1961] 
Insect Control Programs 
81 
doses of spray on their land. In view of these difficulties, DDT must 
be considered as only a marginally safe compound even at the I lb 
per acre dosage. 
The issue of mass spraying has come to one court battle that at- 
tracted considerable attention. A group of plaintiffs led by Dr. Robert 
Cushman Murphy, the well-known ornithologist, sought injunctions 
against mass spraying of DDT for gypsy moth on or near their land, 
which was situated near New York City and mostly on Long Island. 
Most of the plaintiffs were organic gardeners and nature-lovers, and 
much of their testimony tended to be emotional in tone but rather 
insubstantial as to verifiable facts. The government defended itself 
with toxicologists and entomologists who presented a generally factual 
picture, and the case was decided against the plaintiffs by the Federal 
judge, although he warned the government to use more care in spray 
operations. The main effect of the case appears to have been to make 
the spray agencies hesitant about treating Long Island and many other 
farm areas. Also, by agreement with New York health authorities, a 
wide belt is left unsprayed around the large reservoirs of the metro- 
politan water supply. Such areas can of course provide refuges for 
the moth from which it is potentially able to recolonize adjacent 
treated areas. 
Thus, for various reasons, the large key “border state” of New York 
has in fact been forced to abandon the “eradication” campaign, and 
the Plant Pest Control Division of the USDA now speaks instead of 
a “containment program” which would include chemical treatments 
within the infested area and along its periphery to back up the con- 
tinued quarantines. 
Infestations in Pennsylvania and Michigan, thought on several 
past occasions to have been eradicated or nearly so bv DDT spray, 
still survive. Directly menaced are the hardwood forests of the 
Atlantic Slope, the Appalachians and the Mississippi Valley. 
What Can Be Done About the Gypsy Moth? 
I gather from conversations and correspondence with entomologists 
and foresters responsible for gypsy moth control at the state and local 
level that they generally share an uneasiness about the use of air- 
sprayed non-specific poisons such as DDT and sevin on forest and 
watershed areas. Most of them expressed the hope that some substitute 
control method eventually would be found. So far as we can see now, 
potential substitute methods lie in four different areas: predator- 
parasite manipulation, propagation of bacterial or viral diseases, 
