The prospect of pesticide spraying for the West Nile virus at the University found officials possessing more questions than answers last week. But throughout the last few days representatives from the University have been calling the Middlesex County Mosquito Extermination Commission to determine if and how the county would spray for infected mosquitos on University property, said commission superintendent Roderic Schmidt.
Schmidt said he knew of no evidence suggesting vector mosquitos - those Culex pipiens mosquitos carrying West Nile - were present in New Brunswick. No spraying should occur, he said, until the presence of vectors could be determined with scientific certainty, a process involving light traps and other methods.
Amy Vames, manager of editorial services for University Relations, suggested that pesticide spraying would present the same problems as a snow day. Thus the University would handle it in the same manner - by informing students about spraying through e-mail messages to eden accounts, notifications in The Daily Targum, The Star-Ledger, The Home News Tribune and postings on the University Web site, the RU-TV network and Rutgers Info radio.
Yet the University seemed uninformed last week and unable to pass on information to students.
"When will [the spraying in New Brunswick] be?" Vames asked last Friday.
If vector mosquitos are found at or around the University, it will not be Rutgers' first bout with insect control. Scott A. McFie, facilities horticulturist at the University, has sprayed the pesticide Malathion to fight an infestation of beetles plaguing rare American Elm trees in the Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus.
"We [notify] Rutgers Health Services, the Rutgers Police Department, and close all the windows and the buildings," McFie said. "We spray at midnight to 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. to limit exposure."
Early morning is one of the prime times for mosquito ground spraying, said Joseph Conti, director at Aventis Environmental Science, the manufacturers of the pesticide Scourge 4+12.
Spraying occurs at "dawn or dusk, especially 4 a.m. to 7 a.m., when fewer people are out," Conti said. Since people should avoid going outside for a half an hour to an hour after spraying - or much longer, if they have a pre-existing medical condition such as Multiple Sclerosis or asthma - the time to stay indoors could run into first-period classes at the University.
Since August, the Mosquito Extermination Commission has sprayed Scourge 4+12 to combat adult mosquitos in Carteret and in parts of Woodbridge, Edison, Metuchen, South Plainfield and Perth Amboy from the backs of trucks. While Schmidt said he could not rule out the possibility of aerial spraying, he advocates larvaeciding - killing larvae - as the most effective method of killing the insects, since "killing adult [mosquitos] is the least-effective method" of controlling a flying insect.
"We perform ground spraying when we need to, which is targeted to the region where we identify mosquitos," Schmidt said. "We prefer not to spray aerially, since there are [Federal Aviation Administration] restrictions."
While Schmidt said the high concentration of people at the University would impel him to notify Rutgers if any spraying will occur, he added that the process of notification - one of the most contentious issues involved in West Nile spraying - can impede his department's combat of the infected mosquito population.
"It's a confusing issue," he said. According to Marilyn Riley of the state Department of Health and Senior Services, while municipalities have discretion in choosing the length and strategy of their notification, a minimum of seven days are mandated statewide. Schmidt said this window can be problematic.
"Some mosquitos stay only 100 yards from the water where they gestate, while most others can fly for miles around," he said. "So when the schedules are set for the window for notification, we get locked in. In some cases, by the time we get around to spraying, the mosquitos will have left the area, defeating the purpose of spraying. It takes time, and doesn't really allow us time to respond."
The Culex pipiens vector mosquito, however, is one of the few mosquitos that keep within the 100-yard radius Schmidt mentioned. While approximately 99 percent of West Nile is transmitted through Culex pipiens, Schmidt said a two-day notification period is ideal for optimized announcement and efficacy.
But the appearance of advocating less disclosure for chemical spraying is a serious political issue, he said.
The controversial direction West Nile spraying took in New York City "set mosquito control back 30 years because of the way they handled spraying," he said. "Schedules were set which mosquito control had to adhere to, notification took a long time [which people thought insufficient] and there were a lot of problems."
Since August, over 50 residents of Middlesex County have called Schmidt's office requesting information about spraying or to voice concerns. The superintendent said that while he understood the anxiety since Scourge 4+12 can trigger allergic reactions, respiratory problems, outbreaks of hives and itching - and some contend the long-term effects of exposure may be more toxic - Scourge "isn't an exotic type of insecticide."
Scourge's active ingredient, resmethrin, is "found in pet shampoos and sprays for furniture," he said. "We're also applying less than one-tenth of one ounce per [targeted] acre."
Schmidt said that to be on the safe side, "if we're spraying and we see an individual walking on the road, the pipes get shut down" and traffic is redirected.
Hudson County was sprayed on Tuesday. For more information on spraying in Middlesex County call the Middlesex County Health Department at (732)745-3100.
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