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Show THE ZEPHYRJULY 1991 PAGE 24 ! Malathion...a toxic quick fix? by Eric Bjomstad ".Ne are not yet sure, when we fire at a peat, that are have not eaat a boomerang, the which of may be delayed long enough to fool ua." avenging flight (David Brower, For Earth's Sake.) "When the wind blows down at the slough, the mosquitos blow like smoke into Moab." (Pete Byrd, telephone Interview.) disease . "Ualathlon Is usually only used when there Is an epidemic of mosqulto-bom- e cannot Imagine the mosquito abatement board not being liable In a lawsuit for spraying die residents along Powerhouse Lane." (Ed Stearns, Pesticide Licensing Bureau, EPA Denver office, to Andrew Riley, Powerhouse Lane trailer park owner.) the 60s when I lived at die ranch house now Grand Old Ranch House restaurant I had to wear a face mask to work outside, the mosquitos were so bad." "In (Pete Byrd, interview.) "Im Just doing my Job." (Jolene Welch, to resldenta of Powerhouse Lane.) "The EPA, without question, needs to do more stud!es.We have a pesticide mentality In tills country which Is promoted by the pesticide companies who spent vast amounts of money to sell their product" (Dr. Mel Reuber, National Cancer Institute, National Coalition Against Misuse of Pesticides, Washington, D.C.) "What makes you think we dont have a quality control program? You, the people of Moab, have to accept this board. You have to trust this board. If you dont then you need to go a different way... Our decisions are made; they will stands Why are you harassing us? Why tell me the same tiling? Im tired of hearing It; go somewhere aise.Were going to fog Powerhouse Lane for your health and for the health of Moablf you dont accept It go up state, get rid of us." (Mel Anzinl, control board member, in an outburst at the M.M AD. Meeting June 4, 1991.) most areas throughout the U.S., there are hundreds of local mosquito abatement districts charged with the responsibility for mosquito control and financed by local taxes. These organizations are primarily the legacy of malaria programs that managed to eliminate malaria as a transmissible disease In dm U.S. by dm 1950s. Some of these existing organizations and their personnel need to be reoriented to less toxic technologies now avallable..The for mosquito misdirected and often dangerous practice of routine fogging or space-sprayicontrol continues In spite of decades of experience with successful alternatives." "In ng (William Olkowski, "Mosquitos The Water Connection," reported in Common Sense Pest Control. Spring 1987.) "The widely used organic phosphates Ualathion...are actually more toxic to higher life forms titan are the chlorinated hydrocarbons DDT. The immediate effects of this family of poisons on humans Include drowsiness, confusion, anxiety, headaches, nausea, sweating, and difficulty in breathing. The symptoms are common to so many disorders that poisoning brain is frequently misdiagnosed. Acute effects Include paralysis, convulsions, long-terdeath." damage, coma, and (Steve Coffei, The Lifesaving Guide to Good Water.) m think Jolene Welch should be given a medal for spraying the residents of Powerhouse Lane." (Grand County Commission Chairman David Knutson, to Andrew Riley) "I "...We might look at the case of a enthusiastic spare-tim- e gardener-w-ho DDT on then malathlon and his shrubs and lawn, making regular weekly began using applications. Sometimes he applied the chemicals with a hand spray, sometimes with an attachment to his hose. In doing so, his skin and clothing were often soaked with apray. After about a year of tills sort of thing, he suddenly collapsed and was hospitalized. Examination of a biopsy specimen of fat showed an accumulation of 23 parts per million of DDT. There was extensive nerve damage, which his physicians regarded as permanent As time went on he lost weight, suffered extreme fatigue, and experienced a peculiar muacular weakness, a characteristic effect of malathlon." physlclan--an (Rachel Carson, Silent Spring.) ...The toxicity of an organic phosphate can be Increased by a second agent that la not necessarily an Insecticide. For example, one of the plasticizing agents may act even more strongly than another Insecticide to make malathlon more dangeroua.JThls la because It Inhibits the liver enzyme that normally would draw the teeth of the poisonous Insecticide." (Rachel Carson, Silent Spring.) know the mosquito people work very hard to kill baby mosquitos In the water. I see them working regularly by my residence near the creek. They would not use any chemical harmful to humans to kill adult mosquitoes." June 20, 1991.) (Betty Walters, letter to the editor, 1 Times-lndepende- hazard exists not only for the man who may spray this week with one Insecticide and next week with another; It exists also for the consumer of sprayed products. The common salad bowl may easily present a combination of organic phosphate Insecticides of which malathlon Is one. Residues well within the legally permissible limits may Interact" (Rachel Carson, Silent Spring.) nt, "The ...Dr. Adrian Gross, an EPA cancer researcher, concluded from his study of NCI National Cancer Institute to currently established tolerances for malathlon can be expected to get cancer." (Jack Anderson, The Washington Post, June 9, 1984: EPA Officials Ignore the Risk Pesticide Poses.) "M.MJLD. Moab Mosquito Abatement District was In violation of their own policy when they went In and sprayed even when pedestrians were out" (Kevin Dwyer, to the M.M.A.D. control board, citing a notice posted on the courthouse door, June 4, 1991.) Pakistani sprayers died and 2,800 became III when 7,500 Pakistani were hand spraying Malathlon to control malarial mosquitos." (Mary O'Brien, "Malathlon," in the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to "In 1975, five Pesticides.) tired of newcomers talking to us as If we're bumpkins who dont know anything and well buy their scare tactics, or as if were Impressed by their annoying protests. Instead tea of laughing at them In the coffee shops-whl- ch we are (taxpayers) need to speak out and tell the mosquito board to keep up the great work." (Betty Walters, letter to the editor, Times indepen dent, June 20, 1 991 . As an aside, many of living on Powerhouse Lane have been In the Moab area since the early '60s, in my case, and others since the '70s and early '80s, with two residents being natives of Moab.) '7 am doIng-Moabl- -- "JOnce we decide that our surroundings need not always be subordinated to payrolls and profits based on short-terconsiderations, there Is hope.." The L Quiet Crisis and the Next Generation.) Udall, (Stewart Is known that some organic phosphates (Parathlon and Malathlon) "4jt some Increase the toxicity muscle of relaxants, and that several others (again Including Malathlon) drugs used as Increase the sleeping time of barbiturates." (Rachel Carson, Silent Spring) too often the bulk of the strategies developed In recent years for Insect pest control have begun and ended at the orifice of a spray nozzle." "All (Peter DeChant, Chief Sanitarian for Vector Control In Multnomah County, Oregon, which includes the metropolitan area of Portland.) m COMING TO YOUR TOWN "All persons In the area were Informed that the spraying was proceeding, after much IN JULY NEW AND EXTENDED SERVICES FROM... 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