seeing prostitution grow after it had all but disappeared following the 1959 uprising that installed Fidel Castro. Cuban sexologist Mariela Castro (and Raul’s daughter) says Cuba should try to emuate Sweden and penalize johns, not hookers. There’s no official figure of how many Cuban prostitutes exist today, but it’s estimated there were more than 100,000 working pre-revolution. Castro recently visited Amsterdam’s Red Light district, which she said would be impossible to duplicate in Havana. Sweden’s method of arresting the men only is the way to go, she said.
ARUBA ➽The amazingly-monikered Taco Stein, the spokesman for Aruba’s public prosecutor’s office, disagreed with the National Enquirer when it reported vacationing tourists Gary Giordano and Robyn Gardner were seen fighting, just before Giordano reported his companion missing. Stein said police searched an animal cemetery because it was a spot where a body could have been dumped, and said no witnesses had come forward with any such story. . Giordinaro remains in custody after being stopped at the airport on August 5. Police found a bloody towel which proved a match for Gardner’s DNA, according to Stein. Giordano claims Garner disappeared while the pair were snorkeling. Last month his Aruban lawyer abruptly quit, though still proclaiming Giordano’s innocence. Attorney Michael Lopez believes his ex-client will eventually be released. However, Giordano was filmed leaving a restaurant with Gardner and returning without her. Hmmm.
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