Eradication programs

Citrus Canker Eradication Program Environmental Assessment, April 1999. United States... 

In studies conducted during the smallpox eradication program and by surveillance for cases in newly smallpox-free areas it was reasoned that if the virus were... 

As a result of human health concerns, production of mirex ceased in 1976, at which time industrial releases of this chemical to surface waters were also curtailed. However, releases from waste disposal sites continue to add mirex to the environment. Virtually all industrial releases of mirex were to surface waters, principally Lake Ontario via contamination of the Niagara and Oswego Rivers. About 75% of the mirex produced was used as a fire retardant additive, while 25% was used as a pesticide. As a pesticide, mirex was widely dispersed throughout the southern United States where it was used in the fire ant eradication program for over 10 years. 

Mirex is not currently registered for use in the United States so release of mirex to soil from pesticide applications is no longer of concern. However, use of mirex as a pesticide for fire ant control required the spraying of this chemical on soils of an estimated 132 million acres in the southern United States (IARC 1979c). An estimated 226,000 kg (498,000 lb) of mirex was used in 9 states from 1962-1976 as part of the fire ant eradication program conducted by the Department of Agriculture (IARC 1979c). 

Weisskopf CP, Seiber JN, Maizlish N, et al. 1988. Personnel exposure to diazinon in a supervised pest eradication program. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 17 201-212. 

Vector control efforts were never fully implemented in Africa, even though that continent bore the greatest burden of disease. Many African countries had neither the infrastructure nor the human capacity to carry out spraying programs systematically and effectively. However, today the infrastructure is better and eradication programs would be more likely to succeed, if they were reinstituted. 

The Andean Coca Wars A Crop that Refuses to Die. The Economist, March 4, 2000, pp. 23-25. A coca eradication program has cut the coca crop in the area around the Apurimac River in Peru by more than 60 percent since the mid-1990s. However, crop estimates done by satellite can be inaccurate, and the progress may have been at the expense of human rights and democracy. Any loss in the supply of coca may be made up in Colombia on land controlled by the leftist PARC guerrillas. 

An action that might have a better chance of encouraging farmers to switch would be to offer a higher price for a legal crop coupled with a threat to implement an eradication program that would, forever, kill the illegal crop s ability to produce the offending addictive substance—much as the smallpox virus has been wiped out worldwide—if the farmer does not accept the offer. 

In 1958, Higson led a team that inoculated about 90 000 people in Asia and Africa against polio, typhoid, and cholera using the Hypospray. In 1965, the United Nation s World Health Organization used the jet injector. The organization freeze-dried vaccines for its successful worldwide smallpox eradication program. For its key role in eliminating smallpox from the list of human diseases, the jet injector earned a new name—the "Peace Pistol."... 

We are examining those commonly used baits, the protein hydrolysates. Initial studies have used the corn gluten hydrolysate commonly known as PIB-7 or, now, as Nu-Lure Insect Bait (NLIB). This material was used in the recent successful Medfly eradication program in California. Since the fruit flies are probably attracted to the volatile emanations from the bait, we have used equipment and techniques previously developed by members of our group for flavor research. For example, a modified Likens-Nickerson simultaneous steam distillation-extraction head was developed by Flath and Forrey (67.). Also, there is a 90 liter... 

For any eradication program a detection device is essential. Traps baited with attractants are one of the cheapest and most efficient devices that may be employed for this purpose. With this tool available entomologists are no longer scoffing at the prospects of eradicating a given species from a limited area. 

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