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No Spray News

James Irwin
PO Box 6393
Columbia, SC  29260

803-782-7114

April 15, 2002      Page 4

Scientist Speak Out
To Question Value of Mosquito Spraying

   First, let's hear from Dr. Wayne Crans, Director of Mosquito Research & Control at Rutgers University:

"The average person thinks the way you control mosquitoes is you spray for them. That's absolutely not true. Spraying is a last, last resort."

(Source: New York Times, [about] Sept. 6, 1999)

The New York Times article described Dr. Crans as is "one of the nation's leading mosquito experts."

 

Spraying in Response to West Nile Virus
Called a Failure in New York

    Ray Cowen, the regional director of the New York State Department of Envirorunental Conservation, . . . urged mosquito breeding prevention over the use of pesticides. He said effective alternatives to blanket spraying would consist of public education regarding the reduction of breeding sites, such as still water, personal protection and mosquito surveillance. It was his opinion that the use of pesticides last fall to combat mosquitoes was a failure.

   But, "not being able to control adult mosquitoes does not constitute a failure, but a reality, " said Dominic Ninivaggi, director of the Suffolk County Vector Control Program, who also stressed the importance of prevention over pesticides.   

http://www.longislandernews.com/index.html
March 9, 2000
(apparently this newspaper group no longer archives news on its web site)

 

CDC Scientists find that Spraying Isn't Effective in Trials
Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association  Vol. 6, No. 3
P. Reiter, D. A. Eliason, D. B. Francy, C. G. Moore and E. G. Campos
Division of Vector-Borne Infections Diseases,
Centers for Disease Control, PO Box 2087, Fort Collins, CO 80522

   Clearly none of these trials represents an exhaustive evaluation of the efficacy of ULV for urban Culex control, but it is notable that in each case it was concluded that ULV treatments did not result in a satisfactory reduction of the mosquito population. The remainder of published studies involve field bioassay of caged, laboratory-reared insects. We consider it unlikely that such tests can provide a useful simulation of the impact of a treatment on unrestricted mosquitoes in the natural habitat.

"ULV" = Mosquito Spraying

 

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