A Cole County resident has asked the county to reconsider the mosquito spray it uses, citing the EPA's newly proposed ban on the insecticide.
The county uses Mosquitomist One, which the county has uses for several years in their mist and according to Paula Bollinger Burkemper, contains Chlorpyrifos, a controlling insecticide the EPA wants to ban.
Russellville resident Burkemper asked county commissioners to consider the change.
She said her research indicates Chlorpyrifos can cause malfunction of the nervous system.
County public works officials said in talking with officials who distribute the insecticide, Clarke Mosquito Control Products, what the county sprays is not harmful to humans.
Public works officials said they try to spray as much as they can at night, but Burkemper said the spraying has taken place in the day at times, which could affect more residents.
The county does offer an opt-out option if residents don't want the spraying around their property, and Burkemper has been able to do that at her residence.
Officials with the county public works and health departments are looking at developing a pest management protocol.
At Tuesday's County Commission meeting, Health Director Kristi Campbell said the public works department has been doing its spraying based on complaints from communities in the county.
The protocol would deal with how the county should do more general spraying or using larvacide that could target mosquitoes in a specific area.
The county did more testing in past years when it had grant money available, especially when West Nile Virus was more prevalent, but when that money went away, the county went back to complaint-driven pest management.
"By developing this plan, we can have a more scientific basis on how we deal with mosquito problems," Campbell said. "We'll be using guidelines given by the Centers for Disease Control."