Moosalamoo Woods & Waters was in the local paper last week. Lou Varricchio from the Addison Eagle and True North Reports asked two of our members some questions about mosquitoes, larvicides, and pesticides. Chris Fastie and Wally Bailey are both quoted in the article. Will Mathis of the BLSG Insect Control District is also quoted, although those quotes were from an essay in the Rutland Herald authored by Mathis. Reporters have not had much luck this spring arranging interviews with BLSG members.
Varricchio asked good questions and quickly grasped the position of Moosalamoo Woods & Waters. Unfortunately, he included one very misleading statement from Will Mathis:
” Even a case of mosquito-borne Zika virus, …, has been reported in Vermont.”
It is true that in 2016 one Vermonter contracted the Zika virus, but it was not as a result of a mosquito bite in Vermont. The patient had travelled to an area where Zika is transmitted by mosquitoes. No one north of Texas and Florida has ever contracted Zika from a mosquito. The primary vector mosquito for Zika does not live as far north as Vermont. If a reporter ever gets to talk to someone from BLSG, it would be good to ask why they continue to mislead the public about the risk of contracting Zika from a mosquito in Vermont. Today, that risk is zero.
One of BLSG’s stated goals is public education about mosquitoes. They are not achieving that goal when they repeat misleading information about such an important topic.