Abstract
Interest in sterilization as a possible method for controlling insects of public health importance can be said to have arisen first in the mid-fifties, when the screw-worm fly was successfully eradicated from the island of Curaçao by the release over the entire island of large numbers of male flies sterilized by gamma-radiation. Since then, many studies on the sterilization of various insect vectors of disease have been carried out. This paper reviews these studies and discusses the present position regarding vector control by sterilization procedures, with special reference to the use of chemosterilants. These compounds have certain advantages over radiation since they can be used not only as a substitute for X-rays or gamma-rays in the sterilization of insects specially reared for release in large numbers, but also as a means of inducing sterility in natural populations of insects. The author emphasizes that chemosterilants cannot at present be recommended as a practical control or eradication procedure for any vector species of insect, but considers that this extension of the sterilization method holds great promise and merits intensive investigation.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Borcaronkovec A. B. Sexual Sterilization of Insects by Chemicals: Eradication of harmful insects may be achieved with analogs of cancer chemotherapeutic agents. Science. 1962 Sep 28;137(3535):1034–1037. doi: 10.1126/science.137.3535.1034. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- KNIPLING E. F. Sterile-male method of population control. Science. 1959 Oct 9;130(3380):902–904. doi: 10.1126/science.130.3380.902. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- KNIPLING E. F. The eradication of the screw-worm fly. Sci Am. 1960 Oct;203:54–61. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican1060-54. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Labrecque G. C., Meifert D. W., Smith C. N. Mating Competitiveness of Chemosterilized and Normal Male House Flies. Science. 1962 May 4;136(3514):388–389. doi: 10.1126/science.136.3514.388. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Muller H. J. ARTIFICIAL TRANSMUTATION OF THE GENE. Science. 1927 Jul 22;66(1699):84–87. doi: 10.1126/science.66.1699.84. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- WEIDHAAS D. E. Chemical sterilization of mosquitoes. Nature. 1962 Aug 25;195:786–787. doi: 10.1038/195786a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]