Re: Irradiation of Medfly - General Comment -Case Study California

[RADPROJECT@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-08-18 20:46:08 EDT, you write:

<< Hullo all,
 	My query relates to a fruit fly eradication program by sterilisation of
 the pupae.
 
 Can any of the group provide information concerning the relationship
 between age of pupae when irradiated, dose received, level of sterilisation
 versus rate of mutation for different dose rates. >>

I don't have any information on the specific point of mutation rate for
different radiation dose rates but do have an interesting, and generally
unknown, bit of history on a botched medfly irradication effort related to the
Medfly crisis in California in the early 1980s.

I am personally quite familiar with the "sterile male" method of insect
control having done an independent studies project using radiomimetic
chemicals on fruitflies as an undergrad [employing potent alkylating agents
which act just like radiation in sterilizing fruit flies by attaching DNA].
Although not listed on my CV, my work on this research project led to my
becoming quite adept at dissecting out the testicles of fruit flies so they
could be mounted for study by electron microscopy to look at damage to cells
in the testicular epithelium.  But I digress.

The story of interest about Medflies and California relates to the widely
reported "outbreak" of Medflies in California in 1981 at the time when Jerry
Brown was Governor. The outbreak occured because the State was releasing what
was supposed to be sterile males [and of course an equal number of sterile
females, since the sexes are not, and need not be,  separated prior to
irradiation] to drive the population of Medflies down, a technique that has
been demonstrated as highly effective on countless occassions all over the
world for many types of insect pests with great economic impact [ie:
screwworms with cattle, and others]. However, in the California case, among
the millions the Medflies released in the control program in 1981, a goodly
fraction of the released males and female flies were not sterile, for reasons
explained below.

Accordingly, the Medfly population  in California in 1981 did not decline but
increased wherever the flies were released. The Medfly population got out of
control. This led to the USDA embargoing all agricultural produce from
California around mid-1981, an event which was greatly damaged Gov. Jerry
Brown's term in office and his furture political aspirations.

I was involved in a consulting project at Diablo Canyon the day the USDA
medfly related produce embargo was announced, working as Project Manager on
the first fully functional computer based Emergency Assessment and Response
System installed after the TMI accident. An Attorney for the State of
California and key aide to Gov. Brown was summoned by Governor Brown from a
briefing I was delivering on site Emergency capabilities during a final site
walkdown by the NRC and State prior to license approval by the NRC because of
the Medfly crisis had led to the USDA embargo. This USDA embargo had the
effect of suddenly stopping the sale of billions of dollars of produce from
California and would have been a major financial blow to the State of
California if it continued for more than a short time. Gov. Brown had to turn
his attention away from opposing the final license approval of Diablo Canyon
at this critical point to deal with the Medfly outbreak and the resulting
damage to his administration.

What is ironic about this happening/case study regarding Medflies that so
damaged Gov. Brown and California agriculture for a period of time is that the
non-sterile fruit flies released in California were due to the Medflies being
released having received too little radiation dose!! This was finally found to
have been due to poor quality control at the Mexican sterilization plant
producing the Medflies for use in California, which had resulted in less than
the dose required to ensure sterilization in all flies. T

Governor Brown was a major force in opposing nuclear power in California due
to his stated concerns about low-level radiation exposure from plant
operations, and actively opposed the licensing of Diablo Canyon over a period
of many years. However,  his political stature, and his political aspirations
were severely damaged because a bunch of fruit flies got too little radiation
exposure leading to the Medfly crisis. Thus while Jerry Brown had made a
mission of trying to raise public concerns about the risks of  too much
ionizing radiation exposure, he was undone and the State of California's
economy was damaged by too little ionizing radiation exposure having been
given to some countless millions of fruit flies.

As Paul Harvey always says in his radio commentaries: "And now you know the
rest of the story".


Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Public Health Sciences
19 Stuart St.
Pawtucket, RI 02860

Phone/FAX: (401) 727-4947    E-mail: radproject@usa.net




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