ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Tact in the War on Medflies

The mere term Medfly is enough to raise hackles and fears among Southern Californians, carrying as it does the memory of helicopters circling overhead at night, laying down a mist of the insecticide malathion. State officials long have insisted that the insecticide will not harm humans, but some doctors warn of possible allergic reactions.

Thus the news that three Mediterranean fruit flies were found in a Westminster residential neighborhood last week and more this week rightfully causes concern. So far, the state correctly is using the least troublesome measures in responding to this Medfly discovery and is spelling out its measures as it goes along. That’s a necessity to prevent recurrences of the anger that has developed in many spray zones.

Three years ago, the state declared victory over the pest after a 16-month, $52-million war that included aerial spraying over big parts of Southern California. Residents in hard-hit areas such as Garden Grove closed the windows on hot nights, covered their automobiles and headed indoors as the helicopters swooped in.

This time the state Department of Food and Agriculture plans a day of ground spraying this week, limited to a 200-meter radius around the intersection of Newland Street and McFadden Avenue. The 1990 aerial bombardment in Orange County alone covered a 35-mile radius, centered in Garden Grove.

Residents of the area where the Medflies were found in Westminster understandably are nervous but say they will do what they can to help the state. Most said they expected officials to keep them informed. The homeowners deserve that, and their cooperation is needed to fight the pest. State officials have not always been communicative in past Medfly battles, and their insistence that malathion at low dosages causes no harm has not always been accepted.

Homeowners must help in the fight, too, remembering that taking an avocado from the back yard to a friend down the freeway risks spreading the pest to a new area. Maybe common sense, good insect traps and limited spraying will stop the problem quickly.