by Nathaniel Smith, The Times of Chester County, 8/31/15

County needs to answer questions about spraying program

By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times

The Kennett Township web site has two running headers at the top: “Monarch Butterfly population decline” and “Mosquito Spraying by Chester County Health Department 8/19/2015.”

Could these two occurrences be connected, as with bee colonies and insect-eating bird populations being killed by neonicotinoid insecticides?

Neonicotinoids and permanone, the mosquito spray used by the County, are made by the same chemical company, Bayer; both kill insects beyond those targeted.

Suppose you were worried about the spraying plans. You’d download the map of the spray area at the Kennett Township web site. Oops, the map is of Oxford, not Kennett. The link to Chesco Health department web site doesn’t work either and when you do run the right page down, still only the Oxford map is there.

So let’s look at the Oxford map. Of course, since this insecticide is toxic to aquatic life, the map should show that any spraying would abide by the legal requirement to avoid areas within 100 feet of a stream, right? Actually the Oxford and Phoenixville spray maps show no cutout areas for waterways. So is the County respecting the 100-foot rule or not?…

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