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IAEA / FIGHT INSECT PESTS
STORY: IAEA / FIGHT INSECT PESTS
TRT: 3:28
SOURCE: IAEA
RESTRICTION: NONE
LANGUAGE: NATS
DATELINE: 25 SEPTEMBER 2017, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA / FILE
25 SEPTEMBER 2017, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA
1. Wide shot, Insect Pest Control Laboratory
2. Med shot, Insect Pest Control Laboratory
3. Various shots, the Director General greeting Diplomats
4. Wide shot, people at the opening ceremony
5. Various shots, the Director General and diplomats cutting the ribbon
6. Wide shot, official photo with important dignitaries
7. Med shot, IAEA scientist explaining something to the Director General and Diplomats
8. Various shots, the Director General and diplomats walking around the lab.
9. Wide panning, Insect Pest Control Laboratory
FILE – IAEA, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA
10. Close up, Shovel breaking ground, first day of construction event
11. Wide shot, the Director General and guest breaking ground with shovel, first day of construction event
12. Wide shot, shovels standing in the broken ground, first day of construction event
FILE - 2016 – IAEA, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA
13. Wide shot, digger on construction site
14. Various shots, forklift unloading building material from truck
FILE 2017 – IAEA, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA
15. Close up, construction worker on site
16. Wide shot, construction worker on site.
17. Wide shot, crane on building
18. Med shot, lowering building material
19. Various shots, construction workers working
20. Wide shot, exterior, half constructed building with cranes.
20. Various shots, Men working
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today (25 Sep) opened the doors of a new laboratory to help countries use a nuclear technique to combat insect pests that spread disease and damage crops, such as mosquitoes and fruit flies.
With over 1,700 square meters of laboratory space, the modern Insect Pest Control Laboratory (IPCL) will substantially increase the Agency’s ability to assist Member States in applying the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). This form of insect birth control uses radiation to sterilize male insects, which are reared in large numbers and released in a target area to mate with wild females. Since they do not produce any offspring, the pest population is reduced over time.
The inauguration marks a milestone in the IAEA’s initiative to modernise its eight nuclear applications laboratories built in Seibersdorf in 1962, a project known as ReNuAL and its follow-up ReNuAL+. The new laboratory will replace the old IPCL at the same site.
The environmentally-friendly SIT is widely used in countries around the world to keep harmful insects at bay, such as the Mediterranean fruit fly and the screwworm fly.
Along with additional space to train experts to support the transfer of SIT to countries, the new IPCL will facilitate research on the application of the technique for different insects, including mosquitos that transmit malaria, Zika and other diseases.
The new building will feature a unique 230-square meter ‘Ecosphere’ – a type of greenhouse – to help scientists study the behaviour of the sterilised insects. The old IPCL currently maintains 70 insect species, strains or populations – a unique repository that Member States can draw upon.
Earlier this year, the IAEA, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), provided assistance to the Dominican Republic to use SIT to eradicate an outbreak of the Mediterranean fruit fly – one of the most damaging agricultural pests in the world that attacks several types of fruits and vegetables. Through the assistance, the Latin American country was able to eradicate the fly within two years, and to regain access to export markets worth US$ 42 million a year.
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