“Inside a factory in southern France, millions of tiger mosquitoes are being bred, not to spread, but to stop them from reproducing—though scaling up such efforts poses a mighty challenge.

At the Terratis facility in Montpellier, male insects grow inside large glass enclosures. In batches of 400,000, they are exposed to X-rays, making them infertile…

The aim is to flood an area with sterile male mosquitoes until the invasive population gradually collapses…

The tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), which can transmit diseases such as dengue, the Zika virus and chikungunya, is now present across most of France.

But enhancing efforts to ramp down their numbers remains difficult. Of around 50 industrial projects being developed worldwide, Terratis—founded in 2024—is seen as one of the most promising.

The startup produces 1.5 million sterile mosquitoes per week and aims to reach 40 million within two years.”

From Phys.org.