Back to the West Nile Virus listserv archive.

Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002
Posted by: Ninivaggi, Dominick (Dominick.Ninivaggi@co.suffolk.ny.us)

I recently found the following quote from the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) on another list:

"Fenthion is one of the most dangerous bird killing pesticides in use in this country," said Dr. Patti Bright, director of American Bird Conservancy's pesticides and birds campaign. "It is not necessary to bear the extreme ecological costs of fenthion when there are equally effective pesticides available for mosquito control that won't kill birds, don't wreak environmental havoc, and are in use to combat mosquitos in 49 other states and even most of Florida."

While I don't know enough of the particulars to evaluate her assessment for fenthion, as used in mosquito control, I am pleased to hear her realization that we do, in fact, have pesticides that "won't kill birds" and "don't wreak environmental havoc". This is real progress, since previous statements by ABC seem opposed to all forms of pesticide use for mosquito control.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WESTNILEVIRUS-L is an email discussion group for communication
and discussion about West Nile Virus, particularly regarding policy,
risk reduction and public education issues. It is moderated by
Dr. Lois Levitan at Cornell University's Center for the Environment.
To subscribe (or unsubscribe), send an email request to envrisk@cornell.edu.
Subscribers are encouraged to post to the group by sending an email to:
WESTNILEVIRUS-L@cornell.edu.  Please send only unformatted text,
without attachments.   Archives  are posted at: 
http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/erap/WNV/WNV-LArchiveIndex.cfm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------