Anopheles arabiensis egg treatment with dieldrin for sex separation leaves residues in male adult mosquitoes that can bioaccumulate in goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus)

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a biological control tactic that is used as a component of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programs. The SIT can only be applied against disease-transmitting mosquitoes when only sterile male mosquitoes are released, and the blood-sucking and potentially disease-transmitting females are eliminated from the production line. For Anopheles arabiensis, a potent vector of malaria, a genetic sexing strain was developed whereby females can be eliminated by treating the eggs or larvae with the insecticide dieldrin. To evaluate the presence of dieldrin residues in male mosquitoes designated for SIT releases, a simple, sensitive, and accurate gas chromatography–electron capture detector (GC–ECD) method was developed. In addition, bioaccumulation and food chain transfer of these residues to fish after feeding with treated mosquitoes was demonstrated. The overall recovery from method validation studies was 77.3 ± 2.2% (mean ± relative standard deviation [RSD]) for the mosquitoes, and 99.1 ± 4.4% (mean ± RSD) for the fish. The average dieldrin concentration found in adult male An. arabiensis was 28.1 ± 2.9 µg/kg (mean ± standard deviation [SD]). A range of 23.9 ± 1.1 µg/kg to 73.9 ± 5.2 µg/kg (mean ± SD) of dieldrin was found in the fish samples. These findings indicate the need to reassess the environmental and health implications of control operations with a SIT component against An. arabiensis that involves using persistent organochlorines in the sexing process.