When Eggs Don't Hatch. The Benefits of the Sterile Insect Technique

Insect pests, such as the medfly, tsetse flies and carob moth can devastate crops and infect herds, causing severe economic hardship. To suppress the insect pest population and protect their livestock and crops, farmers usually use large quantities of pesticides. However, these pesticides are expensive, a risk to public health and cause environmental damage. Another technique, however, can reduce the insect pest population using natural means that do not require toxic chemicals: the sterile insect technique, or SIT. When female insect pests mate with male partners that have been radiation sterilized, the insemination produces eggs that cannot hatch. Since mating does not produce offspring, the insect population decreases naturally. The pest population can be suppressed with little or no use of pesticides. With the help of the IAEA, farmers have applied SIT successfully in over 20 countries on five continents, for over 15 insect species worldwide.