Spraying for mosquitoes with pyrethrins causes immense environmental damage. Not only does the spray kill mosquitoes, but it also kills all beneficial insects like honey bees, bumblebees, monarch butterflies, red admiral butterflies, along with all other butterflies and moths. The City of Tuscola in previous years has sprayed pyrethrins, an insecticide, for the July 4 holiday. The spraying has killed thousands of beneficial insects, including the monarch butterfly and honeybees. The monarch butterfly and large moths, like the luna moth, are especially vulnerable because their populations have been in decline for more than a decade. The federal government is studying whether the classify the monarch as a threatened species because of its low population.

Pyrethrins may also cause breathing problems in children and adults with allergies and asthma, and the chemical is "suggested as a carcinogen" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because the chemical causes liver tumors in mice and rats in research experiments.

We ask that the city stop the practice of spraying pyrethrins and switch to safer, and more effective, larvicides if it feels it necessary to control the mosquito population.