Anti-mosquito white chemical fog truck (thermal fogger) in South Korea -- Ah, to be young and free and run and frolic inside poisonous clouds

When Julianne and I headed out to get dinner tonight we ran into the infamous anti-mosquito fog truck.

I've been wanting to get good quality video of this vile scourge for a long time. Usually what happens is the thing has already driven by when I notice it's in the neighborhood, or it's too far away by the time I get my camera out to film it.

Tonight, the timing and location were perfect. I got an excellent close-up of the rig itself, the truck, and the kids running after the truck and playing in the chemical fog . . .

Here it is,

I decided I should do a bit of reading cause I'm no expert on pest control and don't know much about chemicals and mosquitoes . . . an excerpt from the wikipedia.com's entry on mosquitoes has some relevant info.

Mosquito control (from wikipedia)

Adulticiding

"Control of adult mosquitoes is the most familiar aspect of mosquito control to most of the public. It is accomplished by ground-based applications or via aerial application of chemical pesticides. Generally modern mosquito-control programs in developed countries use low-volume applications of pesticides, although some programs may still use thermal fogging. DDT was formerly used throughout the world for large area mosquito control, but it is now banned in most developed countries. Controversially, DDT remains in common use in many developing countries, which claim that the public-health cost of switching to other control methods would exceed the harm caused by using DDT. It is sometimes approved for use only in specific, limited circumstances where it is most effective, such as application to walls.

The role of DDT in combating mosquitoes has been the subject of considerable controversy. While some argue that DDT deeply damages biodiversity, others argue that DDT is the most effective weapon in combating mosquitoes and hence malaria. While some of this disagreement is based on differences in the extent to which disease control is valued as opposed to the value of biodiversity, there is also genuine disagreement amongst experts about the costs and benefits of using DDT. Moreover, DDT-resistant mosquitoes have started to increase in numbers, especially in tropics due to mutations, reducing the effectiveness of this chemical; these mutations can rapidly spread over vast areas if pesticides are applied indiscriminately (Chevillon et al. 1999)."

I guess for those of us expat/foreign English teachers that come from home countries/regions that don't have a serious mosquito problem, and where we haven't seen trucks spraying chemicals every spring/summer/fall, we tend to react rather harshly and condemn the act.

I'm trying to open my mind up to the idea of chemical spraying being the better of two evils . . . not fogging resulting in health problems (diseases spread by mosquitoes) and costs that South Korea might not be able to deal with, etc. I can do it, but I still get stopped by the outrage that nobody (i.e. adults, parents, etc) stops the kids from playing in the chemical fog.

I include this next video from youtube cause it shows a guy using the fogger in full protection gear . . . something that I have yet to see in Korea.

This next video shows a guy using a hand-held fogger and spraying INSIDE people's homes--wow.

And then you have this guy back in America making his own custom-design fogger that can be attached to his lawn mower . . .

I did a quick Google.ca news search for "mosquito fogging" . . . and found some articles . . .

Conditions ripe in Winnipeg for surge in mosquito numbers

Mosquito fogging set for this week

Va mosquito pool contains equine encephalitis

Anyways, I'll continue to cover my face with my t-shirt, and close the apartment windows whenever I hear the brrrrrrr of the approaching fogger truck . . . and hope that Korean parents are one day educated to understand that the fog truck is a health hazard for their children--and that they'll STOP them from playing in the fog . . .

J