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ILLINOIS AUDUBON'S OFFICIAL STATEMENT 
ON CONTROL OF MOSQUITOS 
The Only True Solution: 
Continuous Attention to Breeding Places 
by LEE JENS 
Pesticides Chairman, Illinois Audubon Society 
In general, the attitude of Illinois Audubon Society on the use of pesticides 
is contained in its statement of policy, passed by the Board of Directors 
in 1964, as follows: 
In pest control, man’s constant goal should be to work with nature 
rather than to resort to force; to eliminate causes wherever possible, rather 
than to attack symptoms. Treatment with a broad-spectrum, highly-toxic 
pesticide should be done only: 
1. When there is no sufficiently adequate alternative. 
2. When the need for the desired result is great enough to accept 
the hazards. 
3. When there is scientific proof that the treatment will be highly 
effective. 
4. In the smallest possible amount, applied in the safest possible manner 
to forms of life other than the pest. The chemical chosen should be 
the least toxic commensurate with control of the pest. 
No governmeni program should be undertaken, and no government 
advice on pesticides should be given, without the agreement of the agri- 
culture, health and conservation departments whether at state or federal 
level. 
In short, the policy of the Society is: “Treat with chemical pesticides 
as little as possible.” 
In keeping with this policy, the IAS Board of Directors passed a reso- 
lution in 1971 against community fogging for mosquito control, no matter 
what material is used, except in cases of high emergency such as an epi- 
demic of encephalitis. 
Fogging is a very short-lived control. According to one expert, Kenneth 
Nutter, former head of the Wheaton, Ill., Mosquito Abatement District, it 
is done only for psychological reasons—to make home owners believe a lot 
is being done by the dramatic fogging machine (which incidentally can be 
very hazardous to children who run into the fog and out into the paths of 
oncoming automobiles). Illinois Audubon Society does not believe that 
killing adult mosquitoes is a true way of control. Once mosquitoes are 
on the wing, we agree with Stanley Rachesky, Cooperative Extension 
Service, University of Illinois, that it is too late for control. 
Fogging, in addition to being an ineffective control for mosquitoes, 
is fatal to many beneficial insects because the poisons used are non-selective, 
Very few people have any conception of how much man depends on bene- 
ficial insects, such as the pollinators of plants, and parasites of harmful 
