By Eric Heinz
The board of trustees for the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District voted on April 21 to deny the district manager the ability to initiate spraying of mosquito areas suspected to foster West Nile Virus. The board could, however, revisit the issue at next month’s meeting.
The district is likely to bring forth a resolution that would require a board vote to implement aerial spraying of mosquitoes, according to Jim Dahl, the San Clemente representative on the board.
The district does not do any aerial spraying at this time. Last year, the board wanted to start the process of aerial spraying but couldn’t get airspace clearance from Disneyland or approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Citizens at the San Clemente City Council meeting on April 19 spoke against the use of spraying by aircraft, as the pesticides would cause harm to local insects essential to the ecosystem as well as human health.
The spray the district would use is Duet, which some have criticized as having harmful components.
The next MVCD meeting will be Thursday, May 19. More information about the policy can be found at www.ocvcd.org.
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