Opposing Sides State Case: To Spray or Not to Spray?
The other night I attended the Garden Grove City Council meeting and had the opportunity to observe firsthand the presentation of reams of conflicting data concerning the use of malathion in an attempt to eradicate the pesky and dangerous Mediterranean fruit fly.
One side introduced a doctor, an eloquent and learned man, who pronounced the population safe from the effects of the pesticide in the doses being administered as long as one does not “lick the newspaper” that has skidded across a malathion-sprayed driveway. It appears that a world safe from voracious readers is soon to be created.
The other side was championed by a stout-hearted councilman spewing statistics. While certainly the crowd favorite, his information seemed just as suspect as that of the learned doctor. It came from too many government sources.
The potential harm by this pestilence, however, to the enormous agricultural complex currently manifested by our county’s subterranean orange groves and closet-grown cannabis is unacceptable. A single fly in the county could destroy its weight in Vons produce within weeks. A pair could close another neighborhood fruit stand. How any sound-thinking, responsible citizen could allow the major industry of the region to be harmed is beyond me.
Health damage to the current population is not even a viable concern. We can replace anyone that contracts a debilitating illness with another, a person who has been demanding access to our community for years, a person who is less obsessed with trivial health problems.
Any damage to property, if it be the lifting of auto paint or the spotting of fabrics, will resurrect those industries affected. Our painters will be working overtime to fill the deluge of orders that will surely ensue. Brave window washers, streaking across the high-rise panes, will now be seen from dawn to dusk trying to keep up with the swiftly sifting pollutant. Our fabric industry, fed by the non-documented worker and fueled by substandard wages, will face a new renaissance.
And my child, a year and a half old, crawling in the grass, chewing on the dirt clod, wrestling with the dog’s toy, will not be harmed. Of this I am sure. The government has told me so.
DENNIS MAXEY
Santa Ana
