In the event that West Nile virus (WNV) enters Canada, the control of the principal vector would be one of the key components of the efforts to limit the spread of this virus. At the present time, it appears that mosquitoes are the primary vector of WNV to humans and other animals.
The use of insecticides for this purpose is not without certain human health risks. For that reason, it is critical to select the product that offers the highest level of safety, both for the public and for workers who apply the treatments.
To determine what adulticide offers the highest level of safety, we evaluate the principal toxicity indices of the potential products identified for this type of work namely malathion, resmethrin, permethrin, propoxur and dichlorvos.
Given the lead time required to draft this notice, we focussed primarily on the most recent studies and those that most effectively met the new toxicity assessment requirements.
In order to take account of t…
