Organic mosquito management
From GreenWiki
Eliminating Mosquito Breeding in Standing Water
Historically, mosquito management has meant the use of chemicals to fog the air and coat the surface of standing water to reduce mosquito levels either due to nuisance complaints or due to public health concerns.
These chemicals kill some mosquitos and larvae, but also have toxic effects on other living things. Some of these effects are well known and acknowledged by manufacturers and the government, however, the ecosystem is complex. There is only a handful of studies funded to examine the short and long term effects of pesticides on other species and on the biodiversity long term.
The Beyond Today community, as an environmental community, understands and is concerned with educating our surrounding city about the Precautionary Principal. The Precautionary Principal simply means that our families and earth is too precious to take chances with potential toxins. We'd like to see it implemented in our city.
Here's a link to the OMM Project which is Beyond Today's organic mosquito management project. We work to get the word out about what we have to do to maintain an organic neighborhood by distributing information, mosquito repellant, and surveying the neighborhood for standing water. Check out the OMM Project page to learn more about our plans.
-Short term studies do not reveal long term effects. Short term studies are never enough to classify a chemical safe.
-Sometimes chemicals in combination have synergistic effects which could not be anticipated. Thus, extreme restraint should be used in introducing new chemicals to our human and natural environment.
-Few studies have looked at the new classes of chemicals and breakdown products of plastics which have endocrine disruptive effects. Only now, after these pesticides and plastics have become part of our everyday lives, are studies revealing that they may be a factor in premature puberty in girls, other interference with delicate hormonal mechanisms during development of children as they mature, sperm counts, and other critical health concerns.
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