Steve Campbell's Sunday piece on his battle with West Nile spoke to my own struggle with another illness: Lyme disease. (See: "My trip into West Nile Purgatory")
But years of my life lost to Lyme disease taught me how we often reach for easy, reductive answers in the face of what we fear.Disruption of the ecosystem has driven these zoonotic diseases out of the woods and into the human population, according to research reported in The New York Times (nyti.ms/P79apx).Coating Tarrant and Dallas counties with neurotoxic pesticide will only further disrupt the ecosystem. Studies show pyrethroids are reaching startling levels in waterways (due to runoff), triggering insect resistance, killing off predator insects and causing short- and long-term health effects.My organization's hotline has received several reports of medically documented aerial spray injury, including but not limited to respiratory effects, nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms, consistent with pyrethroid exposure. Yet officials continue to state there have been no effects.Retired Cornell University entomologist David Pimentel has noted that larviciding is the most effective way to control mosquitoes, while aerial spraying is the least efficient in the long run, according to the Boston Herald. Any short-term mosquito reductions from spraying are quickly met with rebounds.And Rutgers University entomologists who review New Jersey's mosquito-abatement plan have said, "Just as bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics, mosquitoes evolve resistance to insecticides used for their control." They noted that spraying of adult mosquitoes might be necessary but should be "avoided." (bit.ly/NKrirz).Sacramento, Calif., which has used aerial spraying for several years, is already experiencing mosquito resistance and has escalated to significantly more toxic organophosphate pesticides. That's what we can look forward to if this runaway train keeps moving toward that train wreck of an approach. Instead of spending the ridiculous amount of money wasted on this knee-jerk response, we should be fully funding the preventative larviciding, code enforcement and education that could have prevented this crisis.Instead, we are hearing how the folks who dropped the ball are convinced they saved the day based on shortsighted mosquito counts that will only rebound as soon as the next batch of larvae turn into the next round of pupa and mosquitoes.Jenny Land of Dallas is with Concerned Citizens for Safer Mosquito Control.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
