VALLEY COLLEGE : Malathion Spraying Discontinued

In the wake of complaints about foul odors and maladies such as headaches and nausea, Valley College officials have discontinued malathion spraying to combat flea problems on the Van Nuys campus.

“It was terrible,” Raymond Parada, a psychology professor, said of the early morning odor that permeated two heavily populated classroom buildings last October. “No one would ever want to smell that; it can’t be healthy. If I would have known what it was, I never would have entered the building.”

Since then, despite the protests, campus plant facilities personnel had maintained that spraying with malathion was necessary because of excessive fleas caused by the many stray cats that have been a long-standing problem on campus.

Dave Ogne, building and grounds administrator, said he received a number of calls from people reporting a “peculiar” smell, but he added that the campus cat population is out of hand. “I personally like cats,” he said, but “I think they’re doing a lot of damage.”

Ogne said he receives weekly complaints about the flea problems and defended the use of malathion.

“I only know that the testing demonstrates no harmful effects to humans, so until it’s proven otherwise, we will continue to use it . . .,” Ogne said earlier.

But this week, campus head gardener Roger Baehne said the spraying of malathion has been stopped and that “something else is being used.”

He refused to name the substitute chemical. “It’s nobody’s business, but we are using something else,” Baehne said.

Professors and students alike had complained about the malathion use.

“I just found myself getting so angry,” said a professor who asked not to be identified. “I was subjected here at work to something I totally avoid at home. I won’t even use bug sprays. They’ve got a lot of nerve.”

Adrian Zahler, a speech and broadcasting professor, said that the chemical gave her a sore throat and a headache and made her dizzy. Barbara Blade, a psychology professor, said the odor was so strong one day that she had to move her 7 a.m. class to another room.

Other professors questioned whether the product was diluted enough and wondered how the odor could be so strong as to enter buildings with all the windows closed.

“It’s hard to believe they do that around campus,” communications major Bob Fitzgerald said. “I don’t think we’re all informed enough to know what the effects of malathion are. They shouldn’t be spraying it anywhere in the city, period.”

Louisa Perez, a biology major, said she believes the chemical is unhealthy for students. “Even though the problems aren’t here now, they’ll come at a later time.”

Ogne theorized that the odor had been particularly strong in October when the weather was cloudy and overcast. “I really believe the moisture in the atmosphere kept it from evaporating as quickly as possible. The aroma was a little stronger than I anticipated.”

John Calman, an inspector with the Los Angeles County Department of Agriculture, said the smell of malathion can be noxious. “It’s an oddball chemical,” he said. Calman added that the dose would have to be particularly heavy to cause an odor as strong as the one reported at the college.