[ RadSafe ] Drones Deliver Sterile Tsetse Flies To Ethiopia To Fight A Deadly Disease | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

[stewart farber]

The link below shows yet another example of where radiation exposure of a  vector (the Tsetse Fly in Ethiopia in this case) is used to efficiently drive a population of bugs to zero by releasing large numbers of “sterile males” resulting in saving human lives. The sterile insects are release from drone aircraft and this program,  which includes the participation of the IAEA,  has the potential to save thousands of lives of poor Africans each year. It is worth noting that the Luddites who oppose all things nuclear have opposed programs like this in the past because of their hysteria, and radio phobia about radiation being used, even in clearly positive ways.

Drones Deliver Sterile Tsetse Flies To Ethiopia To Fight A Deadly Disease 
> http://www.fastcoexist.com/3058578/drones-deliver-sterile-tsetse-flies-to-ethiopia-to-fight-a-deadly-disease <http://www.fastcoexist.com/3058578/drones-deliver-sterile-tsetse-flies-to-ethiopia-to-fight-a-deadly-disease>

This so-called “sterile-male" technique has been used in many situations to successfully reduce populations of such things as the mediterranean fruit fly ( medfly)  in the US (and elsewhere)  which has caused huge crop damage and economic losses. Some may recall that back in 1981 there was a medfly “crisis” in California where there was a huge increase of the medfly population because the medfly populations being release (when Jerre Brown was first governor) were not actually sterilized. The millions of medflies  released were being sterilized in the CA fiasco case in 1981 in a Mexican production facility that did not have good Quality Control.  This Mexican sterilization facility gave the flies TOO LITTLE radiation exposure such that the millions and millions of flies being released that were supposed to be sterile and mate with fertile flies in the wild actually ended up fertilizing fertile female flies in the wild plus the females being released were also fertile to a certain degree. Rather than reduce the population the failure of the Mexican factory hired in the California medfly outbreak to properly sterilize the medflies released, only made the problem far worse. I was at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in early 1981 as I recall giving a tour to Victor Gilensky and lead lawyers from the State of CA demonstrating  the Emergency Assessment and Response System installed at DCNPP by the firm I worked for at the time on the day that the US Department of Agriculture took the action to embargo all crops from CA and prevent their sale.  The CA lawyer was called away because suddenly the State of CA had to deal with a real radiation related emergency caused by TOO LITTLE radiation exposure delivered to the medfly populations being irradiated for release to the wild. Ironic that the largest radiation crisis ever faced by Jerry Brown and the State of CA was caused by too little radiation exposure to millions of medflies, not anything to do with trivial radiation released from any nuclear plant in CA.


Stewart Farber, MSPH
Farber Medical Solutions, LLC
Westbrook, CT 06498
203-441-8433 (o)
203-522-2817 (c)