Malathion gone, city needs Ottawa’s OK to stand on DeltaGard for thee in mosquito war

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This article was published 06/04/2017 (3452 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When it comes to mosquito control this year, the city hopes to have a new weapon in its tool kit.

DeltaGard, not malathion, will be the city’s weapon of choice this year if it needs to control adult mosquitoes.

“Our summers are super nice and we want to enjoy them,” Coun. Mike Pagtakhan, chairman of the civic protection, community services and parks committee, said Thursday.

“This is a different product, but it is a better and environmentally friendly product. It works, plus malathion is not available anymore.”

The city began testing DeltaGard, a chemical insecticide, in two trials in August 2015, and was happy with the 98 per cent effectiveness rate shown in killing mosquitoes.

A report to the committee, to be presented at next week’s meeting, says DeltaGard will cost $200,000 per citywide application compared to $100,000 for malathion.

DeltaGard has been recommended by the World Health Organization Pesticide Evaluation Scheme and has an Environmental Protection Agency “reduced risk” classification for mosquito control because of its low toxicity to mammals.

But the product, developed by Bayer CropScience Canada as a less toxic alternative, hasn’t been approved for full use in Canada, so the city forwarded those results to the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency. DeltaGard was approved for use in the United States in 2015.

The federal agency is expected to approve DeltaGard in Canada by June 8.

“It will be in just the nick of time,” Pagtakhan said.

“If we have to, we usually start fogging in late June and early July. And, at the end of the day, the city does have an aggressive biologically friendly larviciding program.”

Pagtakhan said Winnipeggers will still be able to apply for buffer zones and nothing has changed as far as trap-count numbers and other factors that trigger fogging efforts.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca