The U.S. Agriculture Department is looking for a commercial partner to test how electrical current could be used on a wide scale to control fruit-fly infestations. The department said high-voltage currents directed onto citrus fruit could kill fruit fly larvae and stop the destructive insects from hitchhiking into the U.S. The electrical method is being considered as a possible effective alternative to spraying methyl bromide, a fumigant that is scheduled to be phased out by 2005 due to concerns over its effect on the earth's ozone layer.

USDA entomologist Guy Hallman said it's imperative that a host of novel approaches are examined because no single technology is expected to completely replace methyl bromide.

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