Sterile insect technique

The released insects are preferably male, as this is more cost-effective and the females may in some situations cause damage by laying eggs in the crop, or, in the case of mosquitoes, taking blood from humans.

Active research is being conducted to determine this technique's effectiveness in combatting the Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni).

The use of sterile males was first described by the Russian geneticist A.S. Serebrovsky in 1940,[4] but the English-speaking world came up with the idea independently,[citation needed] and applied it practically around the 1950s.

The larvae of these flies invade open wounds and eat into animal flesh, killing infected cattle within 10 days.

Bushland and Knipling began searching for an alternative to chemical pesticides in the late 1930s when they were working at the United States Department of Agriculture Laboratory in Menard, Texas.

Their work was interrupted by World War II, but they resumed their efforts in the early 1950s with successful tests on the screw-worm population of Sanibel Island, Florida.

Both Bushland and Knipling received worldwide recognition for their leadership and scientific achievements, including the 1992 World Food Prize.

South Australia has since 2016 been producing tens of millions of sterile fruit flies a week during peak summer months, as part of a program to control and eventually eradicate the horticultural pests.

Caused by protozoa of genus Trypanosoma and transmitted by the tsetse fly, the disease is endemic in regions of sub-Saharan Africa, covering about 36 countries and 60 million people.

A meeting was held at FAO headquarters in Rome, 8 to 12 April 2002 on "Status and Risk Assessment of the Use of Transgenic Arthropods in Plant Protection".

The direct benefits of screwworm eradication to the North and Central American livestock industries are estimated to be over $1.5 billion/year, compared with an investment over half a century around $1 billion.

When implemented on an area-wide basis and a scaled rearing process, SIT is cost-competitive with conventional control, in addition to its environmental benefits.