Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Sept. 4, 2002

It's starting to bug me

Mosquitoes not only make us itch, they are vectors of disease. It took centuries of study and millions of deaths before that became an accepted fact. It was a great breakthrough when it was proved their bite carried both malaria and yellow fever. Especially here in the South in the late 1800s and early 1900s summer struck fear in the minds of the population because of the malaria outbreaks. Now the West Nile virus carried by the mosquito is having the same effect.

That does not mean you should run the insecticide. It is better to leave that task to experts who know the best product to use against the mosquito in this case. Everyone can help by ridding their property of any standing, stagnant water where mosquitoes breed.

As for the use of pesticides for other insects, studies have shown that the really bad pests are adaptable and they evolve at the same rate new chemicals to kill them come on the market. Although annually, 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides are used, a study of scale insects found that they were more prevalent in yards treated regularly with pesticide sprays than those that were not.

Only 10 percent of the insects found around our homes are harmful to plants and a mere fraction of those cause enough damage to call for action. Many in the insect world are helpful by eating bad insects as well as returning nutrients to the soil so they can be absorbed by plant roots.

The lowly earthworm is one of the most helpful. So much so that some people create worm farms. Tullahoma's Arnold Air Force Base had a worm farm to compost food scraps. The trouble was the base had only about 250 pounds of food scraps every three days and that was not enough to satisfy their 300,000 worms. When they got word that Wright-Patterson base in Dayton was looking for a worm farm, they donated their farm and all those worms.

Wright-Patterson had been paying $100 a ton to dispose of the fruit and vegetable waste from their commissary. In just a little over three weeks the worm farm workers ate through seven tons of food scraps. Another bonus was the worm castings which are high in nitrogen and make wonderful lawn fertilizer. The golf course at the base is being enriched by the castings.

So much for the bad versus the good bugs, but it is important to be cautious if you feel you must spray harsh insecticides to kill pests. The American Association of Poison Control reports that in the year 2000 more than 2 million cases of poisonings were reported and more than 100 persons died from poison. The most troubling fact is that about half the people exposed to poisons in this country each year are 5 years old or younger. Some of the products available to kill insects are packaged in colorful bottles or containers and children gravitate to anything that looks like food or drink.

If you have poisons around, keep them far away from little ones. Always remember poisons kill humans as well as pests.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.