They Just Aren’t Getting It

Some agricultural officials just don’t seem to get it. Maybe if they spent a little less time studying insects and little more time studying people, they could get this Medfly mess straightened out.

Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner Leon Spaugy wants the county to hire a public- relations firm to help orchestrate a media blitz to quell public outrage about malathion spraying to eradicate the pest. Spaugy and other agricultural officials say that they are disturbed by the “misinformation” being spread by environmental activists, the media and some politicians against the aerial spraying of malathion.

Spaugy and other officials do not seem to understand that their focus on crops and money instead of the more gut-level concerns about public health helped create an atmosphere that promotes rumor and misinformation. Any PR firm worth its fax machine will, as its first order of business, put a gag on all the state and county officials who seem to have a knack for exacerbating public worries about the safety of the widespread use of malathion.

Public information is crucial, especially in a highly controversial campaign like the aerial war against the Medfly. But a public-relations effort designed to merely pacify opponents smacks of cynicism and is bound to fail. A better approach would be to get the state health advisory panel, which is taking longer than expected to get to work, officially formed and meeting. That panel must include trusted medical experts, especially those skeptical of the use of malathion; it must meet publicly to try to get answers to the many questions in the minds of Southern Californians.

If the panelists can answer the health and safety questions arising from the aerial application of pesticides over heavily populated areas, they may be able to undo the damage done by other officials whose communications skills seem to be limited to attending public meetings and telling the audience that they don’t know what they’re talking about. That is no way to “sell” a program. If the medical facts are there to support malathion, let them be discussed openly. Then the Medfly eradication effort would sell itself.