2nd Medfly Spraying Draws Little Protest : Malathion: As latest aerial assault takes place, many residents say they are less anxious than two weeks ago. But some still fear health risks.

Three helicopters laden with tanks of bug-killing malathion lifted off from the Camarillo Airport on schedule Wednesday night, beginning the second aerial spraying over Ventura County’s 16-square-mile Medfly eradication zone.

With a thunderous beating of blades, the helicopters circled above 10 sign-toting protesters who congregated at the airport to demonstrate against spraying insecticide over the homes of 32,000 people in Camarillo and Somis.

“There they go, sweet dreams Camarillo,” said protester Anne Engelstad, 38, of Thousand Oaks. As she watched the helicopters fly in formation toward Camarillo, she turned to her 8-year-old son. “It’s just spooky,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

During the four-hour incursion, the helicopters executed the second in a series of twice-a-month aerial assaults scheduled through April to knock out any future generations of the crop-destroying pest.

After experiencing a similar spraying two weeks ago, some Camarillo residents said they felt more comfortable knowing what to expect. Two weeks ago they thought they would awaken to a sticky film on every surface, but found it difficult to see the pesticide residue.

“It doesn’t seem like such a hardship,” said Kathy Cardenas of Camarillo, picking up her two children from elementary school Wednesday afternoon.

But other residents, particularly the parents of young children, voiced greater concern about the long-term health effects of malathion.

Debbie Jacobs of Camarillo took her 6-year-old son to a girlfriend’s house in Ventura to spend the night, as she did two weeks ago.

“He has asthma,” she explained. “I’m extremely concerned about the possible health effects. It scares me. There are no studies that show this is safe for people.”

Some residents complained they are already tired of draping their cars with plastic to protect paint jobs, pulling patio furniture into garages and hosing down their back yards to protect pets from the sticky sweet mixture of corn syrup and insecticide.

“It’s a headache,” said Harry Becker, 80, a Leisure Village resident frustrated that a 9-by-12-foot tarp wasn’t big enough to cover his 1987 Cadillac. He improvised with plastic bags. “Our freedom is being invaded in order to protect the profits of the grower.”

Mayor Ken Gose said he has heard very little outcry from his constituents since the first aerial spraying on Oct. 12. “The first time there were quite a few people who were upset,” Gose said. “They’ve calmed down considerably.”

Unlike the first aerial spraying, the pesticide-laden helicopters on Wednesday were not chased by a thick flock of copters from TV news stations. That came as a relief to some agriculture officials who were alarmed at the crowded skies two weeks ago.

“It scared a lot of residents,” said Carla Agar, spokeswoman of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “We were telling them it was only going to be three helicopters, and instead it looked like Armageddon.”

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This time, the three helicopters loaded with 120-gallon tanks and joined by an observation helicopter set off on their expedition into skies clear of clouds and air traffic.

Light winds did not affect the mission, although ground crews placed white cards strategically around the perimeter of the spray zone to detect if the orange-brown mixture drifts out of the set boundary.

During the Oct. 12 spraying, none of the cards picked up wayward drops of malathion and corn syrup.

But an internal flight recorder on one of the three Bell helicopters showed that a spray nozzle was not turned off until the helicopter was 50 to 60 feet outside of the northeast corner of the spray zone.

Doug Hendrix, a spokesman for the Cooperative Medfly Project, said the over-spray occurred over an orange orchard, and not over a residential area.

The spraying Wednesday was the second of as many as a dozen such aerial attacks scheduled over the next 5 1/2 months to combat the infestation and preserve the county’s lucrative citrus sales to Japan.

The agricultural crisis began on Sept. 29 when authorities discovered two fertile female Medflies in a fig tree at St. John’s Seminary. Over the next week, traps caught a total of 63 Medflies, all but one on seminary grounds.

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Medfly larvae not only destroy oranges and avocados and other fruit, but the presence of the pest can scare off foreign countries that pay top dollar for the choicest fruit.

Japan was considering banning fruit from California because of the infestation, said county Agriculture Commissioner Earl McPhail. But he said a visiting Japanese delegation, impressed with initial eradication efforts, agreed to limit the country’s ban to fruit grown in an 86-square-mile quarantine zone that covers most of Camarillo.

In preparation for Wednesday night’s spraying, hundreds of Camarillo residents picked up plastic tarps from a local agriculture group to protect their cars and outdoor furniture.

Meanwhile, Clint McCaslin and other custodians covered a large sandbox at Las Colinas Elementary School, anchoring the plastic with sandbags. Half a dozen volunteers promised to help scrub the pesticide from tables and jungle gyms this morning.

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Several Ventura hotels offered a special, one-night Medfly rate, and each received up to half a dozen reservations from Camarillo residents. The Doubletree Hotelreported reservations from Camarillo were slightly higher two weeks ago.

At the airport Wednesday night, 10 residents staged a low-key protest behind a fence that protected the helicopters’ staging area. The demonstrators set up a card table and handed out flyers titled “Malathion Spells Murder.”

The congregation included members of the Group Against Spraying People. Some carried signs, saying “Don’t Spray People,” “Spray your property, not mine,” and “Wilson’s emergency is now our emergency.”

“I think they’ve blinded Camarillans for too long,” said Beth Fraley, 32, who moved from a rented house in Camarillo with her two children to a house in Oxnard. She said she needed to escape the spraying after experiencing health problems two weeks ago. “They don’t want the truth to be out because it will scare everybody,” she said.

In addition to a handful of news reporters, the protest attracted one Green Party congressional candidate and a counterdemonstrator who is running for the Thousand Oaks City Council.

Agriculture officials said they had anticipated some residents would protest aerial spraying of malathion, as has been done in other communities. But they expected it would be short-lived.

“Over a period of time, the protests decrease,” said Agar, who has helped coordinate aerial sprayings in other communities. “After people see that it is nothing more than a minimal inconvenience, they go on with their lives.”

Weiss is a Times staff writer and Fields is a correspondent.

What to Do State and federal agencies report that malathion has been studied extensively, and there is no evidence that it causes cancer, birth defects, nerve damage, eye damage or cumulative injury. But residents are cautioned to avoid exposure.

Officials also recommend that the following precautions be taken after spraying:

* If in contact with spray, wash residues from skin and clothing with soap and water.

* Do not leave laundry outdoors when spraying is scheduled. If laundry is soiled, rewash before wearing.

* If your car is outside during spraying, wash it the next day to prevent paint damage.

* Rinse plastic skylights and awnings the day after spraying to prevent permanent stains.

* Cover fish ponds before spraying and uncover shortly after to minimize water contamination while avoiding oxygen depletion.

* Avoid harvesting home-grown fruits and vegetables for three days after spraying.

* Rinse all fresh fruits and vegetables with water before cooking or eating them, just as you should with store-bought items.

Additional information about malathion is available by calling (800) 491-1899.