Image Number D1742-1
Caption for May/June 2012 Agricultural Research magazine article, "150 Years of Making History: USDA's 150th Anniversary, May 15, 2012." Flesh-eating screwworms once plagued some southern U.S. states but have been eliminated from and kept out of the country because of continuing efforts of USDA scientists.
Caption for April 2010 Agricultural Research magazine article, "Celebrating 100 Years of Beltsville Agricultural Research." Scientists begin work to eliminate screwworms by releasing sterilized male flies to mate with native flies, thereby interrupting the population cycle. Edward F. Knipling, an entomologist at BARC and other ARS laboratories, and fellow entomologist Raymond C. Bushland developed the framework of the sterile insect technique (SIT). By the 1980s, screwworms are eliminated from the United States. Research using SIT continues at ARS laboratories all around the country.
Photo by APHIS.
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