HISTORY OF TRANSBOUNDARY SHIPMENTS OF STERILE INSECTS

Transboundary shipment of sterile insects has taken place on a continuous basis for 58 years (since 1963). The total number of sterile insects shipped has been estimated at over one trillion in thousands of shipments across borders to 27 recipient countries from 50 sterile insect factories in 25 countries. During this long period and many precedents, no problems associated with possible hazards have been identified, and thus the shipment of sterile insects have never been subjected to any specific regulatory action. The table below shows the history of transboundary shipments which started in 1963 with the shipments of sterile Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens, Loew), from Monterrey, Mexico, to Texas, USA.

Table of the history of transboundary shipment of sterile insects ¹

Year	Species	Production site	Approximate amount shipped (million pupae)	Recipient	Observations
1963-1990	Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens	Monterrey, Mexico	Unknown	Texas, USA	Sterile flies were used for population suppression
1970	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Costa Rica	Unknown	Nicaragua	Relatively small amount since sterile flies were used for field trials
1970-1971	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Seibersdorf, Austria	Unknown	Procida, Italy, and Greece	Relatively small amount since sterile flies were used for field trials
1975-1977	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Madrid, Spain	302	Canary Islands	Relatively small amount since sterile flies were used for field trials
1978	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Seibersdorf, Austria	Unknown	Guatemala	Sterile pupae shipped from the IAEA laboratories (Seibersdorf) to a packing and emergence facility in Guatemala for field trials and staff training in SIT techniques
1979-2017	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Metapa, Chiapas, Mexico	357 600	Guatemala	Transboundary shipments have been carried out periodically for the past 36 years
1989-1990	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Seibersdorf, Austria	Unknown	Israel	Pilot trials
1989-1994	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Metapa Chiapas, Mexico	6 670	California, USA	To assist the CDFA in eradication of medfly outbreaks
1990	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Metapa Chiapas, Mexico	552	Chile	Sterile flies donated by the Mexican government to Chile
1990-1991	New World Screwworm (NWS) Cochliomyia hominivorax	Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico	1 800	Tripoli, Lybia	To assist the eradication of a NWS outbreak
1990-1997	Tsetse fly Glossina spp.	Seibersdorf, Austria	8	Tanga, Tanzania	To assist Tsetse eradication programme
1993-2006	New World Screwworm (NWS) Cochliomyia hominivorax	Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico	107 000	Central American Countries	To assist NWS eradication from Central America
1994	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Seibersdorf, Austria	60	Tunisia	Pilot trials
1994-2021	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	El Pino, Guatemala	157 620	California, USA	To assist the CDFA in eradication of medfly outbreaks and as part of the preventive release programme
1996-2000	Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens	Metapa Chiapas, Mexico	2 511	California, USA	To assist the CDFA in eradication of Mexican fruit fly outbreaks
1997-1998	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Madeira, Portugal	206	Israel	In support of pilot suppression programme
1997-2000	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	El Pino, Guatemala	3 700	Israel	In support of pilot suppression programme
1998-2021	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	El Pino, Guatemala	101 400	Florida, USA	To assist the State of Florida in eradication of medfly outbreaks and as part of the preventive release programme
1999-2000	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	El Pino, Guatemala	720	South Africa	In support of pilot suppression programme
2001-2014	Pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella	USA(Arizona)	Unknown	Mexico (Northern States)	Regional (USA and Mexico) eradication of the pink bollworm
2003-2006	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Mendoza, Argentina	1 681	Valencia, Spain	In support of suppression programme
2008	Cactus moth Cactoblastis cactorum	USA(Florida)	0.022	Mexico (Yucatan Penninsula)	Eradication of incipient cactus moth outbreaks
2008-2011	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Madeira, Portugal	973.5	Morocco	In support of suppression programme in Agadir.
2008-2017	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Bio-Fly, Israel	650	Jordan	In support of suppression programme
2008-2021	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	El Pino, Guatemala	271 000 ²	Metapa Chiapas, Mexico	In support of eradication and containment programme
2010-2012 and 2014-2021	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Bio-Fly, Israel	3 795	Croatia	In support of suppression programme
2010-2020	Codling moth Cydia pomonella	Canada, (Osoyoos)	Unkown	New Zealand, South Africa, USA	For SIT pilot validation
2011-2013	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Valencia, Spain	425	Croatia	In support of suppression programme
2011-2021	Tsetse fly Glossina spp.	Slovakia	17.5	Senegal	To assist Tsetse eradication programme
2013-2019	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Valencia, Spain	2 172	Morocco	In support of suppression programme in Agadir and Berkane
2015-2017	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	El Pino, Guatemala	4 000	Dominican Republic	In support of eradication programme
2016-2017	New World Screwworm (NWS) Cochliomyia hominivorax	COPEG, Panama	194	Florida, USA	In support of outbreak eradication
2018-2021	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	El Pino, Guatemala	163	Quito, Ecuador	In support of suppression programme
2021	Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata	Mendoza, Argentina	162	Cochabamba, Bolivia	In support of suppression programme
		Total	1 025 382

HISTORY OF TRANSBOUNDARY SHIPMENTS OF STERILE INSECTS // <![CDATA[ _spBodyOnLoadFunctionNames.push("setupPageDescriptionCallout"); // ]]>

Table of the history of transboundary shipment of sterile insects 1

Year

Species

Production site

Approximate amount shipped (million pupae)

Recipient

Observations

1963-1990

Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens

Monterrey, Mexico

Unknown

Texas, USA

Sterile flies were used for population suppression

1970

Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Costa Rica

Unknown

Nicaragua

Relatively small amount since sterile flies were used for field trials

1970-1971

Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Seibersdorf, Austria

Unknown

Procida, Italy, and Greece

Relatively small amount since sterile flies were used for field trials

1975-1977

Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Madrid, Spain

302

Canary Islands

Relatively small amount since sterile flies were used for field trials​

1978

Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Seibersdorf, Austria

Unknown

Guatemala

Sterile pupae shipped from the IAEA laboratories (Seibersdorf) to a packing and emergence facility in Guatemala for field trials and staff training in SIT techniques

1979-2017

Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Metapa, Chiapas, Mexico

357 600

Guatemala

Transboundary shipments have been carried out periodically for the past 36 years

1989-1990

Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Seibersdorf, Austria

Unknown

Israel

Pilot trials

1989-1994

Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Metapa Chiapas, Mexico

6 670

California, USA

To assist the CDFA in eradication of medfly outbreaks

1990

Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Metapa Chiapas, Mexico

552

Chile

Sterile flies donated by the Mexican government to Chile

1990-1991

New World Screwworm (NWS) Cochliomyia hominivorax

Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico

1 800

Tripoli, Lybia

To assist the eradication of a NWS outbreak

1990-1997

Tsetse fly Glossina spp.

Seibersdorf, Austria

8

Tanga, Tanzania

To assist Tsetse eradication programme

1993-2006

New World Screwworm (NWS) Cochliomyia hominivorax

Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico

107 000

Central American Countries

To assist NWS eradication from Central America

HISTORY OF TRANSBOUNDARY SHIPMENTS OF STERILE INSECTS

Table of the history of transboundary shipment of sterile insects ¹

Relatively small amount since sterile flies were used for field trials

2008-2011

Mediterranean fruit fly
Ceratitis capitata

Madeira,
Portugal

973.5

Morocco

In support of suppression programme in Agadir.