50 Million Sterile Medflies to Be Released This Week
Fifty million sterile male Mediterranean fruit flies will be released over 30 square miles in the Los Angeles area at the end of the week to breed the pests out of existence, an agricultural official said Monday.
Since the first crop-destroying Medfly was discovered in Koreatown on Oct. 7, county agricultural crews have been placing thousands of traps, spraying malathion on trees and bushes and cutting fruit in quarantined neighborhoods.
One Medfly has been found in the San Gabriel Valley, but 21 others have been trapped in Los Angeles. The latest Medflies, both males, were discovered Nov. 26 in the 1100 block of 3rd Avenue, said Bill Edwards, chief deputy to the county agricultural commissioner.
Edwards said the boundaries of the treatment area are Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Freeway on the north, Exposition Boulevard on the south, the Harbor Freeway on the east and Robertson Boulevard on the west. Edwards said that residents in the treatment area do not have to take any special precautions.
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