The Florida Mosquito Control District plans to spray Three Springs with a highly toxic product: Aqua Perm 30-30, a known carcinogen and neurotoxin.
In addition to the health risks to humans (especially children, the elderly and the immune-compromised), the product is extremely toxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates and bees.
Since houses are so close together, the choice to opt-out of spraying cannot be exercised. And even though over 50 people have signed a petition opposing this product, Three Springs has so far refused to act on behalf of these community members, leading one to speculate the claims that Three Springs is “committed to community, health, sustainability and environmental consciousness” are nothing but meaningless platitudes tantamount to a green-washed sales pitch.
This spraying is in addition to treating the standing water with larvicide, which has already been done. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), spraying pesticides intended to kill adult mosquitoes is the least efficient mosquito control technique, with only 0.10 percent actually hitting the target pest, leaving 99.9 percent of theses toxins in the environment where they detrimentally affect public health and ecosystems.
Adulticiding does nothing to control or prevent mosquitoes from carrying West Nile virus or other diseases, nor does it prevent continued breeding. The rate of mosquito-borne illness in Colorado is less than 1 in 100,000.
It is time to wake up from the slumber of business-as-usual and demand nontoxic alternatives to protect the health of our community.
Laurie Gambacorta
Durango
