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NEW ORLEANS TO BEGIN SPRAYING INSECTICIDE TODAY |
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by Robert Travis Scott NOLA.com Staff writer September 15, 2005 Six-week program to
span 3 states A C-130 aircraft, flown by a reserve unit of the U.S. Air Force, will spray naled, also known by the trade name Dibrom, an insecticide that kills adult insects, including mosquitoes, flies and bees, according to officials with the U.S. Public Health Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The federally assisted spraying will cover the three-state Gulf Coast area affected by Hurricane Katrina and will continue for at least six weeks, starting on the east bank of Orleans Parish and moving to other surrounding parishes. Officials will then decide whether the previous state and local spraying programs will take over. Naled is commonly sprayed by airplanes and trucks to kill mosquitoes in Louisiana. It poses a "small, small potential risk" for humans who come in contact with the chemical, said Rear Adm. Craig Vanderwagen, Emergency Response Team commander for the U.S. Public Health Service, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. If administered properly, naled "can be used to kill mosquitoes without posing unreasonable risks to human health or the environment," according to the Environmental Protection Agency. About 1 ounce per acre will kill flies and ½ ounce per acre will kill mosquitoes, Vanderwagen said. Naled degrades rapidly in the environment and is rarely harmful to birds, mammals and fish, according to the EPA. Flies and mosquitoes are plaguing the area, and officials are monitoring for outbreaks of illness resulting from insects infected with West Nile, dengue and other diseases. |