Drive by mosquito fogging dangerous?

[ChaoSS]

http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/permethrin_fs.htm

Pretty standard pesticide used. Likely to be carcinogenic. Not all effects understood. (Means neurological effects unknown).

 

[Blooie]

Countless harmless chemicals and drugs are later linked to cancer, neurological disorders, birth defects, reproductive harm, sterility, learning disorders, and other issues.


Surely there is a better way to control mosquitoes than regularly dosing the entire neighborhood, including the people in it.

One would hope....but then try, just try, to get people to do the little things that could make a difference. They simply won't do it. Checking flower pot saucers for a little water? Nope, too many flower pots to check them all. Eliminating tires behind the garage that hold water in the bottom? Nope, too heavy to move. Putting a little piece of Mosquito Dunk in their birdbaths? Nope, might be dangerous to the birds. (It isn't...that one I have looked into) Tipping kids' outdoor toys and dumping the little bit of water that collects in them? That's making them go to extremes. Checking the area under downspouts for mini-swamps? Can't be bothered. Cleaning gutters so water drains out of them completely? Nope, too much work. Completely changing water in pet and stock waterers? Wayyy too much hassle. And so it goes - they demand that communities do something about the mosquito population but won't do a thing to lend a hand in removing breeding places.

Our mosquito population here in Cowley is ridiculous, and we live in a high desert! I don't even call them "mosquitos", I call them "teeth with wings." It's a real issue, and every year we send the same mosquito control information to every household. Some comply, some don't. It only takes a few drops of standing water to cause an issue, but some people never see that they are a large contributor to the mosquito problem. "Not me! Must be Joe down the street." So we spray and we do aerial fogging with a larveacide. If we didn't, the same people who are breeding the doggone things would be at the next council meeting complaining that we're not doing anything about mosquito control.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Surely there is a better way to control mosquitoes than regularly dosing the entire neighborhood, including the people in it.

A very good way used in the past to control mosquitoes in places like Florida was to set dynamite charges in the road ditches and drainage canals then blow the stagnant water to kingdom come.

Another good control measure from the past was to pour motor oil or diesel fuel in the water to act like a barrier to mosquito wigglers which must breath air through a tube on their backsides thus smothering them.

Or you could just do without mosquito control altogether and allow your chickens to die from the two forms of chicken pox spread by mosquitoes.

The agents used in mosquito fogging are so short lived that they stop working before daylight. That is the reason for the need to fog so often. The idea being to ambush the adult mosquitoes when they begin flying in the evening. If the fogging agent had a long active period it would prevent mosquitoes from reproducing in stagnant water or kill every fish in sight..

 

[chickengeorgeto]

http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/permethrin_fs.htm

Pretty standard pesticide used. Likely to be carcinogenic. Not all effects understood. (Means neurological effects unknown).

Do you have any proof of that?

http://stevecures.hubpages.com/hub/OverTheCounterScabiesTreatment

"Permethrin 5% (Elimite). Your doctor may recommend that you apply this cream twice, with a week or so between each application. Permethrin is generally considered as the treatment of choice for children and for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, and is considered safe for infants as young as 2 months old."

Must be some awful stuff that Permethrin?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Dunks use a form of Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) that specifically targets mosquito larva and the larva of some real close relatives. BT is a naturally occurring approved ORGANIC method to control some insects. BT is very target specific. Basically it makes the targeted insects sick to the stomach, they quit eating, and starve to death. It does not affect anything except the target species. A different form of BT is extremely effective against leaf-eating caterpillars. It doesn't kill by contact or kill immediately, but they quit eating and starve to death. You can safely eat the vegetables the day they are sprayed. BT will not affect people, birds, or mammals, just the target species.

Some communities use the BT that specifically targets mosquitoes in their fogger. They might or might not use something else with it. I don't know if it smells. Contact your local authority and see what you are dealing with instead of letting someone on the internet frighten you when you when they don't know what is being used and you may have no reason at all to be frightened. Deal with facts, not someone's guesses.

There has been a lot of money spent in studying mosquito control. What works, what doesn't, what are the risks, costs, and benefits. It doesn't matter if some method could work if it has been constantly proven that it doesn't work. Theory is one thing, practical is another. People in real life and actually responsible for the results deal with practical.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

....Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) that specifically targets mosquito larva and the larva of some real close relatives. BT is a naturally occurring approved ORGANIC method to control some insects.

Unfortunately mosquitoes are not moths, and mosquito larva are not caterpillars so the first generation of Bt won't control these pests. I wish that it would but unfortunately it won't.

 

[Ridgerunner]

George, there are different BT's. Each work on different things and those things only. It's not a first generation thing. The leaf eating caterpillar BT works on leaf eating caterpillars, not mosquito larva. The mosquito larva BT works on mosquito larva, not leaf eating caterpillars.