‘Surgical’ Bombing and the Medfly War : As the Fly Persists, So Do Questions About the Unpopular Eradication Policy

What next? Now residents in parts of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties are being told that helicopters will continue night-spraying the pesticide malathion at least through the end of the month, and in some spots into June. Recent discoveries of fruit-infesting Medflies forced officials to jettison the once-hard May 9 deadline for aerial application. “We have experienced some difficulties,” said one official. To say the least.

Officials claim that we have “not lost the war.” Maybe not, but they are losing credibility. Gov. George Deukmejian and legislative leaders should be worried that such shrinking public faith impairs their ability to accomplish anything.

The governor must start questioning long-held assumptions. Is aerial spraying of malathion making sense? Consider that the spraying obviously did not eradicate the pest during a largely temperate weather period--when the pesticide had the best chance to work. Consider the widespread opposition to spraying.

How about stripping trees of fruit and/or ground application of pesticide? Absurd, agriculture officials say; it would take an army of people to make such an operation work. But consider how conventional Medfly wisdom has changed over the years: The experts used to laugh at the notion of unleashing millions of sterile flies to breed the pest out of existence. Then someone had the gumption to go ahead and see if the idea could work. Now sterile flies are touted as the best available anti-Medfly prescription.

So let’s keep an open mind about Medfly management. There’s now a UC Berkeley study under way to evaluate the state economic impact of an established Medfly population. Good idea. Berkeley should compute the downside impact by regions, as well as assess the potential for mitigating the international trade impact.

The very notion of a permanent Medfly presence is heresy to agriculture. But equally unacceptable to urban residents is endless aerial spraying. Someday something will have to give. What price, in cash, convenience and pesticides, are consumers willing to pay for “picture perfect” fruit? What trade-offs are grocery shoppers willing to make? Urban as well as rural Californians elect representatives to take on such difficult questions and lead people in a thoughtful direction. Governor and ladies and gentlemen of the Legislature, please--start your engines.