ARS and PhotoDye developed and tested SureDye under cooperative research and development agreements. SureDye may be an alternative to insecticides like malathion that can be toxic to humans and beneficial insects. The mixture can be placed in traps or applied as a fine spray. The bait attracts the flies and stimulates them to feed. When they consume the SureDye, they succumb within a few hours' exposure to sunlight.
Light speeds the dye's activity, which destroys insect cells.
Under an experimental use permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ARS, PhotoDye and other cooperators have field-tested SureDye formulations in California, Florida, Hawaii and Texas. Outdoor tests have also been conducted in Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa and Surinam. The outdoor trials have been in citrus, mango, carambola and other tropical and subtropical crops. Fruit fly targets have included Caribbean, carambola, Mediterranean, Mexican, oriental and other crop- damaging fruit fly species that can be quarantine pests. While the baits are powerfully attractive to tropical fruit flies, they are unappealing to honeybees, ladybugs and parasitic wasps that attack pests.