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View Full Version : No exceptions, province orders mosquito fogging for all of Winnipeg


Bobenis
07-14-2005, 04:47 PM
Holy crap..this is scary as hell! Spraying the entire city!? I feel for those who live there, talk about ramifications in all livings things down the road! Eeesh!!

No exceptions, province orders mosquito fogging for all of Winnipeg

Last Updated Thu, 14 Jul 2005 18:27:47 EDT

CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/07/14/mosquitoes050714.html)

The discovery of mosquitoes infected with the West Nile virus in Winnipeg has prompted the Manitoba government to order that the entire city be fogged with malathion.


Until now, the city had planned to fog only certain neighbourhoods, and leave 100-metre buffer zones around the homes of people opposed to fogging.

Infected mosquitoes were found in the East Kildonan area of Winnipeg and in the Rural Municipality of West St. Paul, just north of the city.

Provincial officials say preliminary information indicates the number of Culex mosquitoes, the type that carries the West Nile virus, has increased in most communities across southern Manitoba, with Culex mosquitoes making up 20 to 40 per cent of the mosquitoes in many traps.

The last time the city tried to fog all areas of Winnipeg, in 2002, protesters tried to block the trucks from entering the Wolseley neighbourhood, where many people had registered their properties against fogging.

As a result, the city fogged the neighbourhood without giving the traditional advance warning, which caused an uproar in the community.

Opponents say the pesticide can weaken the immune system and cause cancer, birth defects, intestinal disorders, kidney problems and other health problems.

But a federal evaluation in 2003 declared that "large-scale applications of malathion in residential areas for control of adult mosquitoes do not pose an unacceptable risk" if done carefully at low concentrations.

Meanwhile, the city released trap-count figures for the capital region on Thursday that shocked longtime residents. Inside the city, trap counts ranged from a low of 81 in Garden City to a high of 3,392 in Charleswood.

Outside the city, the highest recorded trap count was in Headingly, west of the city, with 13,824. Municipal officials has already sprayed that community several times with malathion.

eire1274
07-14-2005, 04:58 PM
Malathion? Geez, that stuff is illegal in the US.

You guys have a worse mosquito population than the dwellers of the Missouri River Basin? Geez... Omaha can be SO FULL of mosquitos! We're dry, this summer, so it actually a pretty clear year, for once.

But I'd kill for a good thunderstorm.

CyberGuy
07-14-2005, 05:34 PM
Malathion? Geez, that stuff is illegal in the US.

You guys have a worse mosquito population than the dwellers of the Missouri River Basin? Geez... Omaha can be SO FULL of mosquitos! We're dry, this summer, so it actually a pretty clear year, for once.

But I'd kill for a good thunderstorm.

* cough * cough * choke *

So far not too bad for skeeters in Toronto. Hot as hell though and no real rain for weeks. Just got my sod in 2 weeks ago and with no rain it has been hell trying to get enough water on it to take root. Glad I don't live in Winnepeg though - Toronto's air pollution is bad enough - wouldn't want that crap in the air too.