text: In November 2007, a controversial aerial approach was used to spray microencapsulated LBAM pheromone in urban and rural areas of the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey California to combat the invasive light brown apple moth. Usually the effect of disruption of orientation of the male moths to females (or monitoring pheromone traps) can be detected by the reduction in moth capture in monitoring pheromone traps.  The government campaign using areawide aerial microencapsulated pheromone applications failed to show any sign of mating disruption on the light brown apple moth populations in the treated area. It was found that the first aerial campaign was performed using an incomplete (the wrong) pheromone blend of the light brown apple moth (the wrong blend decreased tremendously the likelihood of success of the mating disruption program), and the LBAM microencapsulated formulation was untested, and finally, microencapsule formulations are notoriously known for their short field life, weak and erratic performance. Furthermore it is possible that the LBAM microencapsulated formulation used in the government campaign was unfit for aerial delivery in urban areas; although pheromone is safe, the formulation used had microcapsules of very small diameter which made it into a possible inhalation hazard that seems to be linked to an increase in allergenic reactions of the population in the target area. This set of LBAM mating disruption aerial applications done by the government has created tremendous dissent of the public in general as well as of several sectors of the scientific community. Now, several years later, the affected communities as well as the nascent US pheromone industry (which provides safer, yet very effective, alternatives to the use of conventional pesticides) are still suffering the ripple effects of these disastrous Bay Area LBAM eradication campaigns.
  But there are numerous, successful pest suppression programs that rely on aerial dispersal of pheromone mating disruptants. One of the largest pheromone mating disruption programs in the globe is Slow the Spread. Slow the Spread has been implemented across the  spongy moth frontier from Wisconsin to North Carolina. The program area is located ahead of the advancing front of the spongy moth population. The STS program focuses on early detection and suppression of the low–level populations along this advancing front, disrupting the natural progress of population buildup and spread. Every year hundreds of thousands of acres are aerially sprayed with two pheromone spongy moth pheromone mating disruption formulations, Flakes and SPLAT. A single mating disruption formulation application promotes season-long suppression of spongy moth in the treated areas. With a crew of 8 people it was possible to aerially treat with SPLAT GM over  of forest in a single day. The consortium of Federal and State participants have been able to do the following: 
  • decrease the new territory invaded by the spongy moth each year from  to ; 
  • protect forests, forest–based industries, urban and rural parks, and private property; and 
  • avoid at least $22 million per year in damage and management costs.
  It seems that the tremendous success of the Slow the Spread program is related to extremely well planned campaigns, which involves communication, transparency and clarity of objectives: in advance to an application STS holds meetings  that include the area population in general, concerned citizens, public officials, scientists and technical personnel to discuss strategies of management of spongy moths in the areas of concern. There is a movement requesting that new government invasive species eradication campaigns model their pest suppression actions on the existing successful suppression programs like STS, and embrace a more effective policy of communication, transparency and clarity of objectives. With the involvement and education of the public, areawide eradication campaigns will be better planned and more able to deliver decisive end effective pest eradication actions.