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

[Smiling JOe]

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 that they will be giving poison showers to anyone who wants one.

 

[30A Skunkape]

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;-)

 

[BambooBay]

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.

I love the smell of napalm in the morning!

 

[BambooBay]

For anyone who's bored, here's a lot of info on the subject from The University of Florida: http://vector.ifas.ufl.edu/chapter_03.htm. There are some interesting quotes, both "pro and con" the poison trucks:

• "...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."

A little more info for mosquito enthusiasts...

• "...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."

I don't know about anyone else, but I'll pour adulticides on my Wheaties every morning before I mess around with malaria, elephantiasis and filariasis worms! ;-)

 

[Kurt]

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...

I don't know much about poison, but even if it is 100% safe for humans to be exposed to it I don't like the idea of regular, massive fumigation of my atmosphere, which contains a lot more life than just mosquitoes.

Do you mean the percentage of annual deaths in relation to the overall population has declined? Where did you get the stat? Wouldn't you think the years after we ceased participation in major wars would have the steepest declines?

To what do you attribute our high rate of infant mortality? Fruits and vegetables?

Science can prolong life, and it can shorten or end life. Diabetes, learning disabilities, obesity, cancer, autism are a few things being called epidemics. You could add ignorance and arrogance to the list because "whatever we're doing it seems to be working". :roll:

 

[Smiling JOe]

BambooBay, if you don't like mosquitos, you can spray DEET on yourself if you are not willing to take other preventive measures. You do have an A/C in your home, I imagine, so you can shut the windows. You have the choice.

There is another thread regarding the effects of the poisons being sprayed, and this one is primarily for notice that an educational meeting will be held. If you have comments regarding the poisons or deaths, please post in the other thread.

 

[BambooBay]

Well, first of all, APOLOGIES TO ALL FOR MY POSTS IN THIS THREAD. I just now read the other thread on this subject. Not only is this horse dead, but it's soaked in DEET.

As punishment, I vow to strictly adhere to Smiling Joe's recommended summer beach attire: I will always wear long sleeves, I will not go outside in the morning or evening hours, and I will routinely douse myself in white vinegar. (Jeez, thank God I'm already married...I bet it's hell finding a date in that kind of getup!) ;-)

P.S. Kurt, I remember seeing it on the news or online about a year ago, but here's one article I found about it: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/04/19/national/a131309D69.DTL

 

[danhall]

There will be experts from both sides of the issue present at the meeting. Mr. Skunkape, this thread doesn't concern you. This thread concerns those of us who ARE concerned. You are obviously very happy with your current situation and I applaud your intestinal fortitude. Please leave this thread for those of us who would like to INVESTIGATE this matter further. Please let us decide this through the proper amount of red tape and bureaucratic double-speak, without passing judgement from your proverbial armchair. Or, are you willing to go fight for the pesticide's right to liberty and freedom? Are you PRO-pesticide? I am no expert, but I doubt the fella driving the truck past my house twice a week is either. I want a discussion in the public forum. That is democracy.

My family ran a pest control business for countless years, and I grew up in that environment. My exposure level was high, and I do not wish to be sprayed any longer. I moved to this area to reach my full potential, enjoy the wonderful weather and environment, and get healthy. I consider the mass spraying of pesticides to be anathema to this pursuit. There are other options, and though you would love for someone to point them out so that you can riff on them, I think we will save it for the meeting where there might be viable discussion.

 

[BambooBay]

To what do you attribute our high rate of infant mortality?

Here's a list of [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate"]infant mortality rates by country[/ame]. As you can see, we're waaaaaaay down the list. And even then:

"The US counts many infant births as "live" which other countries do not (and therefore usually appears to have a much higher rate of infant mortality than similar countries). The US counts an infant exhibiting any sign of life as alive, no matter the month of gestation or the size, but other countries differ in these practices. For example, in Germany and Austria, fetal weight must reach one pound to be counted as a live birth, while in some other countries, including Switzerland, the baby must be at least 12 inches long. Both Belgium and France report babies as born lifeless if they are less than 26 weeks' gestation."

Anyway, good luck with your meeting guys (seriously). I intended no offense to anyone, nor did I mean to disrupt the thread with irrelevant posts. I took the thread's Subject Line as a literal question, and I weighed in on it with my opinion. Sincere apologies if I was out of line....

 

[Kurt]

P.S. Kurt, I remember seeing it on the news or online about a year ago, but here's one article I found about it: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/04/19/national/a131309D69.DTL

I can see that you are trying to have fun but you created some questions for me which are answered in the article.

To see such a giant drop after years of annual increases was a little hard to swallow for some.

"We will not make much of this until the final data come out," said Elizabeth Ward, director of surveillance research for the American Cancer Society....
The center said drops in the death rates for heart disease, cancer and stroke accounted for most of the decline....
Overall, age-adjusted death rates fell to a record low of 801 deaths per 100,000 population in 2004, down from almost 833 deaths per 100,000 in 2003....
Japan, Monaco and San Marino had the highest life expectancy, 82 years, in 2004, according to World Health Organization statistics. Australia, Iceland, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland have a life expectancy of 81. Canada, France, Israel, Norway, Spain and Britain are among the other countries with life expectancies above 78.

They must spray every day in those countries.