Goldberg: L.A. area's mosquito dilemma: Use pesticides or suffer through the summer plague (via latimesopinion)
I was shocked by their sudden appearance in a city where I’d always been able to sit outside, where I was in the habit of leaving doors and windows open and where I’d never once been bitten.
Then a few weeks ago I bought a device that promised to create a mosquito-free area within a 15-foot radius. It’s a little black box; you push a button and an insecticide mist comes out. The active ingredient is allethrin, a synthetic compound. It’s odorless and it works moderately well so far, but it too makes me nervous as I sit within its circle.
So I called Susanne Kluh, director of scientific and technical services at the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District. She started out by telling me, as others have, that the best way to control mosquitoes is to stop them from breeding in the first place by doing away with any standing water on your property — including small amounts in clogged roof gutters or flowerpots or buckets.