> The group promised to make the aerial spraying program politically and financially impossible through the coordinated release of thousands of medflies.

It's not just that "on balance" they stumbled into accidentally achieving their goal. They achieved exactly what they set out to achieve, in the exact way they planned to achieve it.

Well, the same strategies are used (sterile flies plus pesticide bait), but spinosad replaces malathion. I don't see this being any different without the protests. Pesticides are replaced all the time, like Dursban.