Concerned with Poisons being sprayed all over SoWal? ...

Skunky, County Commissioners Scott Brannon and Cindy Meadows called for the meeting and discussion with Mosquito Control, due to the enormous amounts of interest in the mass spraying of poisons in SoWal.

Hey, did you know that the Chairman of the Mosquito Control is paid a salary of $125,000 per year by the County? That is big incentive to keep spraying. ;-)

That yellow fly that bit my middle toe causing it to swell to the size of an oscar meyer weiner is incentive enough to keep spraying!

You should spray yourself with repellent if you want protection, not the entire area, killing many varieties of insects. Not everyone wants to be coated in poison. ;-) I don't have any problems with you using DEET on yourself. Be my guest. The issue with the mass spraying of poisons is that the poisons kill more than mosquitos. You will note that by spraying, not all mosquitos, deer flies, and dog flies are killed, so spraying obviously didn't prevent you from being bitten by the deer fly, however, spraying DEET on yourself every time you go outside, might prevent bites in the future, but just remember that you might die a few years earlier, or have some terrible sickness or disease from the heavy use of DEET, in your later years. It might be easier to have a an occasional bite, and allow your body to build resistance to the bites, so it will be passed on through your genes.

By the way, there are other ways to avoid getting bitten by the three aforementioned insects, which have nothing to do with coating yourself in DEET. Wear long sleeve and light colored clothing, avoid going out at dawn and dusk, use natural repellents such as white vinegar, etc.

I think too many people forget that we need to be aware of the potential damage we can do to ourselves and our environment. We may be bothered on occasion by insects, but that doesn't warrant spraying poisons to try and kill all insects. That just isn't right. God would never approve of such behavior. There is a cycle of life, which shows that we need all things in balance. Eliminate one thing from the cycle, and we may be eliminating many things, including ourselves.

This entire issue shows what a sheltered life so many of us want to live. Rather than co-exist, we want to eliminate anything from our lives which interrupts our happiness. My father used to kill every snake he saw, and he shot a few "stray" dogs which wandered into our yard. His answer was if you don't understand something, shoot it. Somewhere down the road of life, I, thankfully, began to think for myself, and chose to take another path to follow.

Punzy your tar is SCARY.

It's amazing! Despite the fact that we've all been routinely sprayed by countless similar "poisons" since birth, life expectancy in the U.S. is now at an all-time high (77.9 yrs)! And, our number of annual deaths in the U.S. recently experienced the biggest decline since 1938. Perhaps we should start taking baths in that stuff! Whatever we're doing seems to be working...

Sounds like life expectancy could be linked to the stock market, which is also at an all time high.

I have an idea, why don't you go run behind the poison truck.

Actually, it has not all been said before;Smiley J, who are the experts you guys are bringing and what are their credentials?

Alright, insert dead horse, it is all been said before.

I'm not bringing any experts. To my knowledge, the County Commissioners called for the meeting. Please note that it is being held at the Mosquito Control Headquarters, so I am sure that there will be different degrees of "experts" at the meeting. I bet the employees will be the only ones not wearing masks.

You guys are planning a media stunt, eh? How are those turtles doing, anyway? If I remember correctly, that story was from 1985 or something like that

To my knowledge, this is an educational meeting, not a press release party.

I thought you all were going to wear masks based on what you were saying above (with media present). If I am not busy otherwise I might show up and see what this is all about.

Bring a towel with which to dry off. I hear tha they will be giving poison showers to anyone who wants one.

That would be selfish use of the community resources. No poison showers unless it is dawn or dusk, you know that;-)

Sounds like life expectancy could be linked to the stock market, which is also at an all time high.

I have an idea, why don't you go run behind the poison truck.

• "...targeting adult mosquitoes may require highly visible and extensive applications of adulticides within residential and urban areas. The adulticides registered for this use are applied at levels 100 to 10,000 times below rates that would be cause for concern about exposure risk for the general public or the environment..."
• "The ground or aerial application of chemicals to kill adult mosquitoes is usually the least efficient mosquito-control technique and is considered the last resort."
• "The tendency of poorly funded or misguided mosquito-control organizations to use only adulticiding and bypass the other, often more effective, options available conflicts directly with accepted practice."

• "...mosquitoes are one of the most deadly vectors known to man, literally killing millions of people over thousands of years and continuing to kill millions per year.... Mosquitoes are estimated to transmit disease to more than 70 million people annually in Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and much of Asia with millions of resulting deaths... before mosquito transmitted diseases were brought under control in the U.S., they caused tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of infections."
• "...Malaria is a leading cause of premature mortality, particularly in children under the age of five, with around 5.3 million deaths annually.... Most species of mosquito can carry the filariasis worm, a parasite that causes a disfiguring condition (often referred to as elephantiasis) characterized by a great swelling of several parts of the body; worldwide, around 40 million people are living with a filariasis disability. The viral diseases yellow fever and dengue fever are transmitted mostly by mosquitoes. Other viral diseases like epidemic polyarthritis, Rift Valley fever, Ross River Fever, St. Louis encephalitis, West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis, LaCross encephalitis and several other encephalitis type diseases are carried by mosquitoes."

It's amazing! Despite the fact that we've all been routinely sprayed by countless similar "poisons" since birth, life expectancy in the U.S. is now at an all-time high (77.9 yrs)! And, our number of annual deaths in the U.S. recently experienced the biggest decline since 1938. Perhaps we should start taking baths in that stuff! Whatever we're doing seems to be working...