Community Corner

What Do You Think About Pesticides in Highland Park?

Highland Park City Councilman Kim Stone called Patch on Wednesday, as a Highland Park resident rather than a political figure, because she wanted to warn her neighbors that the Southlake Mosquito Abatement District would be spraying a pesticide over town on Thursday evening.

The pesticide, called Duet, will be sprayed from a plane over a 25 square mile area, targeting Highland Park, Highwood, Deerfield, Riverwoods and Bannockburn.

And Stone is not happy about that.

"I think it's really urgent we get the word out to people," she said. 

Stone, who spoke out against the Park District when they considered using pesticides for weeds in 2011, plans to cover her garden, take her hummingbird feeders inside and stay indoors during the hour the spraying is expected to last.

"I want to put a piece of plastic all over my entire yard," she said. "Where's my right to not be exposed to this stuff?"

George Balis, however, thinks Stone's concerns are unwarranted. The Clarke entomologist pointed Patch to Duet's label and went over how the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't believe people have anything to worry about.

"None of those requirements are needed by the EPA," Balis said, referring to the precautions Stone plans to take.

Duet breaks down quickly, Balis said, and will be used in low dosage. It's been used already throughout the district during targeted sprayings from trucks.

"The application is not being made over Lake Michigan," Balis said. "The airplane may turn over Lake Michigan but we won't be treating over Lake Michigan."

This will be the first time since 2010 that it will be sprayed over a wider area from a plane. It's expected to kill 85 to 90 percent of the mosquitos targeted.

"Following the heavy rainfall that occurred about two weeks ago, the mosquito population has escalated to a point where traps are about 10 times over the annoyance threshold," Balis said. "The reality is… each municipality understands why the treatment is happening."

What do you think about pesticides in Highland Park? Let us know in the comments below.


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