Politics & Government

Cold Fog: Are You Concerned About Pesticide Exposure?

One Minnetonka parent reports that her son passed through "Cold Fog" while biking home from Dairy Queen.

Would it bother you if your child was exposed to pesticides without warning?

Susan Berkson, a Minnetonka mom, said it happened to her son and she is not pleased with the response from the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District (MMCD).

One evening last week at about 9:30 p.m., Berkson's son was riding his bike home from Dairy Queen when he passed a MMCD truck spraying "Cold Fog" on the streets of Minnetonka. 

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She promptly emailed the district whose mission is to "promote health and well being by protecting the public from disease and annoyance caused by mosquitoes, black flies and ticks, in an environmentally safe manner."

"If general mosquito treatment is going on at street level in our neighborhoods, we should be informed," said Berkson.

Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A MMCD representative responded to her email, saying that they do let the public know this will take place by putting that information on the adult mosquito treatment page of their website (www.mmcd.org) and on their adult control phone recording (651-643-8383).

The rep also wrote "this spray is mild but effective, and a brief exposure should not be harmful."

Berkson feels this answer is not acceptable.

"Posting the schedule on their website is not the same as informing people," she said. "'Should not be harmful' is not an adequate guarantee of safety."

Parents and citizens should be allowed to make informed decisions about allowing their children or themselves be exposed to chemicals, Berkson added.

The MMCD website offers free e-mail alerts to residents of the seven-county metro area. Sign up here to be notified of when and where adult mosquito control treatments will be occurring in your county.

Response from the MMCD front desk on June 21:

Susan,

I am sorry this happened.

We do not do aerial applications for adult mosquitoes. The helicopters only apply biological control materials, solid granules or pellets, into the wetlands to control the larval mosquitoes.

The cold fog truck applies resmethrin, which is a pyrethroid, a mild pesticide that is applied in a low dose around dusk when most people are inside and mosquitoes are out in the air rather than hiding in the leaves.

This spray is mild but effective, and a brief exposure should not be harmful.

We do let the public know this will take place by putting that information on the adult mosquito treatment page of our website www.mmcd.org

We also put this information on our adult control phone recording 651-643-8383.

If you would like to receive a phone call to let you know ahead of time when this will be done, please let us know. We will need your address and phone number to do this.

MMCD Front Desk

651-645-9149

How do you feel about pesticide exposure? Is posting the schedule for treatment online enough warning? Leave a comment below.


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