Environmentalism, My Opponents, Bees, Dogs, and GM Mosquitoes

As an activist for so many years it warms my heart that both of my opponents refer to themselves as environmental. Twenty years ago being a tree-hugger carried the same stigma as being a Communist.  And whether you feel you are one because you recycle, or because you do beach clean-ups, it doesn’t matter.  What matters is the direction you are moving in, your growing awareness and your actions.

(However let me say here that Governor Scott calling himself an environmentalist is just too much of a stretch.)

My Republican opponent, who was appointed by our Tea Party Governor Scott (and not elected to the mosquito control board as implied on his hundreds and hundreds of orange ‘Goodman’ political signs around the county) received an award for his working in pollution response after the BP Horizon blow out and his follow-up work as a member of the local Coast Guard Auxiliary.  I applaud Mr. Goodman for the work he is doing and congratulate him on this award.  I was living in New Orleans at the time of the disaster and after working with the oiled birds off and on for many months know first-hand what a horror it was.

My Democratic opponent has bees, and for the life of me I cannot understand his reluctance to say how he can have bees and toxic pesticides at the same time.  Because he can’t.  All you have to do is go to the mosquito control website and read the labels of the Permanone, Malathion, and Naled (Dibrom) that is sprayed on us.  All say ‘highly toxic to bees’.

This is theory but I am going to guess that like me, Mr. Cosineau is on the call list for when mosquito control is going to spray, giving him time to cover his few hives. It is also possible that they may not do aerial spraying at his home because from photos it looks like it is on the water which the EPA says is a no-no for mosquito pesticides.

So good for him that he can perpetuate bees in the Keys. It is a very good thing. We need pollinators to offset all of those that die from the pesticides.

But is he suggesting to others that they too can get on the call and no spray list?

I hope so.

Because it saddens me, no it angers me to hear the ‘pat’ answer to a mosquito complaint being, “just contact us for a spray.”  Every candidate and everyone on the board should be taking that opportunity to educate people about how they may be contributing to the problem with standing water in their yard.  Also, they could be showing some concern by letting citizens know that if they have compromised immune systems or are pregnant or have children or just don’t want the toxic spray or want to protect the bees and butterflies and nature, that they too can get on the call list themselves and not get sprayed.

I have talked with many cancer survivors who wanted to know this.

Spraying pesticides should be the last thing anyone with connection to mosquito control should be recommending and should be the last resort for any mosquito management strategy.

What is wrong with telling our citizens that? Why not a “NO SPRAY” button on the website? Why does the district continue to pass on the perception that pesticides are benign when the EPA is actively reducing the amount of spray that can be released into the environment and possibly may at some point ban the very pesticides we use? California has already banned Naled as being a carcinogen.

I guess it is like getting used to being called an environmentalist.  It will just take time.

But if I don’t win in November I hope the winner of this election ‘gets it’ pretty soon and does some of his own research instead of relying on business as usual.  These pesticides are toxic regardless of what is said about the dose.  Dose is calculated on how much it takes to kill the test animal. Then they gradually back off to point where it won’t kill the animal. Pesticides are tested on rabbits, dogs, birds, fish; you name it.

Think about what you put on your dog for fleas.  It won’t kill them but it leaves enough poison in their system to kill a flea if it bites them.  The chemical companies give the poison to all types and sizes of test dogs until they get the correct marketable dose.  Really.

I was asked in a media Questionnaire what my 3 main priorities if elected to the mosquito control board. There is a bit of redundancy but please bear with me.  Here are my answers.

Three priorities if elected to the mosquito control board:

#1 Get Board meetings televised and term limits for commissioners.

Just 2 days ago I sat in on the last 10 minutes of an advertised budget board meeting.  I did not know that it was going to include a presentation by Oxitec, the bio-tech company poised to release (GM) Genetically Modified mosquitoes in Key Haven, as it was not on the agenda.  My husband and I were the only 2 members of the public present. The release of GM mosquitoes in the Keys is an extremely controversial and passionate topic that should only be discussed in public and with sufficient public notice. Regardless of how one feels about the subject of releasing these GM mosquitoes, having discussion on this highly debated topic without the public’s knowledge is at the very least unethical. The discussion of the topic by the board included reference to the Key West City Commission referendum against the release of the mosquitoes because of insufficient research.  The mosquito board discussed this referendum not being binding to them (mosquito control) because it was only a referendum and not an ordinance. The comment was made that the Key Haven release could serve as the “more research” that Key West was asking for.

Less than a year ago at another board meeting employees were given an additional paid holiday day without public input and again not being on the advertised agenda.

The public should have been party to these and all discussions. We need these board meetings televised and we need to limit the commissioners to 2 terms.

#2 Make public awareness a priority.

Not only do we need to continually educate everyone about eliminating the source of mosquitoes and how to protect themselves, we need to be telling them that the toxicity of the pesticides (adulticides) used to spray from trucks and airplanes is deadly to bees, butterflies and fish, and many other living organisms.  According to their label the pesticides (adulticides) used for mosquito spraying are not to be getting into any water source. They are also harmful to human health and the public should be given at least a 2 day notice before any spray so that they can prepare to be in a safe place. This is especially important for those with compromised health or pregnant women and children.

According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) aerial spraying is the least effective form of mosquito control.  The pesticide Naled that has been sprayed from airplanes ‘for over 30 years’ in the Keys is banned in California for being carcinogenic.

The public should not be encouraged to call mosquito control with a mosquito complaint.  Instead they need to be educated on how they themselves may be breeding mosquitoes, what they could do to discourage them around their home and how to protect themselves.  They also need to learn about what mosquito control does and the effectiveness of their efforts to prevent the breeding of mosquitos through larvicide use and their expansive source identification and reduction efforts.

Outreach efforts need to include the real estate, banking and businesses who are often responsible for vacant properties which may be a source of standing water and neighborhood breeding.

#3 Use technology as a tool for use by good employees, not to replace them, and also provide for continual research for new environmentally safe methods of mosquito control away from toxic pesticides and untested technology like GM mosquitoes.

There is no question that the payroll is overinflated.  It is double what it was when I ran for this office 12 years ago.  2/3 of the employees in Marathon make over $ 50,000.  But technology for the sake of technology or to eliminate employees is not the answer.  You are just shifting money into corporate hands and away from dedicated employees.

People are realizing that pesticides are harmful.  The rise in demand for organic foods is just one example.  Also the rise in cancer and its link to pesticides.  One of the poisons used by mosquito control from the trucks is used on over 100 crops.  All employees that handle adulticides on a regular basis should be tested for pesticides in their blood annually.

Mosquitoes are part of nature’s balance.  Every time we spray for mosquitoes we kill their natural predators.  Most of the time in the Keys we are spraying for ‘nuisance’ salt marsh mosquitoes and not disease mosquitoes.  There is a difference.  Mosquito control has become very savvy about the varying mosquitoes and how to address each one.  It is why they were able to get rid of Dengue in Key West and why they still spray regularly from airplanes in Ocean Reef.

Research is on-going around the world to fight mosquitoes without pesticides and we need to continually tap into it while reducing our dependence on it, reducing the $ 2 million annual cost as well. The board needs to be ever mindful that they are responsible to the taxpayers for both their health and their tax dollars.

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NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:  If you are a candidate for elected office or any member of the community who has an important message for fellow citizens, you too are invited to submit an article for publication in The Blue Paper’s “Island Voices” section.  Deadline for Friday publication is Wednesday 2:00 pm.  Send your submissions to [email protected].