Should Harvard rejoin the state-managed mosquito control program that the town voted to abandon in 1989? New fears that mosquito-borne diseases are spreading to Central Massachusetts insect populations have prompted the town Board of Health (BOH) to at least raise the question. But the reaction of the dozen residents who turned out to hear a presentation by the state agency responsible for mosquito control in the region suggests that getting the town to say “yes” will be as controversial as it was two decades ago.
Roughly a dozen Harvard residents, including two selectmen and members of the Board of Health and Conservation Commission, listened Tuesday night as the director of the Central Massachusetts Mosquito Control Program (CMMCP) explained how West Nile Virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) spread from mosquitoes to animals and humans, and how his agency goes about minimizing the threat. The meeting took place in Volunteers Hall at the town library and was carried live on local cable TV.
The CMMCP is one of nine regional agencies responsible for mosquito control in Massachusetts. All are managed by the Massachusetts Reclamation and Mosquito Control Board (SRMCB), but get their funding from towns. CMMCP estimates that the annual cost of implementing a mosquito control program in Harvard would cost the town roughly $57,000. The amount would be deducted from the local funding the town receives from the state (the so-called “cherry sheet”) and would amount to an additional expense for taxpayers to bear. To join the program in 2011, the town would have to approve an article to do so at its next Annual Town Meeting in the spring.
Agency is ‘customer driven’
In his 70-slide presentation, CMMCP Executive Director Tim Deschamps insisted that his agency is “customer driven” in its approach to mosquito control. Spraying, he said, is always a last resort, undertaken only when residents request it or when there is an imminent threat, such as the discovery of WNV and EEE in mosquitoes trapped at Bolton Flats this summer. Spraying is always done at night, and residents can opt out, Deschamps said, adding that CMMCP trucks are now equipped with GPS for more precise determination of excluded areas. His agency uses the best technology available, Deschamps said, has shifted to less harmful chemicals in recent years, and follows the recommendations and research findings of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state’s Department of Health, and its own oversight commission, which includes town officials and experts from the region. One of the CMMCP commissioners, Dr. Sam Telford, an associate professor at the Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine, was present at the Tuesday night meeting and defended the choice of chemicals the agency uses, saying that much of the concern he has seen is “chatter,” and not “science-based.”
But Deschamps faced an audience of skeptics, many of whom came to the meeting having done their own research. If the program is customer driven, said David Durrant of East Bare Hill Road, then it is really a “nuisance control” program, not a program driven by health risks. Wendy Sisson of the Conservation Commission worried that once a town joins CMMCP, it loses control over its wetlands, since the agency is exempt from the permitting that is otherwise required to drain ponds, repair ditches or apply insecticide. She also observed that at least one district, the Eastern Middlesex Mosquito Control Project, uses health risk assessments rather than public requests to decide when to treat an area. Marilyn Strong of Old Littleton Road and selectwoman Marie Sobalvarro both worried about the long-term effect of applying chemicals year after year.
“It was a presentation made by [CMMCP] as opposed to an informational forum about the issue,” said Conservation Commission member Wendy Sisson afterwards. “There are many issues,” she added. “There’s the uncertainty of the science itself, the disease, how much risk the mosquitoes are, the health risks and environmental risks of spraying, and the effectiveness [of spraying]. What we were given last night was Central Massachusetts Mosquito Control’s position on it.”
An aggressive disease
Still, fear of EEE, which BOH member Tom Philippou described in his opening remarks, as “the most aggressive” neurological disease known to attack humans and animals,” is the reason the BOH wants to put the issue on the table. The mortality rate for those affected is high, Philippou said, quoting Department of Public Health materials, and survivors often suffer severe neurological damage.
The discovery of both EEE and the less dangerous WNV in Bolton Flats mosquitoes this summer was “concerning,” said Philippou, since towns in the Nashua River watershed have long been considered to be at low risk. This fall, the Department of Public Health for the first time declared Lancaster to be at “high” risk and Harvard to be at “moderate” risk. Harvard remains at “low” (as opposed to “remote”) risk for WNV. Deschamps said that both EEE and WNV appeared to be migrating north and west in the state. So far this year, only one human case of EEE has been reported, and that one was in Plymouth County in the southeastern corner of the state.
Under questioning by Selectman Tim Clark, Deschamps gave more details about the decision by Bolton to spray this past August. According to Deschamps, when the death of a horse in Lancaster was found to have been caused by EEE, the state Department of Public Health quickly deployed traps in Harvard, Bolton, and Shirley to look for evidence the virus might be present in those towns as well. No infected mosquitoes were found in Harvard, but both EEE and WNV were found in mosquitoes caught at Bolton Flats, near Route 117. Though Bolton is not a member of the CMMCP, the agency offered to spray roads near the infected area if Bolton would join the program in 2011. Bolton town officials agreed to the plan and on the night of Aug. 30, CMMCP trucks doused properties bordering two thirds of Bolton’s roads, west of Interstate 495, including stretches of Still River Road, Bolton Road, and Harvard Road.
“I think it’s a futile effort, for a minimal gain,” said Durrant. “It’s a waste of money. It’s a waste of time … There’s too many of those little buggers out there.”
