Corona Officials Sue to Halt Medfly Spraying

Corona city officials filed suit Friday in a last-minute effort to thwart aerial spraying of the insecticide malathion over their community, slated to begin Monday evening as part of the state’s effort to eradicate the crop-ravaging Medfly.

The lawsuit, filed in Riverside Superior Court, asks for a temporary restraining order in order that more lengthy arguments can be made in the city’s effort to permanently enjoin the state from spraying.

A hearing was set for Monday afternoon--just hours before the scheduled 9 p.m. start of the spraying.

In the lawsuit, the city contends that the state failed to abide by its own environmental regulations by not considering the public health affects of spraying malathion over 18 square miles of Corona and neighboring Norco.

The state is using “the residents of Corona as human guinea pigs in order to collect data on the long-term effects of malathion spraying on individuals,” the lawsuit said.

The spraying is part of California’s massive Medfly eradication effort. In San Bernardino, Orange and Los Angeles counties, sterile Medflies will be released to combat the insect.

Aerial spraying of malathion was proposed for Corona after the discovery of a sole Mediterranean fruit fly was discovered in the city last month.

State officials have said the aerial spraying is necessary because there are no spare sterile Medflies to use in the Riverside County infestation area.

They say they fear that if the region is not rid of Medflies, the state’s agricultural industry will be jeopardized.

Corona officials argue that instead of spraying, the state should divert a fraction of the billions of sterile Medflies that are being used to battle the problem elsewhere.