BajaNomad

Tijuana Medfly outbreak said to be contained

Anonymous - 11-19-2004 at 09:07 AM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20041119-9...

By Diane Lindquist
November 19, 2004

OTAY MESA ? Mexican and U.S. officials believe they might have eradicated an outbreak of Mediterranean fruit flies in Tijuana that threatened fruit and vegetables on both sides of the border.

"The plague is controlled," Antonio Villase?or, director of the emergency Medfly program in Tijuana, said in an interview.

Nicholas Gutierrez, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official, said it still is too soon, however, to declare the Medflies eradicated.

"It takes two full life cycles of negative survey," Gutierrez said. "At best, that won't be until June 6, 2005."

No Medfly larvae have been found since Oct. 20, and no adults have been found since Oct. 26, he said.

Mexican and U.S. agricultural agents will continue with numerous measures to combat the outbreak. Aircraft will spray pesticide next week and the following week. Sterile Medflies, which mate with fertile flies and prevent them from laying eggs, will be released. And 2,000 traps will be maintained in a 110-square-mile area around the back yard in the southern part of Tijuana where the Medflies were found.

The Mediterranean fruit fly is one of the most destructive agricultural pests in the world. It attacks about 250 fruits and vegetables.

It has been estimated that if Medflies were to get established in California, the nation's No. 1 agricultural state, the cost to producers could be more than $1 billion annually.

Once Mexican agricultural officials discovered the outbreak, they enlisted U.S. counterparts in the eradication campaign.

The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection also instituted action along the border from San Diego to El Paso, Texas, that included stepped up surveillance of any agricultural products entering the United States.

Heightened inspections will continue for at least four months if no additional fruit flies are found, Jeff Grode, executive director of the bureau's agricultural inspection policy and programs office, said at a border news conference yesterday.

Helene Wright, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plant health director for California, said 100 adult Mediterranean fruit flies were trapped and 900 larvae were discovered during the eradication campaign.