Medfly Misinformation

Gwen Erickson of Ojai either is woefully misinformed or deliberately trying to mislead others in her letter on malathion of Dec. 20.

Marc Lappe, Ph.D, who in 1979 headed the original state evaluation on the health risks of malathion aerial spraying has stated in a court declaration that aerial spraying is a “significant danger” to the elderly, infants and children, among others.

If aerial spraying of malathion is so safe, as Erickson says, why did Japan ban it many years ago?

Her statement that the Medfly attacks 250 kinds of produce is simply nonsense. It attacks a few thin-skinned fruits. Most produce grown, or that can be grown in Ventura, is not vulnerable. It has not devastated the agriculture of the Mediterranean region, from which it gets its name, nor of Hawaii where it also is established.

As to her claim there is no beneficial insect to control it, Erickson would have been wise to attend the panel in Camarillo Springs on malathion spraying on Dec. 5. One of the founders of biological control in pest management, entomologist Everett J. Dietrick, that there are several insects in Africa that keep it at a very low level there.

As for accusing opponents of “hysteria,” this is an outrageous tactic that the proponents of malathion spraying have been repeatedly using to silence those who have read the scientific literature and know that malathion spraying is dangerous to the public health.

ALAN ROSIN

Camarillo