California Begins Treatment to Halt Insect

State agriculture workers have begun treating citrus plants with pesticide along the U.S. Mexico-border near San Diego in an effort to stop a potentially devastating insect from moving north.

Plants infested with the Asian citrus psyllid—a sap-sucking, aphid-like insect—were treated with two types of pesticide, an organic compound and a soil-drench product containing a chemical commonly used to control fleas on pets.

State and federal authorities placed part of southern San Diego County under quarantine last week in an effort to halt the insect's spread.

While the insect is not considered harmful, it can carry a disease that can cause a tree to produce inedible fruit and eventually kill it.