Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 31 May 2017

Researchers test self-destructing moth pest in cabbage patch

MARY ESCH field studies are unlikely to
Associated Press have an impact on the en-
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Re- vironment, wildlife, plants
searchers in a New York or human health.
cabbage patch are plan- The U.S. Food and Drug
ning the first release on Administration also deter-
American soil of insects mined there wouldn’t be
genetically engineered to a significant environmental
die before they can repro- impact from a proposed
duce. release of Oxitec’s gene-
It’s a pesticide-free at- altered mosquitoes in Flor-
tempt to control invasive ida. Previous work to fight
diamondback moths, a insect pests by stopping re-
voracious consumer of production has used radia-
cabbage, broccoli and tion to sterilize males, which
other cruciferous crops are released in large num-
that’s notorious for its abil- bers so wild females breed
ity to shrug off every new with them but produce no
poison in the agricultural offspring. That’s been suc-
arsenal. cessful in suppressing the
“It costs $4-5 billion a year screw-worm fly, Mexican
globally to manage this fruit fly, a cotton bollworm
pest,” said Anthony Shel- and some other pests. But
ton, a Cornell University it was useless with the dia-
researcher who’s been mondback moth.
studying the species for 40 “You could sterilize them,
years. “If you can manage In this undated photo provided by Dan Olmstead in May 2017, diamondback moths mate on a but they couldn’t fly,”
it without using insecticides cabbage leaf. which means they couldn’t
that can affect pollinators Associated Press breed in the wild, said Shel-
and other non-target or- ton, who worked on a dia-
ganisms, that’s a real ad- The laboratory-bred moths females, reducing the pop- could affect wildlife that mondback moth radiation
vantage.” are the creation of bio- ulation over time by sup- eats the insects. project in 1990.
Shelton is doing field tests tech firm Oxitec, which de- pressing reproduction. Andrianna Natsoulas, ex- “Self-limiting” genes are
of gene-altered moths at ployed similarly modified “The key is to reduce the ecutive director of North- just the latest in a range of
Cornell’s Agricultural Ex- mosquitoes in Brazil, Pana- number of reproductive east Organic Farming As- diamondback moth con-
periment Station in Ge- ma and the Caribbean in females in the next genera- sociation of New York, said trol methods that include
neva, 160 miles west of the fight against dengue tion,” Oxitec scientist Neil the group was also con- insecticidal chemicals as
Albany. Those experiments fever and other diseases. Morrison said. cerned about farm workers well as predators, parasites
began in 2015, but until The company hopes to The work has drawn criti- and consumers who might and diseases that target
now were restricted to net- conduct the first U.S. re- cism from organic farming inadvertently ingest dead the moth, whose caterpil-
covered plots to keep the lease of the gene-altered organizations and groups larvae that might remain lar larvae devour plants in
moths from straying. Now, mosquitoes in Florida later opposed to the use of ge- on produce. The organiza- the crucifer family.
he’s awaiting a permit from this year. netically modified organ- tion also worries that stray- “They’re getting harder
the U.S. Department of The moths have a synthet- isms. ing moths could endanger and harder to control,
Agriculture to release the ic “self-limiting” gene that In comments to the USDA, the organic certification of because with climate
moths freely in a 10-acre makes their female larvae GeneWatch U.K. said more other farms. change, we’re having
cabbage patch at the re- die before they mature. information is needed on In an environmental assess- more generations pro-
search center. He hopes to Lab-bred males are re- how the protein made by ment, USDA scientists con- duced every year,” Shel-
do that this summer. leased to breed with wild the moth’s synthetic gene cluded that the proposed ton said.q