EPA Approves EUP's For Safer Malathion Fruit Fly Pesticide  

EPA has approved an experimental use permit for large-scale field
tests of a formulation of light-activated red dye, which has
shown high potential for killing certain target pests in
preliminary lab and field trials by researchers of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. SureDye (tradename), the new product
may be a replacement for the pesticide malathion, now used in
bait sprays to control fruit fly pests in the United States. The
field tests will be carried out in California (oranges), Hawaii
(Coffee), and Texas (grapefruit) by the Agricultural Research
Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The red dye is
mixed with a yellow dye that apparently works as a synergist. 
Both dyes have been approved for use by the Food and Drug
Administration for products such as soap, lipstick, antacid
medications and other drugs and cosmetics. In earlier tests,
fruit flies in Hawaii and Texas ate tiny amounts of SureDye in
sugar water and died after a few hours of exposure to light. As
sunlight penetrates the insect's cuticle or body covering, the
dye apparently collects the solar energy. The energy changes to a
form that excites oxygen molecules, disabling the insect's cells
to function and killing it. The dye concentrations in the
preliminary tests were much smaller than the malathion concen-
trations currently used in bait sprays.

(From: EPA Press Release August 11, 1995)