The Mosquito Spray Truck

I just read a news article from the local news channel down here in Alabama that says Mosquito Spraying has begun here. I was wondering, do they have trucks anywhere else like in the north that go around pouring mass amounts of insecticide into the air like they do here? And this stuff can't be healthy. Really though....it doesn't really decrease the amount of mosquitoes in my opinion. Of course, they spray all the time so I don't really know what it would be like without it. Do you think the pros of mosquito spraying outweigh the cons?

reply to post by Mad_Hatter


That's the first I've heard of such a thing. That would worry me if I saw it. I heard a similar story about San Fransisco. Apparently they regularly spray chemicals over the residential areas to try and control the moth population. It is supposed to save the crops but it freaks the people out since they have no say in it.

When i was in Panama they used the "mosquito trucks" on the base where i was at.

Haven't seen it in the states though. Maybe they're starting to use these trucks for nefarious purposes, in lieu of the "chemtrail planes"? (cue spooky Twilight Zone music)

We certainly have them here in Florida, and have had them here for many years. I cannot think of three times I have been bitten down here, so they must work as advertised. I know that the northern states I lived in never bothered with mosquito spraying, and summers up there were like a feeding frenzy. Nothing really nefarious about them, but I don’t recommend following behind one sucking in the chemicals.

Green River Utah has a couple of those trucks..........OMG the squeeky screaming noise the machine that sprays the poison.
They tell you to take your kids & pets inside when they are driving by just to be on the safe side. You didnt need a warning they were coming the sound it makes is so loud you can hear it headed your way from a mile away in the countryside.....
That little town is ON the river and many farms iragate, and many puddles can form, and the skeetos are rampant.....and PAINFUL.

The town held open meetings and had a vote as to do this or not....and with the SCARE of mosquitos spreading disease...west nile ect...and the POSSIBILITY that they spread aids the town voted overwhelmingly FOR the spraying.

Trucks looks exactly like what you posted. During skeeto season the trucks did rounds every 3 days yet I STILL got bit.....mosquitos are a serious issue in that river side town......

Ive learned to overdose on B vitamins and this makes me taste to yucky to skeetoes and now its been a few years since I had a bite

[edit on 18-6-2008 by theRiverGoddess]

When I lived in Winnipeg they sprayed in the spring, and as far as I know still do. If they didn't, you would not be able to go outside in the spring.
The little bastards would suck you dry in minutes.............

I can recall hearing those damn mosquito sprayer trucks driving around at nights during my youth (very loud and very annoying). This was in northern Utah and was happening as far back as the mid 70's.

I'm sure the chemicals used have changed over the years but the process itself is nothing new.

reply to post by SystemiK


In the 70's, wasn't mosquito repellant mainly a mild nerve agent? The idea of trucks driving down the streed blowing clouds of nerve gas is disturbing.

When I was a little boy 40 years ago, we used to run down the block following the trucks in the cloud jumping up and down!

I once bought an attachment muffler for my lawnmower with a tube you pour the special insecticide into the muffler and it vaporizes.

They are legitimate. The best control method is to pour a little oil in the stagnant water They use special oils which disperse to a very fine skin.


Here is a quote from a Florida web site.
In the past the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District used thermal fogging to apply adulticides. The pesticide was diluted with diesel oil and passed through the engine of the plane or the blower in the back of the truck. This produced a thick cloud of smoke that was easily seen. It also produced a certain level of pollution due to the burning of the oil. Now the district uses ultralow volume or ULV applications. A very small amount of pesticide is applied in droplets about the diameter of a human hair. ULV allows mosquito control to use less pesticide to achieve the same results, while eliminating pollution due to use of the diesel oil carrier.

I'm here in Alaska (only 3 more weeks until I'm gone - woohooo)...
Anyways, up here in central Alaska, we have a BAD BAD BAD mosquito problem....and often in the summer it prevents us from going outside at all

They don't spray here....and I hate the thought of spraying these chemicals in the air....BUT it gets to a point that WTF else can be done?

Nothing else will keep these nasty things away!

The thing is, down here, when they spray that god awful smelling stuff into the air, it kind of makes you go inside its so nasty. And you can go outside an hour later and the mosquitoes will be everywhere....it makes you feel as if they've accomplished nothing except getting you to breath cancer.

EDIT: I do live on the Gulf Coast though...which might be why the mosquitoes are so bad...we're right next to the Gulf of Mexico... in that case, I can't imagine what it would be like if we didn't spray.

[edit on 6/18/2008 by Mad_Hatter]

Originally posted by Karlhungis
[In the 70's, wasn't mosquito repellant mainly a mild nerve agent? The idea of trucks driving down the streed blowing clouds of nerve gas is disturbing.

Heh, I was planning to look into what chemicals were used back then right after posting, but I decided I just didnt want to know. I do remember a very distinct smell, you definitely knew if the truck had been by recently.

they did the same sort of thing where i live. They told everyone to go inside. It actually ended up killing all of the fish in small ponds in my area. Definitely can't be healthy if it can kill fish.

i say we'd be way better off without it.

[edit on 6/18/2008 by JPhish]

As you can imagine, living in South Africa and near a little river, we have a HUGE mosquito problem. I have found using citronella oil to be effective. However, this website has a number of suggestions for natural insect repellants if you are interested: altmedicine.about.com...

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
I'm here in Alaska (only 3 more weeks until I'm gone - woohooo)...
Anyways, up here in central Alaska, we have a BAD BAD BAD mosquito problem....and often in the summer it prevents us from going outside at all

LOL.......I used to have a family member living in Alaska. Isn't the mosquito considered the State bird due to the unusually large size?

Anyway, while I was growing up in the North Shore Chicago burbs, we had mosquito abatement trucks in the summer time.

We would be playing outside in the yard when they would come passing by blowing the stuff all over the place. We never got a notice to stay inside on those days.

I now live in Louisiana and have never seen an abatement truck the whole time I have lived here. It's very rural where I am so that may have something to do with it. Last year there were hardly any mosquito's that I can recall, but this year they are really bad, which surprises me because we have had very little rain. There are also cases of West Nile virus showing up in our area.

Oh my God...I forgot all about those mosquito abatement trucks.

When I was a kid hearing the noise of the spraying had everyone running for cover inside our homes till the mist eventually thinned out. All the kids would run and hide because we knew that spray would cause us some serious respiratory issues. I had been caught in the mist before and it sucks. You end up coughing non-stop, and with really watery eyes.

We never got a warning at all.

This was in the early 80's I believe. We were in a very poor area at the time.

I remember wondering if they used those trucks in the more affluent neighborhoods.
I'm sure it is just insecticide of course, but the conspiracy theorist in me had me eventually pondering just what poisons they were dropping on the poor folks of West Virginia.

Of course I am now an adult and in the city so I never see those trucks anymore.
We just get orange weather alerts during the summer and are told if we jog or walk briskly during those times its the equivalent of smoking five packs of cigarettes.

One poison for another I suppose.

- Lee

Why do they spray for mosquitos?

Malaria
Dengue fever
Hemoragic Fever
West Nile Virus
Equine Encephalitis

those are just a few of the reasons to spray for mosquitos.

When I was a kid they used to come out at least once a week during the Summer. This was the late 60's early 70's. All of us kids used to run behind the truck and play in the fog. I guess that explains alot, eh?

They started spraying it in Mesa Arizona a few years back. They sprayed in the middle of the night. I was thankful. We had a horrid mosquito problem.
You would get a ton of bites when you would walk outside. It made a huge difference.

Now I am in rural area, so spray trucks here, and I again get the nasty big welts.

I think the difference is though, in Mesa they had tested positive for west nile. Here they have not.

Ama

They started in NE Ohio about 5 yrs ago. Always go about between 1 and 3 in the morning. News urged people with respiratory problems to close windows.
Their is a new mosquito repellant on horizon that lasts for 72 'days'! It is in testing phase.
Best mosquito bite cure I have found is a half teaspoon of adolph's meat tenderizer in a shot glass. Add just a few drops of water to make a paste.
Rub on bites gently. It detroys the protein based venom. Heals in a day and takes itch right out.