Medfly Spraying

I want to thank Pasadena City Director Rick Cole for putting the malathion controversy in perspective (“No Space for Malathion Cowboys,” Opinion, Feb. 25). It is indeed a political issue with most of our noble leaders jumping on the anti-spraying bandwagon in defiance of scientific logic and in response to a hysterical public unwilling or unable to look at the facts.

Cole neatly avoided the crux of the matter, that is, the accuracy of the public perception that aerial spraying is dangerous. The bulk of the evidence is that it is not. He is catering to the public’s misconception instead of trying to correct it. The history of epidemiology is rife with episodes of erroneously assigning blame for health problems. Jews were slaughtered in the 13th Century as the public perceived them to be the cause of the bubonic plague that swept Europe. Enlightened courageous leadership was needed then as it is now to educate the public and to resist popular misconceptions.

Cries for absolute guarantees of safety are ridiculous and such guarantees do not exist in medicine or epidemiology. However, excellent scientific data strongly suggest the safety of malathion spraying as it is being carried out. Few politicians have the courage to support logic and resist emotion. Cole accurately delineates the problem as a political one, but as a politician he too lacks the courage to tell the public it is wrong.

ARTHUR W.

SILVER, M.D., M.P.H.

Coronado