Eco Hvar

Insect Spraying: Open Letter to Jelsa Council

Published in Highlights

An open letter to Jelsa Council authorities about unacceptable practices related to the Insect Suppression Programme,

Insect Spraying: Open Letter to Jelsa Council

This is the English translation of an open letter to Jelsa Council sent by email on August 13th 2022.

Subject: the use of products based on cypermethrin for insect suppression in the Jelsa Council region.

Sadly, the fogging actions against mosquitoes around the Jelsa Municipality still give cause for concern. The collateral damage is enormous and increasingly visible. Residents and tourists are exposed to dangerous pesticides. Safety measures are not followed. Last year a bee-keeper in Zavala lost his bees following one of the fogging actions. No warning was given. This is all damaging to the quality of life on the island and of course it also has a bad effect on tourism.

Last year, in 2021, three products were used for fogging, which were based on pyrethroids: Neo Alfa, Neopitropid Alfa and Cipex 10E. According to the register of permitted biocidal products compiled by the Ministry of Health pri Ministarstvu Zdravstva (Registar biocidnih pripravaka - studeni 2021.) the active ingredient in Neo Alfa is cypermethrin; for Neopitroid alfa it is alfa-cypermethrin, but this is not on the Ministry approved list; neither is Cipex 10E (active ingredient cypermethrin) on the approved list any more.

In the EU Pesticides Database cypermethrin is approved with some strict limitations aimed at safeguarding pollinators: "only uses outside flowering of the crop and when no flowering weeds are present may be authorised". The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) issues permits for biocidal products: their pictograms for cypermethrin highlight clearly that cypermethrin is potentially hazardous for human health and the environment. It is also known to be toxic to cats and dangerous for dogs. There are no authorized cypermethrin products listed in the ECHA database [NOTE: at the time of writing].

ECHA cypermethrin info card

(For details of permits for pesticides, please refer to our article 'Pesticides, Laws and Permits'; for details of possible adverse effects see 'Pesticide Products in Croatia'.)

Eco Hvar has been warning for years that the practices of insect suppression are causing many problems, while there is no proof that they have reduced the presence of mosquitoes - see our articles 'Poisoning Paradise - a Wake-Up Call'. and 'Insects Wanted!'

We ask, as a matter of URGENCY that there should be no more spraying of the environment in our region with such substances. The planned actions for later this month should be cancelled. The Council authorities should pay attention to the insect suppression practices and ensure that the safety measures, including adequate supervision, from the official Plan for the Programme, are put into practice.

(Signed) Vivian Grisogono

President, Eco Hvar

More in this category: « Croatia, Beloved Country Saint John Paul II: relics on Hvar! »
back to top
You are here: Home highlights Insect Spraying: Open Letter to Jelsa Council

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Why are onions turning up on Brighton beach?

    Food produce and other waste has been littering Sussex coastline as capsized shipping containers wash ashore

    Coral Evans was walking along the beach in Brighton on Tuesday evening when she came across an unfamiliar sight.

    “Hundreds of dust masks had washed up, along with single-use plastic gloves and cans of dried milk,” she said. “It was odd to see in winter – because nothing surprises us in summertime with the amount of people on the beach.”

    Continue reading...

  • Inventor says robo-vaccination machine could be used to combat bovine TB

    Tony Cholerton created Robovacc to inoculate a timid tiger at London zoo – but says it could administer jabs to badgers

    It began with the tiger who wouldn’t come to tea. Cinta was so shy that she refused to feed when keepers at London zoo were around, and staff wondered how they would ever administer the young animal’s vaccinations without traumatising her.

    So Tony Cholerton, a zookeeper who had been a motorcycle engineer for many years, invented Robovacc – a machine to quickly administer vital jabs without the presence of people.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘I’m losing £1,800 a day’: the stark reality for Britain’s dairy farmers

    The cost of producing milk is higher than that being paid by milk processors, leaving farmers operating at a loss

    “Every morning that I roll out of bed at 4.40am, I know I’m losing £1,800 that day, just by getting up.” This is the stark daily reality for Paul Tompkins, as he and his fellow dairy farmers struggle in the face of plummeting milk prices.

    Tompkins, who is the third generation to run his family’s 234-hectare (600-acre) farm in the Vale of York, can produce milk for about 40p a litre from his 500-strong herd of black and white Holstein cows. However, he is being paid only 29p a litre by his milk processor, leaving him operating at a loss, despite trying to run his business as efficiently as possible.

    Continue reading...

  • Rare twins born in DRC raise cautious hope for endangered mountain gorillas

    Virunga park ranger says babies are well cared for by mother Mafuko but high infant mortality makes first weeks critical

    It was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

    Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring in Virunga, has seen dozens of newborns in his 15 years as a ranger. But, he tells the Guardian, even he was touched by the sight of the fragile infant males, who face serious obstacles if they are to become silverbacks one day.

    Continue reading...

  • UK urged to ratify high seas treaty to avoid being shut out of Ocean Cop summit

    As international treaty comes into force, bill to make it law in Britain is moving at ‘glacial pace’ through parliament

    The UK risks being shut out of a historic oceans summit because parliament has failed to ratify the UN’s high seas treaty, environmental charities and campaigners have warned.

    The high seas treaty, formally known as the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, comes into force on Saturday, after two decades of talks.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: There’s a hard, ancient pleasure to laying a hedge | Michael White

    Cranbrook, Kent: I have a stretch of leggy hawthorn that needs attention, so I head out into the cold with my axe and billhook

    Wire netting is everywhere in the Kent Weald – barbed boundaries to ancient pastures where sheep and cattle still idly graze. But what did farmers do for the hundreds of years before stock fencing was invented?

    Hedges, so rooted in what we wistfully consider to be our natural landscape, are in fact human-made features, planted almost solely for the purpose of enclosure. Unmanaged hedges are not a permanent solution, though: young trees mature, trunks become bare, and animal‑sized holes appear, rendering them useless. To remedy this, the practice of hedge laying was developed; unlike bricklaying, it is an act of maintenance rather than creation.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Garden of Eden’: the Spanish farm growing citrus you’ve never heard of

    Todolí foundation produces varieties from Buddha’s hands to sudachi and hopes to help citrus survive climate change

    It was on a trip with a friend to the east coast of Spain that the chef Matthew Slotover came across the “Garden of Eden”, an organic farm growing citrus varieties he had never heard of. The Todolí Citrus Foundation is a nonprofit venture and the largest private collection of citrus in the world with more than 500 varieties, and its owners think the rare fruit could hold the genetic secrets to growing citrus groves that can deal with climate change.

    The farm yields far more interesting fruit than oranges and lemons for Slotover’s menu, including kumquat, finger lime, sudachi and bergamot.

    Continue reading...

  • Dublin Bay’s oyster graveyard rises from dead in effort to restore rich ecosystem

    Pioneering scheme hopes species that thrived for thousands of years in Irish waters can do so again

    The dinghy slowed to a stop at a long line of black bobbing baskets and David Lawlor reached out to inspect the first one.

    Inside lay 60 oysters, all with their shells closed, shielding the life within. “They look great,” beamed Lawlor. So did their neighbours in the next basket and the ones after that, all down the line of 300 baskets, totalling 18,000 oysters.

    Continue reading...

  • The fate of the planet’s coastlines depends on how fast Antarctica’s ice sheets melt. We don’t know what’s coming

    Some regions of the continent have enough ice to push up sea levels by 15 metres if they all melt, but researchers don’t yet fully understand the consequences

    On one side of Dr Ben Galton-Fenzi’s view across the vast Totten ice shelf, the sun sat low on the Antarctic horizon. On the other, a full moon.

    The ice shelf is “flat and white”, says Galton-Fenzi. “If there’s cloud around, you lose the horizon.”

    Continue reading...

  • The road to Trish’s Queensland farm was blown up for a coalmine – now flood waters have left her ‘stuck in a hole’

    The cattlewoman is stranded alone, rationing her supplies and worried about her health. Meanwhile the mine sits mothballed

    Cattlewoman Trish Goodwin should be celebrating.

    Last Friday, her parched property off the Capricorn Highway near the tiny town of Bluff in the central highlands of Queensland received “very good soaking rain” – nearly 200mm would fall in a few days.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.