Arthur at home with Jasper the cat and Lulu.
Please Don't Spray for Mosquitoes
All living things play a vital role in the ecosystem. Mosquitoes are a food source for fish, predatory insects, bats, birds, dragonflies, spiders, and other mosquitoes. They filter feed, turning over organic matter and helping recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
Mosquitoes are also pollinators, helping plants reproduce. Here are some other reasons why you might not want to spray for mosquitoes because of the effect the chemicals have:
~Some people and pets may experience eye, skin, nose, or throat irritation, or breathing problems even cancer after being exposed to chemicals.
~The residue of pesticides may be left on outdoor surfaces like boardwalks and furniture after spraying.
~Small swimming insects: Oil surfactants used to reduce water surface tension can cause tiny insects to suffocate and disrupt the entire food chain.
Whether natural or synthetic, broad-spectrum insecticides are highly toxic to a wide variety of insects, not just mosquitoes. Mosquitoes can become resistant to insecticides. See reference Insect resistance to insecticides has been found throughout the world. What happens when mosquitoes not only become completely resistant to pesticides, but also more aggressive?
A few years ago, I went on a fishing trip to a wilderness area in central Ontario, Canada. It was so remote that we heard wolves howling at night and saw bears and the northern lights. I took mosquito repellent but to my surprise, I did not need it.
The lodge owner said the area had never been sprayed and he had cataloged over 40 different species of dragonflies. Some of the dragonflies were a beautiful iridescent blue, red and green. It was the dragon flies that kept the mosquitoes under control.
Florida has over 100 species of dragonflies, and some say there are 169 species recorded in the state.
Florida is home to a total of 187 butterfly species, the most of any state east of the Mississippi River. However, the Vineyards Community Park in Collier County has a butterfly garden with no butterflies.
While spraying might be somewhat successful against floodwater mosquitoes, the Aedes mosquito, which can spread yellow fever, dengue fever, and chikungunya, breeds in containers not in easy-to-reach places.
This Aedes mosquito lays its eggs in containers, pots, cans, bottles, closets, inside garbage, and indoors. It lays its eggs above the waterline. When the water level rises, the eggs drop, hatch, and mature. Those conditions are less than ideal for mass spraying campaigns.
Mosquito spraying in Collier County Florida is done when mosquitos are present. In other words, after you have been bitten. Larvicide treatments disrupt the food chain depriving fish of their natural food by killing beneficial larvae that feed on mosquito larva.
Dragon flies (on the other hand) are always on the lookout for their primary food.
Pyrethroid insecticides continue to be the primary means for control of adult Aedes.
Resistance is mostly due to gene mutations. Multiple mutations can result in highly resistant mosquito populations.
Mosquitoes can't develop resistance to dragonflies.
People do not develop resistance to pesticides.
Since 2003 to 2024, I have traveled eleven times for over 32 weeks all over the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in five different Brazilian states and have only seen two mosquitoes during all of my travels. When you have a balanced ecosystem, pest problems will be easily managed.
I spent two weeks living with Brazilian friend in an Amazonian village called San Antonio de Matupi located deep in Amazonia. I did not need to use mosquito repellent or mosquito netting because there were no mosquitoes. I questioned several people who said there was no malaria in the area. Malaria does exist in Brazil, but it is very rare in cities and towns.
Insecticides kill predatory insects like Dragonflies that have mosquitoes as their primary food source. The Mosquitoes have a much shorter reproductive cycle than the predators and the end result is more Mosquitoes than before.
That is not to mention killing beneficial insects like honeybees and butterflies. Insect-eating birds and bats are also vulnerable, and people cannot help being exposed to spraying.
Some of the insecticides are extremely deadly to humans and some are systemic in the plants and the nectar from the flowers of sprayed plants will kill bees and butterflies. Spraying insecticides up and down the rivers and ponds is enormously expensive and an ecological disaster. Like this algae bloom on a retention pond in a Florida neighborhood. .
Window screening, mosquito netting and repellent are some effective ways to keep from being bitten. Mosquitoes typically come out at dawn and dusk. Dragonflies will protect us from all species of mosquitoes all the time.
Thank you for reading and
Please Vote for Arthur Oslund for Florida House Representative for District 82
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Please read "The Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. DDT has been banned but some of the insecticides in use today are much worse. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Visit Beyond Pesticides:
https://www.beyondpesticides.org/
