Risk
...by countless communities each year. How do we balance the problem of mosquitoes and mosquito-born illnesses like West Nile Virus with the potential health and environmental problems caused by the application of a pesticide like malathion? This is not a decision to be made lightly and a risk assessment is in order to discuss the potential impacts from the application of the malathion and the impacts of doing nothing.
Our community is community has an economically diverse population of 100,000 people who are dependent upon summer tourism. We have a river that runs through the center of town and wetlands that protect the city from spring flooding. These wetlands and the river provide a habitat for many species of birds and fish and are just one element of what makes our city so popular with summer travelers. These same wetlands and rivers however, are also the breeding ground for the mosquitoes that spread diseases such as West Nile Virus.
In the United States in 2006, there were 4,269 cases of West Nile Virus with 177 fatalities (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). Of the 4269 cases, 1459 (34%) were reported as severe disease, 2616 (61%) were reported as milder disease, and 194 (5%) were clinically unspecified. The projections based on experience, recent testing of infected birds, and an enlarged mosquito breeding area due to heavy rainfall suggested that in the city of Genericville about 50 people will be affected and 2 people will die from West Nile Virus this year. This disease attacks the central nervous system and is considered very dangerous to those infected. This disease does not discriminate between social or economic classes and all can be affected. Aerial spraying with Malathion is believed to relieve problems caused by mosquitoes. Spraying is speculated to reduce the mosquito population by 90% and will thus provide the same...
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