European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 23, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doil Magazine not Yolk to Wpm about 400 million sterilized screw worm flies Are bombarded on the mexican Countryside each week. All out War on  by James p. Sterba new York times n the Busy operations room at Mission Texas Gil Rodriguez made a last minute Check of his lying routes the weather and his targets. Seconds later he was out on the night line climbing into the cockpit Ofa converted c45 twin engine transport and starting its  former Navy Pilot got a thumbs up sign from Rolando Flores his Bombadier then taxied past the 35 other planes parked in Squadron formation. With an . From the control Tower he roared off toward Mexico. His Desti nation Ciudad Victoria 150 Miles South of the Border. His Mission saturation bombing of the mexican country Side with a Load of two million sterilized flies. The Dally air drops Are part of the world s Large biological warfare program. Although Battles against drug smuggler and illegal aliens from Mexico seem to be making Little headway officials in the . Department of agriculture say they see the Light at the end of the Tunnel after a it year Jar War against another invader from across the Border the screw worm. The screw worm has ravaged livestock nerds in the South and Southwest for decades. Unlike most barnyard flies its larvae feed on living tissue. They can kill a fully grown steer in 10 Days. Last year they infested and ruled an elderly woman in san Antonio who could not get help nor care for  year agriculture officials have started an about eradication Effort and they say Victory could be at  the government s largest non ithary air Force mostly War surplus planes they have stepped up Areia bombardment Ion both sides of the Border dropping nearly 400 million serialized screw worm flies a week on suspected areas of infestation. They have also opened a propaganda Blitz staging ral lies and using buttons bumper stickers and to shirts to marshal Public support under the slogan Mission 77 stamp out  instead of using pesticides biological control pro Grams pit insect against insect in some cases one species is used to wipe out another species. In this Case the same species Cochol Jomyla . Is grown in two factories. Its pupae Are subjected to radiation from a cerium 137  its reproductive organs. Adult flies Are then unleashed Over the Countryside so that sterile males will Breed with Fertile females and produce now a in other words they make love not War. Uras one brochure puts it sex and atomic Energy Are two of the most powerful forces in the world. Both we re used to de stroy and thus eradicate the deadly screw worm from the United  that was an old brochure. When it was Nuen officials thought the screw worm had been virtually wiped out. It was eliminated from the Southeast in 1959, and infestations in the Southwest got very Low in the early1970s. Texas for example had Only 92 reported cases in 1970.but in 1972, screw worm flies headed North from Mexico and Texas wound up with 90.980 cases that year. There have been Only 11 cases in Texas so far this year Vert Tolmei 1 1 after Landing above sterilized screw Worms begin Breeding below screw worm pupae. And ranchers Are holding their breath. This year is Ideal to wipe them out completely. Says or. M. E. Meadows jr., who directs the program from the converted Moore air base North of the town of , he says the cold Winter killed off infestations farther South than in previous , Mexico joined the american Effort last fall by starting its own sterile screw worm production factory in Tuxtla with 80 per cent . Funds Ami u Ling its own air War with the help of american advisers. Last but not least geneticists have produced what they believe to be a Superior new Fly to sterilize. It i dubbed superfly 990." unlike previous varites it is said to be so oversexed that it does of take siesta but instead romances Fertile females All Day Ion and even into the night. The screw worm Fly has a metallic Green color and is twice the size of a housefly. Females produce As Many As 3,000 eggs and in their two to four week lifetimes they Deposit them in masses of 200 to 400 in whatever open wounds they can find. Tick bites Are  eggs Hatch in 12 to 24 hours into larvae or mag gots which begin devouring the flesh around them. They give off an Oder that attracts More females to Lay More eggs. Five to seven Days later when the larvae Are fully grown to a length of about one half Inch they drop off the Ever increasing wound and pupate in the ground emerging in a week As flies. The flaw in the screw worm s life system which eradication specialists have exploited is the fact that the female Fly mates Only once while the male is a prolific ultimate breeder. Thus if a Fertile female mates with sterile male she s through As a Mother. Raising 200 million sterilized screw worm flies each week is not easy. The production factory at Moore air base keeps nearly 600 people employed full time. The larvae Are voracious eaters. Their weekly menu at the Plant includes 11,000 pounds of dried cottage cheese 17,000 pounds of powdered eggs 16,000 pounds of pow dered milk 32,000 pounds of dried animal blood and 12, 000 pounds of dried Cotton. They used to be fed whale meat horses and nutria until environmentalists complained. Toe irradiated pupae arc loaded into cardboard boxes a to per Box and refrigerated. Some Are tracked or air freighted Dally to Douglas ariz., Lorain drops along the Western front the program costs j29 million a year in Federal funds. Officials say it saved the cattle Industry More than 200 million in direct losses and saved the nation More than $1 billion in indirect economic activity. Thursday june 23, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 13