Patchwork limits on mosquito spraying reflect split on risks, benefits

Boston Globe 8/27/09: Patchwork limits on mosquito spraying reflect split on risks, benefits. On a normal night, when staff from the East Middlesex Mosquito Control Project put out traps to catch and count mosquitoes, netting 200 of the insects means it’s time to spray. This mosquito season, however, has been anything but normal, with mosquito counts close to 10 times normal. Two unusually rainy summers in a row have led to the burgeoning mosquito population. The task of keeping mosquito counts down is hindered by variations in the way spraying is conducted from town to town, the officials say. In Wayland, the state-run East Middlesex project is hired only to go after larvae and treat catch basins, where West Nile carriers like the culex mosquito thrive. The town does not allow Henley’s operation to spray airborne adult mosquitoes, leaving the insects to potentially fly untouched into neighboring municipalities.

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