The Nation - News from March 16, 1987

A helicopter sprayed much of Hialeah, Fla., with baited poison in a campaign against the Mediterranean fruit fly, a pest that threatens Florida’s multibillion-dollar citrus industry. A spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture said the three-hour mission, the second this month, would prove deadly to common houseflies and Caribbean fruit flies as well as the Medfly. Two more weekly aerial treatments of the pesticide Malathion, baited with a potion that attracts flies, are planned. The state-federal Medfly Eradication Project will begin next month releasing 200 million sterile males to sabotage the reproductive instincts of any female Medflies in the area.