Scientists Cite Possible Toxic Effects of Pesticide : Medflies: Panel meeting in Camarillo says malathion may cause chronic health problems in children and seniors.

A panel of scientists opposing aerial spraying to control the Medfly infestation said one of the state’s own scientists warned about the chemical’s possible toxic effects on humans more than a decade ago.

The panelists, speaking at a community meeting in Camarillo Monday night, said there is strong evidence that the pesticide causes chronic health problems in children and senior citizens and is suspected of damaging human genes.

“The state’s own expert in 1980 determined that there was a significant danger of chronic toxicity and possible genetic damage to children and the elderly who were exposed to malathion,” said panelist Paul McClain, a Pomona-based molecular biologist.

State and federal agriculture officials have conducted four aerial sprayings of the 16-square-mile Medfly eradication zone in east Camarillo since the first fruit fly was found there Sept. 29.

That response was excessive and premature, panelists said. A better approach, they argued, would have been to fight the infestation by releasing a combination of sterile Medflies and beneficial fly-eating insects followed by limited ground sprayings of malathion.

While no representatives of the state and federal Cooperative Medfly Project attended the forum, Peter Kurtz, chief toxicologist and senior medical coordinator for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said officials stand by their decision to use aerial spraying for preventing the spread of the crop-destroying pest.

He said the spraying program poses no significant health risks to people.

“Out of the millions of people that have been exposed to this chemical there have only been anecdotal reports and allegations of people becoming sick from such exposure,” Kurtz said. “To date, however, there hasn’t been a single, verifiable case of illness being caused by exposure to malathion.”

The 3 1/2-hour meeting in a Camarillo Springs union hall, attended by about 250 people, was sponsored by the Ventura County Group Against Spraying People, or GASP, along with other Southern California-based anti-malathion organizations and political figures.

William Jordan, a University of California, Berkeley entomologist and one of Monday’s panelists, said state officials’ conclusion that aerial spraying of malathion was the best method of eradication amounted to poor science and bad management.

“We’re engaged in a war with an insect whom we don’t know a damned thing about,” Jordan said. “We knew more about the Soviets during the cold war than we do about the Medfly.”

Echoing Jordan, Ventura entomologist Everett Dietrick said there are healthier and safer alternatives to aerial spraying.

Dietrick, president of the Rincon-Vitova insectarium, said the safest and most cost-effective option involves beneficial insects and parasites that naturally seek out and feed upon Medflies. The release of such insects and parasites would be backed up by limited ground-based sprayings of malathion.

“Right now, we know of some 20 parasites that are all natural enemies of Medflies,” Dietrick said. “I can tell you this, if it wasn’t for biological controls, the citrus industry as we know it today wouldn’t exist.”

Terri Gaishin, chairwoman of GASP, said the fledgling group will continue to push the state to suspend its aerial spraying operations over eastern Camarillo. In its place, the group will advocate alternative methods of Medfly control raised by the panelists Monday.