Source: Dated Sun, Jul 17, 2022 at 6:12 pm PT
The San Diego County Vector Control Program (VCP) will conduct its fifth routine aerial mosquito-fighting larvicide application on ten different Oceanside waterways this coming Wednesday and Thursday. Granules of larvicide will be applied via helicopter to specific waterways known to breed mosquitoes throughout the San Diego region to reduce mosquito breeding and decrease the risk of West Nile virus (WNV) transmission. The larvicide consists of naturally occurring bacteria that target mosquito larvae but are safe for people, pets, plants and wildlife. (Oceanside-Camp Pendleton Patch)
Well heck it’s safe for wildlife so that’s okay right.
Except that it’s _not_ safe for wildlife. I don’t know what dictionary the VCP is using but they apparently have found a different definition of _wildlife_ then is normal. It is not safe for the bees that inhabit these areas it is not safe for the monarch butterflies. And it is particularly not safe for dragonflies or damselflies that inhabit this area. Both dragonflies and damselflies, including their larvae, are excellent mosquito predators. Guess what…. These insecticides kill them. Let’s kill the natural native mosquito predators and then vector control gets to buy more toxins (from the chemical industry reps. at three Martini lunches) to spray in your backyard and tell you what an important job they are doing for you. And please remember that according to the chemical industry Representatives Roundup is safe for people and pets. Completely safe,
And if you’re living outside San Diego county and smirking you probably shouldn’t be because your local vector control is likely doing the same thing. In many cases these vector control bureaucrats have passed rules and legislation that allow them to bypass environmental regulations.
These biocides are also not safe for a variety of aquatic organisms that actually outcompete mosquito larva. So let’s poison the very ecology that could help us, and instead of doing a better job of pouring out standing water in our own backyards let’s aerial spray toxins all over everybody. Think you can grow organic food in your backyard?