From: Nigel.Allen@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Nigel Allen)
Subject: World Food Prize Awarded for Eco-Friendly War on Pests
Organization: NDA
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 09:05:56 GMT


Here is a press release from The World Food Prize Foundation.

 World Food Prize Awarded for Eco-Friendly War on Pests, Securing
Global Food Supply
 To: National and Business desks, Science and Agriculture writers
 Contact: Herman Kilpper of The World Food Prize Foundation,
          515-245-2411,
          or Dan Frahm of CMF&Z Public Relations, 515-246-3596

   DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 12  -- A technique developed more 
than 40 years ago is being used this fall to eradicate screwworm
from Mexico and the Medfly from California.
   Today, the team of entomologists from the United States that
developed the biological control system received the $200,000 World
Food Prize for their efforts to secure the global food supply.
   Dr. Edward F. Knipling, 83, of Arlington, Va., and Dr. Raymond C.
Bushland, 82, of Kerrville, Texas, both retired entomologists from
the USDA Agricultural Research Service, received the award for
pioneering the development of ecologically acceptable biological
control for specific insects that threaten the world food supply.
Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) uses no chemicals, leaves no
residues and has no effect on non-target species.
   The World Food Prize is the foremost international award
recognizing individual achievement in improving the quality, quantity
or availability of food in the world.
   "With global population growing by some 95 million people per
year, effective control of pests is crucial to preserving a viable
food supply," said John Ruan, chairman of The World Food Prize
Foundation.  "This team's dedication to meet this challenge has had,
and continues to have, a profound impact on securing a nutritious,
stable food supply for the world."
   SIT takes mass quantities of laboratory-raised, sterilized insects
and releases them in infested areas where the sterlized males mate
with native females.  This break in the insect's life cycle
drastically reduces the number of offspring, thus bringing the
population of unwanted or harmful pests to manageable levels.
Insects threatening livestock, fruit, vegetable and fiber crops have
been suppressed using SIT.
   SIT programs are now underway to eradicate Mediterranean fruit fly
from an area near San Jose, Calif., and the screwworm from southern
and northeast Mexico.  These recent outbreaks potentially threaten
international supplies of produce and livestock.  Appropriately, the
team is being recognized at the same time millinos of sterilized
flies are being released from low-flying planes into these affected
regions.
   Since Knipling and Bushland's first successful test of SIT on
screwworm on Sanibel Island, Fla., in the 1950s, eradication programs
against various pests have been successful in the United States,
Mexico, Central America and Africa.
   Founded in 1986, The World Food Prize is the foremost
international award recognizing outstanding individual achievement in
improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
The World Food Prize is sponsored by The World Food Prize Foundation,
established by John Ruan, and is located in Des Moines, Iowa.
 -30-

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