June 2005

Florida - The Pesticide State

            It’s time for a vacation... let’s go to Florida. We can go fishing, go to Disney World, lay on the beaches, go boating, swimming, hiking, horseback riding - just have a great time! Indeed, a great time was had by all. A few years later a decision is made to move to Florida, start a new job, have a better life, even retire there. So, typically, people come to Florida, buy a home and begin to live the good life. Then reality hits... you need a termite service to protect your investment, you need bug control to keep cockroaches and other insects out of your home, then you need a lawn service to control the insects and fungus that are destroying your lawn and the ornamental plants you paid good money for, and finally, the mosquito truck comes around and sprays the air you breath and if you live near the coast, along the panhandle, you get sprayed from the air, in the fall, to control dog flies.

            Pesticides, all kinds, are used and needed to enjoy life in Florida... without them, Florida would not be a pleasant place to live. If you are sensitive to pesticides or don’t like being exposed to them, Florida is not where you want to be. Pesticides are an essential part of Florida living in regard to economics, health, and comfort. Before the use of DDT, in the late forties, after World War II, Florida had problems with disease and nuisance from mosquitoes. Stories of massive broods of floodwater mosquitoes that would come off after a heavy rain or abnormally high tide, are difficult to imagine or believe. There were so many they would form large dark swarms that would migrate up and down the coastline or inland with the prevailing winds. There numbers were so great they would cause mortality to livestock by blood loss or suffocation. To go outside to work or play, even during daylight, you needed to cover your entire body with clothing and your head with a hat and mosquito netting. Not very enjoyable when temperatures are in the 90's with high humidity.

            The good news is we’ve come a long way since the days of the improper, overuse of DDT... lessons were learned. The pesticides applied to our environment are tested, first and foremost, for human safety. Applicators of pesticides are trained and licensed and required to renew their licensing every few years. Most Mosquito Control Agencies operate integrated pest management (IPM) programs that incorporate several activities to establish control. These activities include: 1. Source reduction - the elimination of breeding habitat by draining, filling, or removing containers. It is an activity that uses no pesticides. 2. Larviciding - the killing of immature mosquitoes while they are still concentrated in the aquatic habitat can be very effective. Larviciding, however, must be done in a timely manner, before the mosquitoes emerge into the adult stage. Larviciding is usually accomplished with the application of biological pesticides, products specific to mosquitoes. 3. Adulticiding - the killing of adult mosquitoes is done using chemical pesticides. Applied as an aerosol. 4. Surveillance - the utilization of traps to collect mosquitoes to monitor their population levels, and 5. Education - informing the public of what we do and why we do it - probably the most critical portion of an agency’s mosquito control program.

            Adulticiding, the most obvious portion of a mosquito control program, can be done by ground application or aerially. The chemical pesticides used for adulticiding have been rigorously tested by the EPA to ensure their safety when applied to the general public’s environment. The labels of these products are specific on how, when, where, and at what dose rate they are to be applied. Adulticide sprays are designed to float in and stay airborne, not to settle out. They are applied at a specific dose rate to kill mosquito-size, flying insects. Applications are done when environmental conditions are favorable - warm, calm, evenings - a typical summer night in Florida, but most importantly, when mosquito populations are up and actively flying.

            In summary, when chemical pesticides are applied for adult mosquito control, it is done when populations are up, weather conditions are favorable, and at a time and dose rate that will maximize the killing of mosquitoes yet minimize the impact on non-target organisms. When properly carried out, mosquito control, like the application of pesticides for the control of other pests, provides for a better life through chemistry. Without pesticides, many of us probably wouldn’t be living in Florida.