Active boll weevil eradication programs were in progress in five different regions of the Mid-South during 1998. Two of these regions, the Hill Region of Mississippi and the Red River Valley Region of Louisiana, were involved in the first full season of eradication following initiation in August of 1997. Excellent progress toward eradication was achieved in all regions. In the two regions involved in the first full season of eradication, no yield losses were attributed to boll weevils in 1998. Both of these areas experienced increased populations of secondary pests, especially aphids, whiteflies and, in fields not planted to transgenic Bt varieties, tobacco budworms. This flaring of secondary pests is attributed to the frequent applications of ULV malathion that are required during the early years of a boll weevil eradication effort and the effect of these treatments on beneficial insect populations. Fortunately growers had several new insect control tools available that help limit the damage potential of secondary pest outbreaks, and in most areas, the yield losses attributed to these increased secondary pest problems were offset, in whole or in part, by the reduction in yield losses caused by boll weevils. Flaring of secondary pests is expected to decline as the eradication program progresses and the number of applications of ULV malathion and the percent of fields requiring treatment declines.