Residents Petition Dallas to Put Kibosh on Sprayings
By now you’ve probably heard that Dallas (and University Park and Highland Park) is considering using aerial spraying to combat West Nile. It’s a plan not without controversy.
Those opposed to the plan have launched a Change.org petition, urging Mayor Mike Rawlings to take aerial sprayings off the table, and stick with ground sprayings. Petition’s got 868 signatures, and it’s looking for 3,000.
I urge the city of Dallas “not” to spray for the West Nile virus. Instead, energy needs to be spent looking for standing pools of water [probably from sprinker systems] and swimming pools that are not well maintained. We have enough chemicals floating in the air – we do not need to add more. Also, people need to realize this was all prairie land first, not an English garden – hence, everyone needs to concentrate on using native plants and less water.
Oh please. How many more human beings have to die before they spray the heck out of the place? Forget the dang prairie grass, geckos, little fishies etc. Put my grandparents before the dang honey bees and fumigate now!
@Rico Ignorance might be bliss but it doesn’t change the fact that aerial spraying comes with huge consequences, which is the reason why it is used as a last resort. Spray yourself and your grandparents with the less than savory pesticides if you want but aerial spraying is definitely not the ideal solution.
Rico, spraying would not be a good thing for your grandparents. There have been confirmed reports that Aerial spraying for mosquitoes lead to more injuries from pesticide exposures than cases of West Nile infection, a disturbing outcome for any measure intended to curb public health threats.
A 2006 Centers for Disease Control and Harvard Public School of Health study found that spraying does not appear to prevent the spread of West Nile. Furthermore, entomology experts note that aerial spraying is inefficient and largely ineffective in the long run, with as little as 1% of mosquitoes being hit by the spraying according to Cornell University entomologist David Pimentel. Integrated pest management experts note that government agencies often test for mosquitoes immediately following the spraying and note temporary reduction in mosquito population as evidence of efficacy of spraying. However, more thorough case study assessments have shown that mosquito populations quickly bounce back following spraying because of unintended die off of mosquito predator species, which can allow mosquitoes to rebound unchecked. When officials aerial sprayed parts of Florida following Hurrican Floyd, the mosquito populations rebounded to pre-pray levels within three days. Aerial spraying also is much more likely to hit other unintended targets when compared to truck-based spraying and dramatically increases the city’s risk of injuring residents exposed to pesticide drift and residue.
Woops! Typo. “rebounded to pre-spray levels”.
Rico: Point to any shred of scientific proof that aerial spraying will help, and let’s talk. Don’t just point to your grandparents and start sacrificing goats to the gods. This is the twenty-first century. We can do better than merely act out of fear. (I hope.)
FWIW, I am not in favor of aerial spraying, but if any one thinks that the answer is to try to get all of our neighbors to drain/treat standing water, ponds or other breeding pools and spray their own yards, you are mistaken. Nice idea, but I think you’d be very lucky to get 30% participation.
Gee wiz look at all the smart people on this blog coming up with all the brilliant alternatives to spraying. Like let’s replant the entire landscape with native grasses so we dont need to use as much water. Kumbaya baby, Kumbaya….. Meanwhile, woops, another elderly resident bites the dust. But hey, we did the right thing by sitting on our hands, too scared to act. What’s the alternative people?
@ Rico, sorry to pile on, but come on. Of course there are alternatives to aerial spraying. Municipalities have myriad regulations – for example, current landscaping could be grandfathered in, but the landscaping for new construction (residential & commercial) could be restricted to native plants/grasses/trees that require less water. That would only be one small change, but at least it’s a start. Other small changes could be made incrementally until they added up to a big improvement.
Try finding Bite Blocker to protect your grandparents. It has soybean oil, geranium oil & coconut oil.
I’m not so sure Rico is a “smart person”.
I’ve said a long time ago to administrators of HP that this town is run like a ship with no captain. West Nile was a problem in the past and HP administrators went back to sleep, and here we are again. Nothing new.
It is the same with the old outdated emergency communications equipment that broke down, it needed to be warmed up before using and was an old tube system. Junk. HP government and council can’t even manage the new construction budget, over millions, and now facing more West Nile Virus risk to the residents.
Further, we have a complainer councilmember complaining about new technology becuase he likes paper to move around. In my opinion, a disgrace.
IT IS ABSOLUTELY SHAMEFUL THE RESIDENTS OF HP ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE. Really great job community leagues! I guess those new town limit signs and new patio grills really were the priority over families and children.
Preventative GROUND spraying and continued GROUND spraying after the 1st West Nile episode years ago would have gone a long way.
jbw- How will your alternative do anything to protect the citizens from West Nile over the next few weeks? UPDad- It appears that I’m about as smart as our city manager, mayor, city council, county commissioners and the scientists at the CDC, all of whom have decided that aerial spraying is safe and effective. They’re gonna start using it this weekend. So Mr. Conspiracy Theory, go outside and breath in deep. It just might clear your head a little.
What’s the effect on average lifespan of people in sprayed areas? Lowered by a year and a half each? So we lose tens of thousands of years of lifespan to prevent loss of a few hundred years. I don’t hear any suggestion from “health authorities” to see about boosting our immune systems with beta glucan, ginseng, garlic, vitamin A et al. I suggest people start dosing on liver detox agents like reduced L-glutathione if in area to be sprayed. Big Pharma and Big Chemical are in league with Big Medicine to LOWER your lifespan! Try Googling the term “useless eaters.”
@ Rico, yes, I do agree with you that my suggestions don’t help in the short-term. But so often, we know there are problems ahead & yet we don’t start working on solutions until it’s too late. It seems to me that preventive measures are better than waiting until the last minute & then using the most drastic (and still short-term) solutions.
Quick idea, what about INSTEAD of spraying cities with pesticides we increase mosquito predators and set up a big campaign to reduce mosquito breeding areas?