Pesticides hurt the bay and untargeted insects

Thank you for the recent articles by Gerald Winegrad about the dangers of herbicides and pesticides to both our local wildlife and our waterways. As a longtime advocate for the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, Mr. Winegrad’s advice is timely, considering the recent reports about the decline in insect and bird populations across our region.

I am hoping that county residents rethink the use of mosquito spray. While people want to believe what the companies tell them, that the spray is “all natural” and “only kills mosquitoes”, reports show that bees, dragonflies, ladybugs, butterflies, lightning bugs and many other insects that are necessary to the health of our birds are killed by mosquito spray, both regular and organic.

We need our pollinators! The Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy says the following about mosquito sprays on its website: “They are broad-spectrum pesticides, meaning they do not target just one type of insect, and may kill or negatively affect bees and other beneficial insects. They are also toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms and should not be applied near a waterway.”

Additionally, herbicides applied to lawns are carried in the runoff after every rain, contributing to the absence of underwater grasses and fish in our creeks and rivers.

Poisoning insects and our waterways is detrimental to the bay, and I thank Mr. Winegrad for bringing the topic forward.