2012 August 8-1-12
although an announcement was made on July 30, today is the first
that I learned that there was an intent to apply DUET
---TONIGHT to kill mosquitoes bearing the West Nile virus. The
area in Abington is specified as between Edgehill & Easton
and Mt Carmel & Jenkintown Rd. It is
raining as I write this-so it is possible that the spraying has
been postponed till tomorrow. But there are grave concerns
with a system that notifies only a few, and those who are not
notified are the ones being exposed to the chemical. Especially
after last year's outcry.
1) Residents would have no idea if they had a reaction to what
they had been exposed to
2)
Residents
would have no way of protecting themselves and their children
their vegetable gardens their pets, their bees and fish ( Duet
is highly toxic to bees and fish)
3)
Residents
would have no ability to research the chemical or to learn
anything about the risk benefit analysis. Although West
Nile mosquitoes have been discovered in the many counties, there
has been no reported case this year of any human infection.
Most human infections only lead to headache & flu like symptoms
- and only a very few lead to encephalitis or anything more
severe. while deaths from West Nile are unacceptable if
they can be prevented, it is also unacceptable to use
toxins in a manner that no reasonable opportunity exists for
residents to perform a risk benefit analysis themselves.
Oversight is an extremely important feature of good government.
Without it , I think we can agree we have seen adequate examples
of extremely bad decisions not in our interests. This has
been one of them. There was no "emergency". Residents had
the right to have proper information before having pesticides
applied to their properties.
We thought last year our protests might matter. But nothing has
changed. The process still leaves those affected completely out
of the loop. The Township has collected emails - but did not use
them . My Commissioner has a huge portion of his
Constiuency on email -myself included - but did not notify
us.
2011 September
We were notified last minute that there would be a spraying,
from trucks, for West Nile Virus . Many residents protested the
action itself ( having unwanted chemicals applied to their
property) as well as
the fact that the last minute notice meant that very few
were informed and very few had an opportunity to either research
the chemicals or take any adequate precautions.
The pesticide spraying was canceled.
2008 Aerial Spraying
On August 26th and August 27th, 2008 the DEP and Montgomery
County chose to treat many of the local townships,
including Abington, to eradicate the mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus.
Unfortunately, the aerial spraying was made without the
knowledge of many of the residents over whose homes the
pesticide was applied.
The way that this was done, without advance notification or
education about the chemicals being used did not enable residents to
even all get the message. Many may have been out in the spray
itself - without any knowledge that it was happening & that
there were precautions to take. Neither did they have ab
opportunity to voice their approval or rejection of this
process
The chemical used Aug 27th between 8 and 12 pm was Resmethrin -
While TV reports stated that officials had apologized for this
oversight, we have yet to see what Abington's reaction might be.
We hope that this issue will point out the need for better
communications (that we have been requesting for several years
now), including open forums to discuss issues just such as this
one, and we hope that residents rights and wishes will be
respected by design in the future.
While some may think that the West Nile virus is a terrible
threat, a Times Chronicle article tells us that there has only
been one case of the virus in humans in the state. The article
did not indicate that the patient had died - just that the
diagnosis had been made.
