Porter council decides to forgo mosquito spraying

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Subject:     "It just doesn't work."
     Date:     Wed, 25 Jun 2003 
    From:     Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

Porter council decides to forgo mosquito spraying - June 25, 2003

By Charles M. Bartholomew / Post-Tribune correspondent

PORTER - The Porter Town Council decided Tuesday night that the risks of spraying to eliminate mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus outweigh any benefits.

By a 3-0 vote with two members absent, the council took the advice of council member Jennifer Granat not to spend up to $8,000 for equipment, but will continue to monitor the situation and take it up again next spring.

Granat presented the results of her intensive five-day self education about the virus and pesticides on Internet sites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Indiana Department of Health.

"Porter County has five possible cases of West Nile, seven horses, and two dead crows, but no confirmed cases," she said. She said she also spoke with officials in Marion County, where there have been three confirmed deaths from the disease.

Granat said Chesterton and many other area communities have chosen not to spray.

She also said that it's too late to break the mosquito life cycle by killing the larvae, the approach recommended by many experts who view killing the adults as a last resort.

"The pesticides don't discriminate between the good insects and the bad insects," she said.

Councilman Mike Liebert said he had talked with two Illinois towns about their results with spraying.

"It just doesn't work," he said.

Granat said the best method for now is education - making sure homeowners keep their property and gutters free of stagnant pools where the insects breed and keeping water in ornamental ponds and birdbaths clean and fresh.

http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/news/z1/06-25-03_z1_news_15.html

 

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[Note:  Has anyone ever read the label of any pesticide whether off the store shelf or applied by a pest control company to find anything that states:  "Safe for use around children, pets, or pregnant women?"]

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