Maryland Department of Agriculture workers will spray for mosquitoes in Eastport due to West Nile virus activity found in the area, according to a press release.
The spraying will be done by truck on Monday and Oct. 1 weather permitting. It will include Eastport Terrace, Knightsbridge, Primrose Acres and Truxton Heights, according to a release.
To see a map of the spray area, click here.
In August, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene confirmed the first death, route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"state-confirms-first-west-nile-virus-death"} --> in Maryland due to West Nile. There have been 13 confirmed cases in the state so far this year—at least one of which was in
West Nile might kill you these pesticides will kill you.
This spraying will effectively kill pollinators--bees, butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies, poisons those that eat them, puts toxins into ground water, and sewage drains, creates run off into the Chesapeake Bay, damages frogs & aquatic life and will be tracked into houses on shoes and by pets to embed in carpets and floors on which barefeet walk. Backyard gardens bearing vegetables and fruit in the area will now be unsafe to eat. I am all for protecting human health. But all this frenzy...what madness! It's like using a sledge hammer to crack an egg. We need to deter mosquitoes in the environment. But their natural predators, such as birds, bats, dragonflies and spiders, are being killed off by human contamination, and our perfectly fertilized & pesticide laden lawns. The reduction of the predatory population, combined with human-created breeding habitats (trash, abandoned tires, and forgotten water-filled buckets) encourage the mosquito population. Instead of massive spraying efforts to kill everything, we should encourage efforts to manage, focus on prevention, public education and personal protection from mosquito bites by clean up of breeding grounds and limiting outdoor exposure at peak activity times. Everything is connected. One action has lots of ripples in the water. Are we using good judgement here? I think not.
"Localized adult mosquito populations which exceed the action threshold can be managed with an application of insecticide dispersed from truck-mounted, ultra low volume (ULV), aerosol generators. The principle insecticide applied for adult mosquito control in Maryland is permethrin, synergized with piperonyl butoxide (PBO). ULV units disperse the synergized pyrethroid insecticides (0.003 lb. active ingredient per acre) over an effective swath width of 300 feet. Applications ideally are made when mosquito activity is high, wind velocity is 2 to 10 mph, air temperature is between 60 to 85 degrees F, relative humidity is high and a temperature inversion exists."