Eroding Public Trust Led Officials to Halt Spraying

Four officials from the state Department of Food and Agriculture gathered in Director Henry J. Voss’ office this week and in less than an hour made a decision affecting a million and half people throughout Southern California. They decided to set a May 9 deadline to end malathion spraying for the Medfly.

Officials involved in the decision say it was based in part on scientific grounds, but it was also heavily weighted by a sense that the state, battered by protests from environmentalists, politicians and residents, was in danger of losing its credibility in the eradication effort.

In fact, Voss’ decision countermanded the recommendation from the state’s own scientific advisers, who favored the safer approach of continued spraying until the last vestiges of the pest were eradicated.

But the officials in Voss’ office Monday morning agreed that it also had to send a loud and clear message to the public that the state was winning the war against the Medfly and willing to take a stand.

“Just saying, ‘trust us,’ wouldn’t do it,” said Isi Siddiqui, the state’s point man in the eradication program and one of the four officials in Voss’ office that day. “We had to show them.”

Some agriculture officials concede that setting a firm deadline of May 9 is a potentially risky proposition. If the strategy fails, it could further inflame a population angered over the repeated malathion sprayings, they say.

But Siddiqui said, “It was time for us to make a decision and tell the public the end is in sight. We had to turn this around.”

Siddiqui said the decision would have never been made so soon if not for a meeting of the state’s scientific advisers a week earlier to review the erradication program’s progress.

To the state’s surprise, the panel of five entomologistsrecommended that spraying continue, despite the near completion of a second breeding facility in Hawaii that promised an abundant supply of sterile flies to breed the pest out of existence. The scientists were skeptical that the facility could produce enough sterile flies, and they recommended that shipments be held in reserve in case of new outbreaks.

Siddiqui said the recommendation directly contradicted promises the state had been making for months--that spraying would be phased out as soon as possible.

“I told them, ‘The department has made commitments to public officials and the media,”’ Siddiqui said. “We cannot hold 150 million sterile flies in reserve and say to folks, ‘We’re just going to continue spraying you.”’

The scientists, nonetheless, stuck by their recommendation.

“The panel was sending a signal to people that this thing is going to go on and on,” Siddiqui said. “We had to set the record straight. If we didn’t, there would be people saying, ‘You could have used the sterile flies in May.”’

Siddiqui said he was forced now to send out an equally strong message to counter the panel’s recommendations.

Some members of the panel, however, had viewed their recommendation as the safest course, both scientifically and politically.

Roy Cunningham, a U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist in Hawaii and the chairman of the panel, said that the recommendation provided Voss with a justification for continued spraying while insulating him against the uncertainties of future sterile Medfly supplies.

“I think Mr. Voss is putting himself into a corner he didn’t need to be in,” Cunningham said. “It’s more or less a political thing. Suppose we commit 200 million steriles to these areas and then production (of the sterile flies) falls? We’re just leaving ourselves open.”

Siddiqui said he felt an immediate and strong response was needed to the panel’s recommendations. He demanded and got a one-hour meeting with Voss Monday morning.

Voss was confronted with two issues. One was whether to simply reject the panel’s recommendations and phase in sterile fly releases as soon a practical. The other was whether to attach a firm date to the end of spraying in already infested areas.

The first question was easy to decide, Siddiqui said. The state had always maintained that it would use alternatives to aerial spraying whenever possible.

The eradication program began that way last year with single sprays followed by the release of sterile flies. But the infestation grew so quickly that the state depleted its supply and had to rely on repeated pesticide spraying.

Now the situation was different. Not only had no new fly been discovered in five weeks, but also adequate numbers of sterile flies were soon expected.

Voss, Siddiqui and Rex Magee, the department’s associate director, knew that a second breeding facility in Hawaii was close to completion. The clincher was a call to Nori Tanaka, an entomologist who operates the facility. Tanaka said the sterile flies would begin arriving by May.

With that information, the decision was clear, Siddiqui said. “How could we explain to the public if we had all these sterile flies but continued spraying?” he asked.

Deciding whether to place a deadline for the end of spraying was a trickier question.

“I didn’t think it was that critical,” said Magee, who thought the state could have waited until April or May before making a final decision.

But Siddiqui argued the state should not just reiterate its vague position that sterile Medflies would be phased in during May or June--a stand that would do little to alleviate criticism. The state had to provide a concrete date, he said.

Siddiqui’s staff calculated that they would have a sufficient number of sterile flies on hand by May 9 that spraying could be discontinued. And Voss agreed to the date.

Siddiqui said that additional spraying may be necessary if additional flies are discovered before May 9 in some of the already infested areas and not enough sterile flies are available.

If wild flies are discovered in entirely new areas, sterile flies will be released after a maximum of two malathion sprayings, he said.

But he said the state is confident that the sterile flies will arrive in sufficient quantities and that most areas will soon see their helicopters sorties.

“When you make a decision, there is always a degree of risk,” he said, “but it’s a calculated risk.”