Washington, D.C. does not spray adulticides.
Officials in our nation's capital decided not to
spray adulticides “for many reasons.” These include scientific
research
that demonstrates that adulticiding is not effective, as well as
concerns over
health risks to people. We quote from the plan for 2004:
“Adulticiding only kills mosquitoes
that are flying and remains
effective for only a few hours. The
efficacy
of adulticiding is
open for debate and is not considered an effective tool for
mosquito
management or control through only one application, or, over
time, as
shown through scientific research. Reapplications
of
adulticide
may compound negative health effects of pesticide
usage.”
(Emphasis ours)
“Washington, DC has the highest
asthma
rate in the country (2.5 times
the national average). Aerosolized
pesticides
can
trigger asthma
and aggravate respiratory conditions . . .
Broadcast
aerosol
applications of pesticides, even at night, will elicit a negative
public response.” (Emphasis ours)
Are people, particularly those responsible for
spraying pesticides,
aware of the fact that the California Department Of Health Services
estimated the number of people in 2003 in Yolo County with asthma at
23,000 (17,000 adults and 6,000 children), for example? If
even a
small
percentage of these people were negatively impacted by adulticides
it
would be a significant number. Again, from the D.C. plan:
“The District does not expect to
spray
for mosquitoes because of low
efficacy; kills of non-target species and potential health risks
to a
high population of persons affected with respiratory problems and
compromised immune systems.”
“When we find West Nile present in
mosquito pools here in Washington, D.C., we don't spray,” said
Peggy
Keller, chief of the Bureau of Community Hygiene and Animal
Disease
Prevention in the D.C. Department of Health.
“We've learned that the best way to
protect the public from both the virus and the pesticides is to
intensify our larval program and distribute outreach and education
information that emphasizes prevention and protection techniques
to the
public in the surrounding area.
Read more about the
District's model in achieving
a
positive community response and protecting all citizens. Also,
a
July 30, 2007, article
from the Washington Post reports that in that area: "Five years ago,
West Nile virus
seemed like a major public health threat to the Washington region,
with
nearly 100 human cases and 11 deaths. But the disease has receded
rapidly here since then, even as it remains a problem elsewhere in
the
United States. Health experts credit the region's relatively
low
toll
since then to a well-coordinated response from local agencies that
included raising public awareness about prevention and applying
larvicide to storm drains and other target areas." The virus
is
receding into chronic endemicity: "the virus seems to be stabilized
. .
. it is endemic in our area."
When we pointed out the great D.C. success in
controlling WNv with larvacides, water management, and public
education, without spraying adulticides, District Manager David
Brown inexplicably changed his position
on which
mosquito species demanded that we spray in this region and argued
that
D.C. officials have an easier time of things, whereas exactly the
opposite is true -- according to our entomologist we lack several
potent vectors that the East coast has to contend with such as Aedes
solicitans, that are much more likely to transmit to people
than either
of the main suspected vectors here, Culex tarsalis or Culex
pipiens. But more importantly, our climate is hostile
to the
transmission of this arbovirus where the more humid climate of D.C.
promotes it. This has to do with the relatively low
survivorship
of mosquitoes in arid and semi-arid habitats such as ours, and the
length of time required for the incubation of the virus in the
mosquitoes. Only one in a thousand will live long enough to transmit
the disease in our climatic conditions.