Why did it take so long and so many ill/dead people to bring in the planes. Guardian is wrong about the effectiveness of dusting bugs from the air. I agree about the fire business though….geeez that costs huge bucks. Killing bugs from the air is likely cheaper than from the ground.

Oh, by the way, I am ANTI SPRAYING WITH DIBROM. Google Dibrom yourselves and find out what risk we are put to. I would rather put up with the W.N. Virus than risk my family and my future to such poison! Oh, well, I am sure that the gov. will be out of town.
One of the stated problems is ” it can over stimulate the nervous system causing nausea, dizziness, confusion, and at high exposures, can cause respiratory paralysis and death. One of the byproducts of degradation of Naled is dichlorvos, another registered organophosphate. This compound is of toxicological concern.” While another is “encephalitis increase linked to pesticide use” with dibrom the named pestiticide.

Tomorrow I will say good bye to my hummingbirds and other wild life who may just succumb to the poison more rapidly than the virus.

sigh.

I’m against the spraying without more evaluation because I worry it may do more harm than good. While it certainly makes the Commisioners look like they are doing something, I just think it may be the wrong thing.

Slim Jim’s suggestion is dead on. I educated myself a little on the subject and found that many other cities faced the identical problem which shouldn’t be a surprise since other parts of the country have been facing the problem for years. One study’s executive summary made the following conclusions in addition to the health concerns caused by spreading a toxic substance:

“Adulticiding, or the spraying to kill adult mosquitoes, has not been proven effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that ground and aerial spraying is usually the least effective mosquito control technique.”

“In addition to exposing the public to toxic pesticides, spraying leaves communities with a false sense of security making them less likely to use effective, non-toxic control measures. Long-term spraying may actually increase the number of mosquitoes by destroying predators that feed on mosquito larvae and adults. Additionally, mosquitoes that are sprayed, but not killed, by the pesticides may become resistant, live longer, become more aggressive biters, and have increased prevalence of [West Nile Virus] within their bodies.”

http://www.meepi.org/wnv/overkillma.htm

The County plans to make a patchwork run concentrating efforts on the river where Boise gets a high percentage of its drinking water. In doing so it will kill not only adult mosquitos but also most of the adult insects in the target zone including mosquito predators like dragonflies. It will do nothing to kill off mosquito larva. We know the mosquito population will rebound well but what about the other riparian insects and fish.

As a citizen I worry about the harm that we’ll cause in rushing to judgment that this method will be the salvation to the WNV problem. As a flyfisherman I’m astonished that we want to sacrifice an indispensible component of the riparian habitat on a method that may not be effective and indeed may prove more harmful than helpful.

Who actually made the decision to spray? I need to know who to sue if we have health effects from spraying.

On the news last night it was suggested we close our windows, keep our pets inside, and turn off the air conditioner!!! There are going to be a lot of crabby people going to work on Tuesday and Wednesday after being cooped up in hot houses two nights in a row.

This seems like overkill to me. I guess if our bird feeders are empty later in the week we will know this isn’t a good idea, but it will be too late then.

We haven’t noticed any mosquitoes this year in our area of Eagle. I do use repellent if I am in areas that might have the insects.

Too late? Well, they haven’t sprayed yet. I sent an email to the County Commishes asking them to change the plan. I used the info gathered from googling (as suggested by Slim Jim) and from Sisyphus. Get to it folks, let THEM know how you feel. Hey, send a cc to the gov.
Fast, kids, let’s work on this.

OK so they spray for WNV. What happens next year? and the year after that? We need to sell the rest of the country that Idaho is the West Nile Virus center of the universe. It’s like our own malaria lite. How many people have been hospitalized in Ada and Canyon counties from car accidents due to yaking on cell phones? Why don’t we spray for that? Let’s spray for everything while we’re at it.
I too have recovered from WNV. For me, it was a bad flu. Glad I didn’t have to go to the hospital. This is total political grandstanding. It won’t make the problem go away and might make it worse. Nature needs to take it’s course. Anyway it looks to me like BoDo can use the extra parking. We need to promote the upside to WNV.

George, I fear the DDT has softened your judgement. The California thing is not truly an issue, but the figures from new driver licenses clearly show CALIFORNIA is the number one previous home of new residents. GUARDIAN–better watch this guy!

I am curious as to how the County decided which areas they would spray and which would not be subjected to such treatment. Did anyone else notice that they aren’t going near the Western Idaho Fairgrounds?

Sharon, I was just thinking that. Nonetheless, I would avoid being outside – including the fair – during the spraying periods just because of my own common sense and we have been told to close windows and turn off the ac. They are spraying close enough on the other side of Glenwood to wonder about the safety of my cotton candy!!

I wonder how the (insect eating) bats will fair. I wonder if we will hear crickets next week as I am hearing them now.

ohhhh there they go – planes a buzzin’
it’s war time and some humans feel good about themselves not realizing that we are all a part of some big chain.

BIG, thank you, thank you, thank you.
If no permit has been given we may have to tolerate only one night of poison.