LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Crews Begin Release of Sterile Medflies
Agricultural crews Monday began scattering sterile male Mediterranean fruit flies, by ground and air, throughout several cities bordering an infestation of the crop-destroying pests in the Duarte area.
Plans call for the release of 28 million sterile Medflies each week--4 million by truck crews and 24 million by crews in low-flying airplanes, said U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Larry Hawkins.
The boundaries of the aerial release are: Foothill Boulevard on the north, Maine Avenue on the east, Lower Azusa Road and Los Angeles Street on the south, and Baldwin Avenue, Huntington Drive and Santa Anita Avenue on the west, Hawkins said.
The eradication effort includes parts of Baldwin Park, Irwindale, Duarte, Monrovia, Bradbury, Temple City, Arcadia and El Monte.
Sterile male Medflies will be scattered in those communities for at least three life cycles of the insect, which Hawkins predicted could take until spring or early summer.
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