Medfly outbreak in Tijuana spurs action
U.S., Mexico join in eradication effort
By Diane Lindquist
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 29, 2004
TIJUANA ? Mexican and U.S. officials revealed yesterday that Tijuana is experiencing an outbreak of Mediterranean fruit flies, one of the most
devastating insect pests on the planet.
At a morning press conference, the officials detailed mutual efforts the countries are taking to combat the pests and prevent their spread.
The Medflies were discovered Sept. 16 in Tijuana in figs growing in an impoverished neighborhood in the southern part of the city, some 6? miles from
the U.S. border, said Antonio Villase?or, director of the Mexican agricultural ministry's insect-eradication program.
"We immediately instituted actions to control it," he said. A quarantine restricting the movement of fruit and vegetables in Tijuana has been
established.
Mexican officials are cooperating with U.S., California and San Diego counterparts on a campaign that involves the release of sterile Medflies, aerial
spraying, tree stripping and soil drenching. Traps have been hung around the city to detect any spread beyond the square-mile area where the flies
have been found.
At the same time, said Nicholas Gutierrez, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official, 43 million sterile fruit flies have been released on the U.S.
side of the border as a precaution.
Gutierrez said an additional 250 million to 300 million sterile flies soon would be released in the Los Angeles basin, which experienced a serious
Medfly outbreak several years ago. When sterile flies mate with fertile flies, no eggs are laid in the fruit.
"The Mediterranean fruit fly is one of the most destructive pests in the world," Gutierrez said. "They attack about 250 fruits and vegetables."
It's 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.
The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection also has instituted action along the border from San Diego to El Paso, Texas, agency spokesman Vince
Bond said yesterday. Measures include the seizure of all organic material that might contain Medflies from pedestrians and passenger cars entering the
country at the border, from cruise ships and private vessels and from the two daily flights from Mexico at Lindbergh Field.
In addition, all cargo trucks arriving at the land commercial ports of entry are required to have USDA phytosanitary certifications and special
declarations that they are pest-free. As of Sept. 22, Bond said, 20 trucks had been turned back at the Calexico and Otay Mesa commercial crossings.
"We know this is an extremely serious pest, so it was important to close the border down to it," Bond said.
The Mediterranean fruit fly outbreak in Tijuana is the first ever in the city, said Villase?or of the Mexican agricultural ministry, known by its
acronym SAGARPA.
He speculated that the Medflies might have been brought to the city by visitors from Central America, where the pests are more common.
Medflies are not detectable to the naked eye. Females inject their eggs through the skin of fruit. When larvae hatch, they feed on the flesh,
rendering it inedible and unmarketable. In a temperate climate such as in Tijuana and San Diego County, a single female Medfly will lay 200 to 1,000
eggs during an average life span of 28 days.
A total of 46 male and three female adults and numerous larvae have been found at 18 sites within about 650 feet of one another in Colonia Rodolfo
Sanchez Taboada on Tijuana's southernmost outskirts. A 9-square-mile area around the neighborhood has been sprayed with an organic chemical not
harmful to humans.
Villase?or said the pest might be completely eradicated within three to four months but efforts will continue for at least six months.
"We're hopeful," the USDA's Gutierrez said. "With the steps we've taken, we can probably eliminate this outbreak before it spreads."
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