The San Mateo County Vector Control District has scheduled a pesticide mosquito fogging for Monday night, August 11 (9pm to 5am) in West Menlo Park.  This was announced Friday mid-day.  The purpose is to eradicate mosquitos that have tested positive for West Nile Virus. The link below shows a map of the targeted fogging area, including a large residential area of West Menlo Park that encapsulates many public and private schools.

http://www.smcmad.org/data/press_releases/2014/Press_Release_fogging_WNV_Aug_11_2014.pdf

Pesticides used in fogging are pervasive and long-lasting in soils, plants, and water supplies with long-term human health implications.  We have established a petition to stop the scheduled fogging until public forums have been set up that engage Menlo Park residents on this matter, including healthier alternatives, and a robust cost-benefit analysis that accounts for the long-ranging health effects of pesticide fogging versus other forms of mosquito control.  Please sign now!

 

More details 

Numerous scientific studies, including one by the Harvard School of Public Health, have shown that mosquito fogging is dangerous to human health and ineffective at controlling targeted mosquito populations. (See links below for details.) Given that one of the groups most vulnerable to pesticide fogging is children, it is especially disconcerting that this area includes many young families, public parks, and numerous public and private schools such as Oak Knoll Elementary, Hillview, Sacred Heart, various preschools (and is also across the street from Menlo School).

 

Do safe approaches to control West Nile Virus exist?  Yes, they do, and Menlo Park residents (and parents of children who attend schools in this area) should have the right to fully vet those alternatives in public forums before our community is fogged.  Links below on safe alternatives.

 

The San Mateo Vector Control Agency and City of Menlo Park only notified the public on Friday, and we have about 24 hours to convince the Board of Supervisors, Vector Control Agency, and Menlo Park City Council and mayor that it is NOT OK to proceed with the scheduled fogging.  The fogging must be canceled until our residents can engage on this topic.  Public forums must be scheduled that engage Menlo Park residents, examine alternative approaches, and undertake a cost-benefit analysis that fully examines the long-ranging health effects of fogging versus other alternatives in a suburban area like Menlo Park.

 

To read more about safe alternatives, related scientific studies, and other local groups struggling with these issues, see:

 

Summary of Harvard study:

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/photostories/week_79_8_17_06/week79.php

UC Davis study linking chemical exposure from neighboring communities to birth defects: 

http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/8978

Open Letter By Concerned Physicians and Scientists:

http://www.stopwestnilesprayingnow.org/Concerned_Phys_Sci_WNV.pdf

 

Pesticide Dosing Myths:

http://www.stopwestnilesprayingnow.org/SafeDoseMyth.html

 

More Facts and Alternatives:

http://www.stopwestnilesprayingnow.org/?PesticideFacts.htm

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Menlo Park residents and parents of children attending schools in West Menlo Park