Sterile insect technique

Sterilization is induced through the effects of x-ray photon irradiation on the reproductive cells of the insects. SIT does not involve the release of insects modified through transgenic (genetic engineering) processes.^[3] Moreover, SIT does not introduce non-native species into an ecosystem.

History

The use of sterile males was first described by the Russian geneticist

Bushland and Knipling began searching for an alternative to chemical

In 1954, the technique was used to eradicate screw-worms from the 176-square-mile (460 km²) island of Curaçao, off the coast of Venezuela. Screw-worms were eliminated in seven weeks, saving the domestic goat herds that were a source of meat and milk.

During the late 1950s to the 1970s, SIT was used to control the screw-worm population in the US. In the 1980s, Mexico and Belize eliminated their screw-worm problems with SIT. Eradication programs progressed across Central America in the 1990s, followed by the establishment of a biological barrier in

In 1991, Knipling and Bushland's technique halted a serious outbreak of New World screw-worm in northern Africa. Programs against the

South Australia has since 2016 been producing tens of millions of sterile fruit flies a week during peak summer months, as part of a program to control and eventually eradicate the horticultural pests.^[6]

African trypanosomiasis

Sleeping sickness or

• The
  screw-worm fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax) was eradicated from the United States, Mexico, Central America, Puerto Rico and Libya.^[7]
• The
  Mexican fruit fly (Anastrepha ludens
  , Loew) was eradicated from most of northern Mexico.
• The tsetse fly was eradicated from Zanzibar in 1998^[8] and Senegal in 2014.^[9][10]
• The
  Medfly, Ceratitis capitata, Wiedemann) was eradicated from the northern part of Chile and southern parts of Argentina, Peru
  and Mexico. It is being suppressed by SIT in fruit-producing areas of Croatia, Israel, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.
• The
  Cydia pomonella) is being effectively suppressed in parts of British Columbia, Canada,^[11]
• The
  Pectinophora gossypiella
  ) eradicated from southwestern USA and northwestern Mexico.
• The
  Thaumatotibia leucotreta
  ) is being effectively suppressed in parts of South Africa.
• The
  cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum
  ) was eradicated from an outbreak in Yucatán, Mexico.
• The
  Okinawa.^[12]
• The
  onion fly (Delia antiqua) managed in onion production areas in the Netherlands^[13]
• The sweet potato weevil (Cylas formicarius) was eradicated from Kume Island^[14] and Tsuken Island,^[15] Okinawa Japan.

Targets

• Anopheles mosquito – malaria^[16] vector, example Anopheles arabiensis.
• Tsetse fly (Glossina spp.) – vector of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in livestock.
• Painted apple moth in Auckland, New Zealand
• dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and the Zika virus^[18][19]
• Fruit fly species, including Mediterranean fruit fly (
  Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni) in Australia, the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) in Hawaii, and several other Bactrocera spp. across Australia, Asia, and Oceania: FAO/IAEA^[20] lists 39 different SIT facilities (DIR-SIT)^[21] across the globe, aiding the retrieval of information on mass production and on radiation doses (IDIDAS).^[22]
  It includes data on both the radiation dose required for the disinfestation of generic commodity groups and the radiation dose used to induce sterility for pest control through the SIT.
• West Indian sweet potato weevil from Tsuken Island, Okinawa, Japan.