Ossipee tiptoeing through permit process for mosquito spraying

By Nate Giarnese

Selectmen are feeling out a four-month state permit process that could allow them to dust Ossipee with pesticides to combat deadly mosquito-borne illnesses.Eastern Equine Encephalitis took two human lives in the state last year, and Western Nile Virus was found in a number of birds and animals in New Hampshire and Maine. Both are considered deadly to people and are transmitted by mosquito bites.The permit, which wouldn't be approved until at least June, could give officials authority to blast zones identified as containing infected bugs with chemical clouds, or to take other similarly state-regulated measures deemed appropriate by authorities. But local officials wonder just what they would be releasing into the ground and the water, and what they may be agreeing to by getting involved in the state permit process; and how much it could cost.The host of unanswered questions prompted the board to agree to move ahead cautiously with an offer by the state to furnish an expert, reportedly free of charge, to guide the town through its application.Selectman Harry Merrow said the state's proposed battle plan against isolated outbreaks may work in its city downtowns, but may fail to protect spread out populations in land-rich Ossipee."To me this looks geared towards the city, the city makes sense to me," Merrow said. "It doesn't make any sense to me here.""I can see how we might need some mosquito control," he said. "I don't have any problem with it, Peter, but how do you do this when you don't have any idea where it's going to hit."But selectman's chair Peter Olkkola, who had pushed the board to forge ahead with the application Monday, said it is crucial to at least start down the long road to readiness. "It takes 120 days to get an application approved," Olkkola said, adding that if selectmen didn't start now, and "if there is a problem in July, it will be too late.""If you don't have the application in place, you are not going to be able to do anything about it," he said, adding, "I hope we never have to use it." The board agreed, but warned it may pull out or reevaluate if costs or other obligations began to sneak in."Peter, the state never does anything without money," Merrow, also a state legislator, said. "When they want money, tell them to stop."Selectman Joe Skehan said the poisons may be a "double edged sword," that, while killing bugs, may also seep into the earth and contaminate groundwater. The board said it would learn more about the defense plan and the chemicals in coming weeks and would consult an expert from the N.H. Division of Pesticide Control.Documentation from that office identifies two fundamental types of anti-mosquito attack strategies involving pesticides: In adulticiding, fine mists are wafted over broad areas to rapidly knock down large numbers of full-grown bugs; the other, larviciding, targets surface waters, killing larvae in the early stages of life.Adulticiding can quickly dispatch existing biting mosquitoes in the spray area, but its results are short lived, and can require repeat applications in areas of dense human habitation, the division said.While larviciding kills large numbers of immature mosquitoes, and will not likely expose humans to chemicals directly, it will not kill biting adults. Some mosquito-control strategies incorporate both, the division said.According to State Epidemiologist Dr. Jose Montero, towns across the state were ill equipped to defend against last year's outbreak of mosquito-borne Eastern Equine Encephalitis. The deadly crisis brought seven human cases to the state, resulting in two deaths, including the teenage daughter of then Newton police chief, and former Wolfeboro chief Richard Labell.Montero, in a letter to Ossipee, which also names the West Nile Virus as a concern, said approaches to mosquito control can vary widely based on a town's geographic, environmental and funding concerns. Planning should begin now, he wrote in the November address.Health officials recommend citizens wear insect repellant and eliminate standing water in old tires, birdbaths, rain gutters and other containers where the bugs breed.Labell earlier this month lobbied for a bill now before the state legislature that would allow police to charge violators with a misdemeanor for refusing to clean up standing water within 72 hours of an order to do so. It would also fund matching grants to help towns pay for pesticides, and clarify that the governor can declare a state of emergency in the event of a sweeping outbreak.