The Region : Destructive Guava Fruit Flies Trapped

Specimens of the guava fruit fly -- a crop-destroying pest never before seen in the Western Hemisphere--were trapped in Garden Grove, Westminster and Midway City and state agriculture officials have begun a counterattack hoping to contain and eradicate the fly before it spreads. Agriculture officials in Sacramento said they do not believe the new fly, which is found in India and other regions of Asia, poses the threat to California agriculture that the Mediterranean fruit fly did between 1980 and 1982 when the state spent $100 million on eradication efforts to protect California’s $14-billion-a-year agricultural industry. A 16-square-mile area around the finds will be sprayed with a paste containing methyl eugenol, which lures male fruit flies, plus an undetermined insecticide.