Just hours before planes contracted for mosquito spraying were
to take off, the Massachusett chapter of the Northeast Organic
Farming Association appealed to the state to halt plans for
aerial spraying of 21 communities in southeastern Massachusetts.
That plan was to use Anvil, a synthetic pyrethroid containing
the active ingredient Sumithrin, and Piperonyl Butoxide, a
synergist, says Jack Kittredge, policy director of NOFA/Mass.
The state's Department of Public Health announced the spraying
out of concern for potential mosquito-borne diseases such as
Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus. There are more
effective and healthful ways to prevent outbreaks of mosquito-
borne diseases, contends Kittridge. "Prevention and biological
controls are both safer and more effective than spraying toxins
on the general public." (The spraying would be done at night to
limit public and beneficial insect exposure.) Kittridge notes,
the product is toxic to fish and bees, and isn't approved for
use on food crops, fodde