Very important: Please go to the USA Today page and add your comments -- chance to influence national policy (tho' I ask myself "What does it matter, the oil gusher in the Gulf is going to wipe out life as we know it, and a good chunk of the planet. There is no planet B." Maybe the Mayans knew what they were projecting in their calendar.)
- Mitchel
From USA Today (Wednesday, June 9, 2010):
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-06-08-mosquitoes_N.htm
Recession takes bite out of mosquito programs
------------------------------------------------------- Mosquito control programs include spraying with insecticides to reduce the adult population, and controlling breeding sites through the use of larvicides insecticides that target larvae before they can mature into adult mosquitoes and disperse, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. -------------------------------------------------------
By Jeff DeLong, USA TODAY Curtis Batson can easily sum up the status of the mosquito control program in San Luis Obispo County, Calif.
"We don't have one. It's completely gone," Batson, the county's director of environmental health, said of changes that he feels could increase the risk of diseases spread by mosquitoes.
Recession-weary voters rejected a ballot measure last year by a 2-1 ratio that would have funded the program, Batson said. Beginning in January, all efforts to control a population of insects that can carry potentially serious diseases such as West Nile virus as well as ruin many a barbecue came to a standstill, he said.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases of West Nile virus in humans declined significantly, from 1,356 cases and 124 fatalities in 2008 to 720 cases and 32 fatalities in 2009. About 80% of people who are infected will not show any symptoms, the CDC says.
The cuts in San Luis Obispo are part of a national trend brought on by budget cuts and the fact that the threat posed by West Nile virus has largely "fallen off the radar screen," said Joseph Conlon of the American Mosquito Control Association.
Mosquito control programs include spraying with insecticides to reduce the adult population and controlling breeding sites through the use of larvicides insecticides that target larvae before they mature into adult mosquitoes, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"You're going to have a measure of protection from mosquito-borne diseases taken away," Conlon said of the cutbacks. "We're putting ourselves at significant risk."
South Carolina had as many as 105 mosquito control districts five years ago, Conlon said, but now has 80.
In Palm Beach County, Fla., mosquito control director Ed Bradford said last year's budget was cut by about $150,000, and cuts of $200,000 or more are possible this year.
Elsewhere:
• In Reno, health officials say funding cuts will reduce the number of helicopter flights to kill mosquito larvae by 40%. That comes with "potential consequences," said Anette Rink of the state Department of Agriculture.
• In Teton County, Wyo., the mosquito control budget was cut 10% in 2009 with an additional cut of at least 15% likely this year, said John Holick, mosquito abatement supervisor.
• In Baker County, Ore., James Lunders, manager of the Baker Valley Vector Control District, said reductions in the amount of land treated for mosquitoes could also impact livestock and tourism, as well as human health.
"It's pretty scary," Lunders said. "We could get to the point we can't do enough good to matter."
Mitchel Cohen, coordinator of the New York-based No Spray Coalition, is glad to see less spraying. While it's important for local governments to continue efforts to remove standing water and kill juvenile mosquitoes through careful use of chemical larvicide, he said spraying of insecticides to kill adult mosquitoes comes with risk to human health. Insecticides also can kill predators such as dragonflies and bats that eat mosquitoes, he said.
DeLong reports for the Reno Gazette-Journal.