MontereyHerald.com : - Scientist says moth can't be eradicated

MontereyHerald.com : - Scientist says moth can't be eradicated:

By JULIA REYNOLDS, Herald Staff Writer

A key scientist in the decades-old fight against the Mediterranean fruit fly says eradicating the light brown apple moth from California is impossible. And, he says, the most devastating economic consequences are likely to come more from trade embargoes than crop damage. 'This thing is so widespread that there is no way that they're going to eradicate it,' said James Carey, a professor of entomology at the University of California-Davis known for his research on the medfly, which in the 1980s threatened California's citrus industry.

Now he questions claims by the state Department of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the pest can be eradicated by disrupting its mating cycle with aerially-applied pheromones.

"The CDFA and USDA really need to do a major stock-taking," Carey said. "You have to come to grips with reality."

An Agriculture Department technical advisory panel that convened in May in San Jose disagreed, concluding that the moth was "eradicable."

In a statement, state Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura said Tuesday that "pheromone mating disruption is a proven insect control technique," which, he said, was recommended by the panel as the primary tool to eradicate the moth.

Carey said the moth has spread to too many counties for aerial spraying to work and, like cancer cells in the body, can continue to grow undetected.