LA Times Today: Fruit fly infestation spurs quarantine in Los Angeles County
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It’s one of the world’s most destructive insects: the Mediterranean fruit fly.
And beginning in 1980, it proved itself a recurring threat to California, causing $40 million of damage to fruit crops in 1981 alone and almost derailing the political future of then-Governor Jerry Brown who authorized widespread aerial spraying of the pesticide malathion, including in the San Fernando Valley and Baldwin Park.
Now the Med fly is back and so are dramatic eradication efforts.
Santiago Rosales, the co-owner of C & S Nursery in Los Angeles, joined Lisa McRee to talk about the threat and what growers and homeowners can do.
And beginning in 1980, it proved itself a recurring threat to California, causing $40 million of damage to fruit crops in 1981 alone and almost derailing the political future of then-Governor Jerry Brown who authorized widespread aerial spraying of the pesticide malathion, including in the San Fernando Valley and Baldwin Park.
Now the Med fly is back and so are dramatic eradication efforts.
Santiago Rosales, the co-owner of C & S Nursery in Los Angeles, joined Lisa McRee to talk about the threat and what growers and homeowners can do.