2 Areas to Get a Dose of Malathion to Combat Medflies

The state agriculture department will conduct aerial spraying of malathion throughout portions of Los Angeles County tonight and Wednesday night as part of its effort to eradicate the crop-threatening Mediterranean fruit fly, state and county officials announced Monday.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture will begin spraying a 24-square-mile area around Valinda and Baldwin Park today, said E. Leon Spaugy, the Los Angeles County agricultural commissioner.

On Wednesday, the agriculture department will disperse malathion over a 9-square-mile area around Whittier, he said. Spraying will begin at 9 p.m. on both days and continue for five or six hours.

Seven to 10 days after the sprayings, Spaugy said, a still-undetermined number of sterile Medflies will be released into the areas to force the pest to breed itself out of existence.

In a press conference at the office of the agriculture commissioner Monday, county, state and federal officials underscored the importance of the sprayings.

“We have got to consider the (fruit fly’s) impact on the agriculture industry,” said Fred Meyer, a spokesman from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “If it’s allowed to exist in Southern California, it can exist in other parts of the country.”

The Mediterranean fruit fly endangers the state’s multimillion-dollar agricultural industry because female fruit flies lay their eggs in fruits and vegetables, making the maggot-filled produce inedible and unsalable.

“The Medfly is known to attack as many as 260 commodities, many of which are grown in Southern California,” Spaugy said. “We’d be looking at an embargo from foreign countries and higher costs to consumers” if the insects are not eradicated.

Between Sept. 19 and Oct. 1, 64 Medflies were caught in traps set in the designated spraying areas, according to county statistics released at the press conference. Fifty-six of those bugs captured in the back-yard traps were female.

“That’s not too unusual, given the nature of the Medfly,” Spaugy said. “We weren’t too surprised, but we were hopeful (that none would be trapped).”

Spaugy said Gov. George Deukmejian signed a declaration of emergency last week that empowers the agriculture department to spray.

Last month, the state sprayed malathion over a 14-square-mile portion north of downtown Los Angeles.

On Monday members of the California Conservation Corps passed out leaflets assuring residents that malathion is one of the safest of insecticides, posing little threat to humans in small doses.

The leaflets also urge residents to park their cars in garages or cover them during the spraying.