Patrick, did you know that you can get allergy shots for a mosquito allergy. Mine is a true allergy. I may get 6 or 7 mosquito bites on one day, then in 36 hours, one of the bites begins to swell. It swells to the point that I cannot cover it with my hand, it develops a purple knot the size of a quarter, and it begins an unusual itch that feels dangerous. When I was diagnosed the allergist even insisted that I carry adrenalin for 2 weeks until the shots had time to take effect. That was many many years ago, and after the two weeks or so, my mosquito bites are just annoying, but not dangerous. I still take the shots. I worry about the diseases that they carry and that ticks carry. Aren't you in the medical profession? You might ask to be skin tested. Thanks for your recommendation. I have been using Cutter from Lowes. like you, I put on sun block (Coppertone) then the spray. It doesn't take long to feel very dirty. When I first saw the ad of the new spray on TV, I thought it would be unsafe to breathe. But if the stuff is on your skin, you still breathe it. Sammy

I am wondering if any of you live in a community where Malathion is sprayed. I do, and I hate it. THe city and the county both insist that it is effective, but there are several times when I've been out running and that truck comes by spraying and I have nowhere to hide. Though I have stopped and covered my face, my mouth and throat completely dry out, and I know this stuff is harmful. They don't spray late enough for people to be out of the way, claiming that the mosquitoes are most active at dusk. Children, families, runners and tourists are active at dusk, also. I have sought to find research on this which would validate stopping the spraying program. I am willing to go before City Council if I can find anything; however, most of what I have discovered online tends to insist that malathion isn't a threat to people. Do any of you have sources of information out there which may (a) indicate that malathion is not safe for humans and (b) indicate that the spraying program is not effective any way. Thanks for indulging me with this long message, but when I saw a "mosquitoe discussion," I had to weigh in. Mike in Myrtle Beach, SC

Broadcast sprays with residual action (the only way they'd have any effect other than shortly after the actual spraying) are not benign. I know of nothing that targets only mosquitos so anything you use will also kill other, unintended, insects. (And potentially harm the birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and mammals that eat the poisoned, off-target insects.) Just because the company is owned by an entomologist doesn't necessarily mean he has much interest in live bugs, or a healthy environment. Indeed, one of the most lucrative career paths for entomologists is working for chemical companies devising new insecticides. I live (and work outdoors) in a buggy, ticky, rural area and there is no way I'd ever consider broad spectrum, residual sprays for my own comfort. Biting bugs can be miserable - you don't want to experience the sheer misery of black fly season on my northern NY farm - but there are ways to make them less annoying w/o adding to the chemical load in our world. Disrupting the environment by spraying makes it difficult for natural balance to exert itself and help mitigate the problem. More effective solutions such as neighborhood efforts to get rid of standing water everywhere make a bigger difference in the long run. I have lived in parts of the world where mosquitos carry deadly diseases and a huge difference happens when people change their behavior and discourage the conditions that promote mosquitos, even w/o sprays. Landscaping and environmental changes, protective clothing, head nets, screens, dumping water accumluations, fans, even the odious chemical-attractant mosquito killers (not ordinary bug zappers, which really don't work and kill many beneficial insects) are much better than insecticides which don't really work unless sprayed frequently at high levels. And at low levels are mostly ineffective but still extract a serious environmental cost on non-target organisms. Please consider some other remedies before the dubious, and enviromentally costly, quick fix of spraying. Your worries about your dog's safety are laudable, but what about the other animals that live on or near your property whose much-smaller body masses makes them even more vulnerable to the sprays. You not proposing to keep all the birds, squirrels, bunnies, turtles, snakes, fish, etc., safely inside your house on spray-days, are you? L.

Foggers don't work unless you can fog the whole neighborhood at once, or your entire back yard. Organic foggers ... standing in the smoke of smoldering cow manure or other material works very well. But if you can't smell it, it doesn't discourage the mosquitoes, I've seen various herbs suggested,but the same caveat applies - those rosemary bundles tossed onto the BBQ work only for the cook's upper body. Citronella lamps or candles reputedly work. Traps that attract them away with CO2 lures and a bit of warmth reputedly work. And most effective of all is the old-fashioned "screen house" or screen tent over the place you are sitting and chatting.