Officials to Continue Ground War Against Medfly--for Now

Despite the discovery of six Mediterranean fruit flies this month, state and county officials Monday agreed to keep their eradication efforts on the ground for now.

After conferring with the Medfly Advisory Panel, a group of scientists and other experts, state and county agricultural officials said they would step up ground spraying of the pesticide malathion in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles and in the city of San Gabriel, where a Medfly was recently discovered.

Officials said they will also continue high density trapping of the flies and testing of home-grown fruits in areas suspected of infestation.

Controversial aerial spraying of malathion is being considered, officials said Monday.

“If these measures fail to stop the spread of the voracious insect, contingency planning for an escalation of the problem includes the option of the use of aerial malathion bait treatments,” said Henry Voss, director of the state Food and Agriculture Department, in a prepared statement.

Officials are hoping their going slow on aerial spraying will win greater public cooperation if it again becomes necessary to apply the pesticide from helicopters.

During the last infestation of the crop-destroying insect, the state spent more than $52 million in eradication efforts that included aerial spraying over several hundred square miles during a 16-month period.

The pesky Medfly had not been sighted for about a year until one was trapped in Koreatown this month. Since then, four more were found in a one-square-mile area of Los Angeles. Last week, a lone unmated female fly was discovered in a persimmon tree in San Gabriel.

Officials believe the San Gabriel discovery is a separate outbreak and not an extension of the Los Angeles infestation.