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Local News - September 2002 |
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City: Mosquito spray not harmful to people By ALICE SMITH, LTN Staff Writer September 02, 2002 - Chemicals being sprayed around Lincolnton to kill mosquitoes are not harmful to people, city utilities officials said. City workers are spraying an approved product called ‘Smoke-a-cide,’ said Steve Peeler, Lincolnton director of public works and utilities The active ingredient in ‘Smoke-a-cide’ is Malathion, but the amount used is small, Peeler said. “It is less than 5 percent product to air,” Peeler said. “It is an extremely fine mist.” According to the Material Safety Data Sheet on Malathion, prolonged or repeated inhalation may be harmful. Malathion can cause substantial but temporary eye damage and it is harmful if swallowed. Malathion is toxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates and aquatic life stages of amphibians. However, Peeler stresses that the ‘Smoke-a-cide’ is not harmful to residents. The pesticide is sprayed out of the back of a truck, which is driven down the middle of the street, he said. The spray then settles and spreads out. “Once you get out of the street, the concentration is very small,” Peeler said. There is no set schedule for city spraying. Every couple of weeks, Peeler said, the truck will start on the west side of town, go down each street and work its way to the east side. Spraying is usually done in the late afternoon and evening — the times when mosquitoes are most prevalent. The spraying has been going on for as long as Peeler can remember, at least 43 years, he said. “This is not something we’ve just started doing,” Peeler said. “We’ve been doing it for a very, very long time. The citizens demand it.” During the last five or six years, Peeler has had three complaints about the spraying, two of those being people who had allergic reactions. He gets more calls from people who are in favor of spraying. “I get bunches of calls every week wanting to know why we’re not spraying their neighborhood.” Peeler said the city has no plans in the future to stop spraying. “With the concern folks are having about West Nile, any mosquito abatement you can do will be welcome.”
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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