2nd Medfly Found; No Spraying by Air Planned

A second Medfly has been found in the Koreatown area of the city, but officials are deviating from procedures followed during last year’s major infestation and will not begin aerial spraying of pesticides, County Agricultural Commissioner Leon Spaugy said Tuesday.

“I think we’re still dealing with a small, localized infestation,” Spaugy said. “We’re going with ground applications (of the pesticide malathion). We probably will not change that unless we find additional flies that are widely dispersed.”

Spaugy said the 46-square-mile quarantine area established after the first find on Oct. 7 will not be expanded.

The first fly, a mated female, was trapped in a peach tree in the 1700 block of South Catalina Street. It was the first Medfly found in the state since last November. The second fly, a male of the same generation as the mated female, was found Friday in a guava tree in the 1200 block of South Wilton Place, about 1 1/2 miles from the first find.

Both flies are believed to be from the same source, although the “epicenter” has yet to be determined, the agricultural commissioner said.

Spaugy said that under a standard protocol adopted several years ago by a coalition that included federal, state and county agriculture officials, ground or aerial applications of malathion are begun after the find of a single, mated female.

He said the discovery of a second fly of the same generation within two miles of the first also calls for aerial or ground spraying.

During the infestation that lasted from 1989 through last November, much of the metropolitan area was sprayed from the air with malathion.

The aerial spraying caused considerable public outcry, despite a lack of confirmed evidence that it poses a major hazard to health.

Spaugy said that because this year’s infestation is much smaller, the aerial attack will be shelved.

He said 177 residential properties within a half mile of the find on Catalina Street are being sprayed with the pesticide by ground crews.

In addition, he said, fruit from trees near the Wilton Place site is being cut and checked for signs of infestation, and extra traps are being placed throughout the area.

Spaugy expressed confidence that the ground spraying and fruit cuttings will limit the current infestation.

“But if we find additional flies, widely dispersed, we always have the option of aerial spraying,” he said.

Kara Ceriello, vice president of Action Now, a group opposed to the use of pesticides, said her organization believes the ground applications of malathion are not as safe as they should be, but still prefers them to aerial spraying.