Eco Hvar

Insect spraying: the 'fogging' practice

Published in Poisons Beware

Would I find myself driving home through a mist of toxic chemicals if I caught the 20:30 ferry back from Split? That was the question on 27th September 2017.

Kill is no cure. Kill is no cure. Vivian Grisogono

The insect suppression 'fogging' action was to take place in the Jelsa region, starting at 10pm and lasting until 4am the following morning. Arriving in Stari Grad at 22:30 that evening might just put me in the wake of the 'fogging' vehicle if we coincided on the road to Pitve. Knowing the extremely potent cocktail which was being used in 2017 (a combination of two dangerous pyrethroids, Permethrin and Tetramethrin, and a synergist, Piperonyl Butoxide, which carried risks of its own), the thought of being suffused in it did not appeal. One evening in 2012, I was walking back to the car park in Hvar Town, when just a little way in front of me there was a violent hissing sound, and a misty cloud suddenly belched out to either side of a cumbersome van. Behind the van was a car and a motorbike, as well as a group of pedestrians. As the 'fogging' vehicle left town, several more cars followed it. As none could overtake it, they all crawled up the hill in a sad line steeped in swirling toxins. That year the two pyrethroid poisons used in combination were Permethrin and Cypermethrin. Each year pyrethroid pesticides have been applied across the environment, usually at least three times during the summer season. Pyrethroids are dangerous for humans, animals, and the environment, and of course are especially toxic for bees. As the exact route and timings of the 'fogging' are not published, it is impossible to plan one's movements to avoid the 'fogging' vehicle if one happens to be out and about during that night.

'Fogging', Hvar Town 30th July 2012. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Insect suppression programme definitely futile

The morning after this September's 'fogging', it's a lovely sunny day in Pitve. A sparrow perches on my fence, looking a bit forlorn. Have they killed off his breakfast? Looking again, I can see swarms of insects milling around. Lots of flies and mosquitoes go about their business with vim and vigour. Clearly the attempted cull has failed. But how much collateral damage has it done? Personal experiences of the insect suppression programme indicate that the mosquitoes which survive are resistant, angry and increasingly virulent. The poisons which reach them inevitably create changes in their systems. And then there are the unwanted effects on non-target insects, especially bees.

Mosquitoes bite, OK?

Thousands of people get bitten by many thousands of mosquitoes in Croatia every year. According to official statistics, mosquito-borne diseases are not a problem. The few isolated cases of Malaria and Dengue Fever, for example, are mainly imported, usually by sailors returning from tropical countries. In countries where mosquito-borne diseases are endemic, experience has shown that trying to suppress the insects with insecticides is ineffective and counter-productive, as they rapidly become resistant to every poison used.

Mosquito at work. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Mosquito bites are irritating, but the vast majority do not cause disease. Irritation is not a reason to eliminate a species, even if it was possible. Anyway, it is not possible, and pesticide use is simply increasing pest numbers, not reducing them. I used to be very sensitive to mosquito bites, now I am not. The change came when I started taking a vitamin B complex supplement daily. I still get bitten, but the bites do not cause significant irritation, and the marks disappear from my skin very quickly. This may not work for everyone, but it has certainly worked for many people I know.

Mosquito bite, Pitve, 28th September 2017. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

'Fogging' on Hvar

As already stated, details of the 'fogging' routes are not publicized. Having seen it, we at Eco Hvar only know for sure that the vehicle leaves Hvar Town along the road past the Police Station. In the Jelsa region it passes along the road through Vitarnja between Jelsa and Vrboska; and it goes through Gornje Pitve towards the Zavala tunnel. As it goes through Upper Pitve, it passes very close to the houses by the road, spraying the poisons at a height. The poisons therefore reach parked cars, the local rubbish bin, patios where children play and families eat their meals, gardens with fruits, vegetables, chickens and goats, wine cellars, food stores, kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms. As the warning notice posted in Jelsa on the Town Hall notice board  is seen by almost no-one, and the summer nights are hot, many people do not close their shutters.

The route through the centre of Upper Pitve

Even if we avoid direct contact with the 'fogging' vehicle, we cannot avoid coming into contact with the poisons. We breathe them in, they enter our bodies through skin contact. They don't just disappear into thin air, having done their work on the target insects during the night. The poisons settle on the surfaces where they are sprayed, and can spread over a wider area if the night is windy. The poison effects are extended for some time, possibly several days after the 'fogging' has taken place. The damage they do is not limited to the mosquitoes which are their main target victims.

The road leading towards the Pitve-Zavala tunnel

The morning after the September 2017 fogging I go down to my car, which, being parked by the road, has received a goodly dose of the poison spray. Having walked down the road, I must have picked up some poison on my shoes. I find a praying mantis fighting its shadow on the car door: has it been maddened by the poisons? Opening the door of the car, my hand is probably contaminated. The inside of the car may well have been penetrated: how much poison residue am I breathing in or touching as I drive off? The awareness is uncomfortable, much more disturbing than normal mosquito bites.

Praying mantis, 28th September 2017. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

It's time for change

Insect suppression using chemicals is not achieving its aim in Croatia and other countries. By law, there should be proper warning about the 'fogging'. It takes place during the summer season when the population of Hvar Island is multiplied several times over with guests from many different parts of the world. Locals are ill-informed, foreigners have no warning at all. Ignorance is bliss, but keeping people in the dark about an obviously dangerous practice is unacceptable and unforgiveable. Two days after the 'fogging' in our area, a shocked friend from Vrisnik reacted to the news of the spraying: "I've been eaten alive by mosquitoes all day yesterday!" When asked (by e-mail) whether she knew that her area had been sprayed two nights previously, a Stari Grad resident responded with horror: "S**t, I had no idea!!!!" 

The law and the practice urgently need to be reviewed and revised.

© Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon), September  2017, updated January 2022

NOTES:

In February 2021 I sent a sample of my hair to be analysed for pesticides. Three were identified as being present in my system: azoxystrobine, a fungicide; glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and other herbicides; and permethrin, the insecticide used over many years for the fogging actions, which is also used in household fly killers and anti-flea collars for dogs. As I do not use chemical pesticides, the presence of these potentially harmful substances is a very worrying indication of how badly our environment is contaminated and how much we are exposed to the poisons being used around us. The analysis was done by the Kudzu laboratory in France.

Details of the poisons used for the 'fogging'and their possible adverse effects: Pesticides, and their adverse effects; and  Pesticide Products in Croatia

Details of the insect suppression programme in Croatia and some of its failings: Poisoning Paradise, A Wake-Up Call

For more about the insect suppression programme over the years, please see our companion articles:

Insect Spraying: Save the Bees! (Eco Hvar, 2017, updated September 2021)

Insect Spraying: Rethink Needed (Eco Hvar, August, September 2017, updated September 2021)

Insect Spraying: The Campaign (Eco Hvar, 29th August 2017)

Insect Spraying: Pros and Cons (Eco Hvar, August 2014, updated September 2021)

Insecticides in the Air (Eco Hvar, 5th April 2016, 23rd July 2017)

Hvar's Health Tourism (Total Hvar 1st August 2012)

Bobi, the Dog Who Didn't Need to Die (Eco Hvar, 20th July, 4th September 2017.)

Some comments received via the Eco Hvar Facebook page:

DV: is this continuing? What about the bees? Not good. (29.09.2017., 17:35)

Eco-Hvar: Sadly, yes, continuing and escalating as horror stories do. But people are gradually coming to realise what's happening. No normal person finds the situation acceptable! We are pressing for change. (29.09.2017., 20:51)

DV: Precious tourists...... every organism has a purpose and if one removes it from the ecosystem.....something else will take that niche. There are natural insect repellents that can be used with out total destruction (30.09.2017., 07:59)

Eco-Hvar Yes, people are gradually coming to that realisation. It's a slow process changing mindsets, but we have to keep trying! (30.09.2017., 09:29)

JE This is shocking and so shortsighted. (01.10.2017., 16:15) Sad

 

 

 

More in this category: « Insect spraying: rethink needed Insect Spraying Pros and Cons »
back to top
You are here: Home poisons be aware Insect spraying: the 'fogging' practice

Eco Environment News feeds

  • £3.5m of Tory donations linked to pollution and climate denial, says report

    Millions given to party and MPs last year came from entities linked to fossil fuels, high-polluting industries and climate denial

    The Conservative party received £3.5m from individuals and entities linked to climate denial, fossil fuels and high-pollution industries last year, according to new analysis.

    The climate website DeSmog analysed Electoral Commission records, which show that the party and its MPs received funds from the aviation and construction industries, mining and oil interests, and individuals linked to the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a thinktank which has denied the legitimacy of climate science.

    Continue reading...

  • Plants emit ultrasonic sounds in rapid bursts when stressed, scientists say

    Thirsty or damaged plants produce up to 50 staccato pops in an hour, which nearby creatures may respond to, researchers find

    There comes a time in a plant’s life when the head sags, the leaves go pale and the body releases a barrage of sounds that are the ultrasonic equivalent of stamping on bubble wrap.

    While any gardener is familiar with the wilting and discoloration that comes with drought, a shortage of water or a sudden wound can also prompt plants to produce staccato pops, which nearby creatures may respond to, scientists say.

    Continue reading...

  • United Nations adopts landmark resolution on climate justice

    Resolution hailed as ‘win for climate justice of epic proportions’ should make it easier to hold countries accountable for failures

    A UN resolution was adopted on Wednesday that should make it easier to hold polluting countries legally accountable for failing to tackle the climate emergency, in a vote which was hailed as a historic victory for climate justice.

    The UN general assembly adopted by consensus the resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu, a tiny Pacific island nation vulnerable to extreme climate effects, and youth activists to secure a legal opinion from the international court of justice (ICJ) to clarify states’ obligations to tackle the climate crisis – and specify any consequences countries should face for inaction.

    Continue reading...

  • The Guardian view on a water crisis: targets need to be binding | Editorial

    The global response to an escalating water crisis is belated and inadequate. But last week’s UN conference was an important marker

    The more than 700 pledges that emerged from the UN water conference, which concluded last weekend, were an insufficient response to the worsening global water crisis. But the scientific panel that the UN has committed to create, along with a new water envoy, should help bring greater clarity and raise awareness of the multiplying risks. These include sea level rises, floods, droughts and other extreme weather caused by global heating, and the lack of access of about 2 billion people to clean drinking water. The trouble is that the commitments made by attenders – who included very few world leaders – are voluntary and unenforceable. Given the broken climate pledges of the past, there is every reason to worry that the promises will not be kept.

    Many participants in the three days of talks in New York were angered by the prominent role played by corporations, including manufacturers who are heavy users of water, and the lack of representation of grassroots organisations from the poorer countries that are the worst affected. As with recent reports of the influence of oil companies in US universities, there are growing concerns about the ways in which businesses are seeking to shape environmental legislation, and public understanding of the threats, to promote their own short-term economic interests.

    Continue reading...

  • Barcelona green space plan could improve health of 30,000, study finds

    Creating more green areas could also save up to £40m a year in costs linked to mental health issues, say researchers

    An ambitious push to create more green spaces in Barcelona – a city with one of the highest population and traffic densities in Europe – could improve the health of more than 30,000 people, reduce the use of antidepressants and save up to €45m (£40m) annually in costs associated with mental health issues, research suggests.

    It builds on a growing body of evidence that has linked urban green spaces to better mental wellbeing as well as the prevention of depression, anxiety and insomnia.

    Continue reading...

  • Switzerland and France accused of lack of climate action in ECHR hearing

    Group of Swiss women and French ex-mayor suing their governments in first such cases heard by rights court

    The governments of Switzerland and France have been accused of breaching the human rights of their citizens by not acting decisively enough on climate change, at a landmark legal hearing in Strasbourg.

    A panel of judges at the European court of human rights heard petitions from a group of Swiss women and a French former mayor seeking to bolster climate action in their countries. Although climate litigation has spread quicklyaround the world, these are the first such cases to be heard by the ECHR.

    Continue reading...

  • Melting Antarctic ice predicted to cause rapid slowdown of deep ocean current by 2050

    New research by Australian scientists suggests 40% slowdown in just three decades could alter world’s climate for centuries

    Melting ice around Antarctica will cause a rapid slowdown of a major global deep ocean current by 2050 that could alter the world’s climate for centuries and accelerate sea level rise, according to scientists behind new research.

    The research suggests if greenhouse gas emissions continue at today’s levels, the current in the deepest parts of the ocean could slow down by 40% in only three decades.

    Continue reading...

  • UK is Europe’s worst private jet polluter, study finds

    UK tops all league tables for highly polluting form of travel, with a flight taking off every six minutes last year

    The UK is the private jet capital of Europe, with more flights than anywhere else on the continent, analysis has found.

    Last year, a private jet set off from the UK once every six minutes, putting the country ahead of the rest of Europe when it comes to the extremely polluting form of travel. Many of these journeys have been called “polluting and pointless” by Greenpeace, as they are so short they could have easily been taken by train – and in one case, cycled in 30 minutes.

    Continue reading...

  • US puts Italy-sized chunk of Gulf of Mexico up for auction for oil drilling

    In latest blow to Joe Biden’s reputation as the ‘climate president’, 73.3m acres of the gulf will be offered for fossil fuel extraction

    An enormous swathe of the Gulf of Mexico, spanning an area the size of Italy, was put up for auction on Wednesday for oil and gas drilling, in the latest blow to Joe Biden’s increasingly frayed reputation on dealing with the climate crisis.

    The president’s Department of the Interior offered up a vast area of the central and western Gulf, including plunging deep water reaches, for drilling projects that will stretch out over decades, despite scientists’ urgent warnings that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out if the world is to avoid disastrous global heating. The auctions also come despite Biden’s own pre-election promise to halt all drilling on federal lands and waters.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: The old oaks won’t believe it’s spring until they see it | Paul Evans

    The Marches, Montgomeryshire: The ones here, at the home of rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr, know how to wait till the coast is clear

    There is a moment when the old oaks hold fast to winter. Their centuries taught them about betrayal: sunshine before the lash of hail whips round the hill; sweet birdsong stiff with frost, late snows and other silences. They are reluctant to unclench buds, hesitant to loosen pollen smoke. That day, when the vernal equinox tips into the light, and we wind clocks forwards to return a stolen hour; when timbers shiver with a pulse that opens up the leaves across the land; is that now?

    Sycharth is a green ring in the valley a mile, as the crow flies, across the border into Montgomeryshire, Powys. It is a circular earthwork of a motte around the central mound of a bailey under a wooded hillside by the Cynllaith brook. On the ring are oaks and in the oaks are histories, and of those histories, the one about Owain Glyndŵr is the most famous.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

  • Gordon Moore, digital pioneer and philanthropist, dies at 94

    Digital pioneer, business leader and philanthropist Gordon Moore died at his home in Hawaiʻi on March 24. While Moore was best known as a titan of the tech world, his contributions to the natural world were equally pathbreaking.

  • 3 things our experts loved in March

    Conservation International is powered by 1,500 people in more than 30 countries — their interests, like their hometowns, are all over the map. In this monthly feature, we highlight three things that kept our experts busy while off the clock.

  • After nearly 50 years, water back on the global agenda

    This week, the United Nations holds its first global freshwater conference in nearly 50 years. In the years since, the global population has doubled — yet the challenges facing the health of, and access to, freshwater resources have been largely overshadowed by the climate and biodiversity crises.

  • Experts see hope in gloomy climate report

    Humanity is set to blow past 1.5°C of planetary warming by the early 2030s, according to a new report released today by the U.N. But the report also offers hope in the form of actions that could avert the worst impacts of climate change.

  • Study: Patterns of wildlife 'range loss' could offer clues for conservation

    More than one million species are at risk of extinction largely because they are being pushed out of places where they have long lived — known as “ranges.” But not all range loss looks the same.

  • Why a new treaty to protect the high seas is a ‘game-changer’

    Roughly two-thirds of the world’s oceans lie beyond national boundaries in an area known as the “high seas” — yet only about 1 percent of that largely unexplored expanse has been protected. Now, nearly 200 countries have agreed on the first-ever United Nations treaty to protect the high seas.

  • What on Earth is ‘HFLD’? (Hint: It’s about forests)

    From “blue carbon” to “ecosystem services,” environmental jargon is everywhere. Conservation International looks to make sense of it in an occasional explainer series. In this installment, we explore the role “HFLDs,” play in storing climate-warming carbon.

  • On carbon offsets, Wirecutter story doesn’t cut it

    A recent article claims that buying carbon offsets for your flight doesn't help the climate crisis. This conclusion is bafflingly wrong: Paying to protect an area of forest to offset the climate footprint of your flight does in fact — demonstrably and verifiably — help.

  • The year ahead: Climate change is here. Nature can help

    For millions of people around the world who are learning to survive in the face of droughts, floods and more frequent storms, climate change is not a future problem — it’s here now. Nature can be a powerful ally in adapting to these impacts.

  • News spotlight: A climate hero emerges — beavers

    Increasing drought and urban expansion have contributed to the destruction and degradation of 35 percent of the world’s wetlands. How might we stymie this decline? Introducing beavers back into their natural habitats is a good start.

Copyright © 2023 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.