See our Facebook page here.

Download our one-page handout here: About Don’t Spray Me 5-19-19 pdf

See here to contact us and donate. Yes, we really need your support to accomplish our missions!

In case your municipality is about to be sprayed, see here

Is the County spraying you? See how you can help us here.

See our underlying principles here.

To sign our petition, see here.

See “History of Don’t Spray Me!” here.

Download our bylaws here.

Please also see our Facebook page and like it and individual posts.

Don’t Spray Me! reaches out through social media, signs, regular events, and citizen action. We let people, businesses, and non-profits know how not to breed mosquitoes on their property and how to cut down on chemical use. We urge local governments to distribute similar information and to larvicide standing water rather than allowing spraying.

Q&A ABOUT MOSQUITO SPRAYING

Aren’t our municipal governments dealing with the situation?

A few, but not many, municipalities patrol storm drains and give residents full information to cut down on mosquito numbers and to protect themselves if imminent spraying is announced.

What are the dangers of truck-disseminated spraying?

Anti-mosquito pesticides are toxic to bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and other species like cats and frogs. They can also harm people, especially small children or hypersensitive individuals (see “Pesticide Hypersensitivity Registry and Application” here).

Why can’t the current system just continue?

Sprayed in the air, chemical insecticides are relatively ineffective against mosquitoes and do not affect eggs, larvae, and pupae at all; and the more a given pesticide is used, the faster mosquitoes become resistant (as has happened in locations like Miami).

How can I do my part to help control mosquitoes?

Cover trash containers, wash out bird baths every few days, put anti-mosquito larvicide in pooled water. Talk to neighbors. Put up a sign, wear one of our pins, educate your municipality. Get toxic chemicals out of your house (dispose of them properly).

What was the West Nile Task Force?

In 2015-18, Don’t Spray Me! worked in a partnership called the West Chester Borough West Nile Task Force with the Borough of West Chester and the Chester County Health Department. The Borough and County have useful web site information about reducing mosquito populations and avoiding being bitten; click here to see info posted by the Borough and here for the County (also see “Mosquito-Borne Diseases” here and info on Zika virus, which has not been transmitted by mosquitoes north of Florida, here.)

During those years, Don’t Spray Me! used well over 100 Block Captains to distribute Task Force information to neighbors in the Borough and in some communities outside West Chester.

Why is our anti-spraying initiative important here?

Our initiatives mesh well with the Borough’s Community Bill of Rights approved by 73% of voters in November 2015, empowering local citizens to make environmental decisions.

Please join with like-minded citizens to protect the Borough and County from being sprayed with pesticides, which can contaminate air and soil, affect organic gardens, threaten health (particularly of children and individuals with allergies and asthma or autoimmune disorders); kill bees, bats, dragonflies and other environmentally important species (as well as cats). Though there are acceptable biological alternatives, chemical insecticides are relatively ineffective and should be used only as a last-ditch effort to head off a serious public health epidemic.