From “The Sterile Insect Technique for Control of Tsetse Flies in Africa.” The sterile insect technique is a fascinating method for controlling pest population. The idea is to release many sterile (male) bugs to increase competition and decrease the chance of successful reproduction. For many bugs, sterile males are used because only females bite humans (to lay eggs) and so only females transmit diseases like sleeping sickness and malaria. Bugs are often sterilized with radiation, but newer approaches include genetic engineering.
Relative to the natural population, huge numbers of sterile males are released. They eat the same foods as non-sterile individuals and there isn’t enough to go around, so a large fraction of the population dies. Moreover, since many bugs (like the Tse Tse fly) mate only a few times, mating with a sterile male blows one of their limited number of “loads.” If enough sterile males are released, very few viable offspring will be born into the next generation.
