The Korea Times has an article describing efforts to reduce mosquito numbers. The main effort shown in photos is the use of pesticide fogging machines.
Newcomers to Korea are often horrified seeing children playing in the fog. It looks fun and adults don’t seem to mind. I don’t know what compounds are used but I can’t imagine that it is healthy. R. Elgin at the Marmot’s Hole is particularly bothered by it: 1,2, ah, just follow the results of this search. I’ve written about my distaste for it, too: 1, 2.
Still, mosquitos are a problem to be dealt with. One big factor is emptying stagnant basins of water. Farm fields are places where basins and rain-catchers are common and these need to be emptied or screened over to reduce locations for mosquito larvae to mature.
June 1, 2012 at 2:23 pm |
It’s a catch-22, isn’t it? being from California, I’m not used to mosquitos, and my skin reacts pretty severely to all bug bites. So I always have a ready supply of home-mat around…but I always have this nagging thought of, “mosquitos have been around since the dinosaurs, and if this can kill them, what the heck is it doing to ME?”
June 20, 2012 at 5:53 pm |
That is a scary thing to think about, but we still spread pesticides for mosquitoes like this in the US. We just tend to do it at times when people are indoors and give warnings. It’s great for eliminating them…and probably us as well in the long run.