The afternoons can still be sultry, but the evenings, nights and mornings are cool. Autumn is approaching, and while these days always bring a touch of bittersweet nostalgia, there’s an upside, too. The onset of cool weather means we in Vermont probably won’t have to deal with West Nile Virus this year; we’ll probably get another 10 months to figure out our game plan.
West Nile Virus, as you may know, is a form of encephalitis, found in Africa, Europe, parts of Asia and now the eastern United States. It cropped up in the borough of Queens last August. Health experts think our particular strain was brought here from Israel by an infected animal in 1998 or ‘99. Sixty-two New Yorkers were hospitalized last year and seven died.
The virus, which is carried by birds, is spreading. This summer, it got as far as Boston, western New York, Maryland and the Adirondacks. I can look from my window and see the Adirondacks, 10 miles away, but for some reason, West Nile has not made it to the Vermont side of Lake Champlain. Not yet.
In those places where West Nile Virus has been detected, and even in places like Vermont, where it is yet to arrive, great kettles of fish have been opened. First, there’s the copious use of pesticides. “Got bugs? Spray ‘em!” seems to be the first response of municipal officials everywhere. The pro-pesticide clamor is particularly loud around tourist areas. No campground operator wants to lose money because the RV set is afraid of West Nile. Of course, that thinking flies in the face of reports by health officials stating people are more likely to be exposed to West Nile in urban areas than rural areas, but who says logic has anything to do with it?
So the spraying begins. Malathion, the mosquito killer of choice for the last 20 years, is currently the subject of controversy at the Environmental Protection Agency. Some agency scientists say Malathion is more likely to cause cancerous tumors than EPA’s current assessment says it does. So officials are scouring the chemical manufacturers’ literature, looking for something else to spray. Here in Vermont, the state is talking about cutting loose with synthetic pyrethroids, which are chemical relatives of DDT. Synthetic pyrethroids can pose special risks to people with allergies and women of child-bearing age should limit their exposure. If you’re going to spray those kinds of chemicals around campgrounds and other tourist areas, you really have a responsibility to notify people who may wish to avoid them. On the other hand, prominent warning signs are no better for the tourist trade than rumors of West Nile Virus.
On top of all that, consider that pesticide spraying will kill some, but not all, mosquitoes and it will kill some natural predators of mosquitoes, so in the long run, you may be no better off than you were before you started. But public officials feel like they have to do something, even if the reasons for doing something are more rooted in psychology than biology. I wonder, if West Nile Virus first emerged in Baltimore or Pittsburgh, instead of media-saturated New York City, would mayors and county supervisors be feeling so much pressure right now?
The world is getting smaller and maladies from West Nile Virus to mad cow disease to chestnut blight to AIDS are a fact of life from here on out. Millions of humans and animals cross international borders and no one knows what the next flight may bring. Maybe this summer’s abysmal performance by the airlines isn’t such a bad thing after all.
It looks like Vermont got a reprieve this year and I hope we use the winter months to find a better solution than a chemical bath for the countryside. If avoiding West Nile today means a higher risk of cancer in 20 years, that’s no bargain. That’s not a solution to the problem, only a deferment.
Sooner or Later
The afternoons can still be sultry, but the evenings, nights and mornings are cool. Autumn is approaching, and while these days always bring a touch of bittersweet nostalgia, there’s an upside, too. The onset of cool weather means we in Vermont probably won’t have to deal with West Nile Virus this year; we’ll probably get another 10 months to figure out our game plan.
West Nile Virus, as you may know, is a form of encephalitis, found in Africa, Europe, parts of Asia and now the eastern United States. It cropped up in the borough of Queens last August. Health experts think our particular strain was brought here from Israel by an infected animal in 1998 or ‘99. Sixty-two New Yorkers were hospitalized last year and seven died.
The virus, which is carried by birds, is spreading. This summer, it got as far as Boston, western New York, Maryland and the Adirondacks. I can look from my window and see the Adirondacks, 10 miles away, but for some reason, West Nile has not made it to the Vermont side of Lake Champlain. Not yet.
In those places where West Nile Virus has been detected, and even in places like Vermont, where it is yet to arrive, great kettles of fish have been opened. First, there’s the copious use of pesticides. “Got bugs? Spray ‘em!” seems to be the first response of municipal officials everywhere. The pro-pesticide clamor is particularly loud around tourist areas. No campground operator wants to lose money because the RV set is afraid of West Nile. Of course, that thinking flies in the face of reports by health officials stating people are more likely to be exposed to West Nile in urban areas than rural areas, but who says logic has anything to do with it?
So the spraying begins. Malathion, the mosquito killer of choice for the last 20 years, is currently the subject of controversy at the Environmental Protection Agency. Some agency scientists say Malathion is more likely to cause cancerous tumors than EPA’s current assessment says it does. So officials are scouring the chemical manufacturers’ literature, looking for something else to spray. Here in Vermont, the state is talking about cutting loose with synthetic pyrethroids, which are chemical relatives of DDT. Synthetic pyrethroids can pose special risks to people with allergies and women of child-bearing age should limit their exposure. If you’re going to spray those kinds of chemicals around campgrounds and other tourist areas, you really have a responsibility to notify people who may wish to avoid them. On the other hand, prominent warning signs are no better for the tourist trade than rumors of West Nile Virus.
On top of all that, consider that pesticide spraying will kill some, but not all, mosquitoes and it will kill some natural predators of mosquitoes, so in the long run, you may be no better off than you were before you started. But public officials feel like they have to do something, even if the reasons for doing something are more rooted in psychology than biology. I wonder, if West Nile Virus first emerged in Baltimore or Pittsburgh, instead of media-saturated New York City, would mayors and county supervisors be feeling so much pressure right now?
The world is getting smaller and maladies from West Nile Virus to mad cow disease to chestnut blight to AIDS are a fact of life from here on out. Millions of humans and animals cross international borders and no one knows what the next flight may bring. Maybe this summer’s abysmal performance by the airlines isn’t such a bad thing after all.
It looks like Vermont got a reprieve this year and I hope we use the winter months to find a better solution than a chemical bath for the countryside. If avoiding West Nile today means a higher risk of cancer in 20 years, that’s no bargain. That’s not a solution to the problem, only a deferment.