Is there any such thing as a non-target species

[Anthony Cynor]

There is something here that is starting to worry me.  Call it black
helicopter thinking if you will. We have a situation where there seems to be
an outrageously heavy response to what appears to be a rather mild threat
from a fairly well known virus.  Authorities are acting like they are scared
s###less. Is there something they aren't telling us about this so called WNV
if that is what it is  ?

Tony

Michael Gochfeld wrote:

> I was intrigued by Paul Cherubini's  response to my posting regarding
> West Nile Virus and malathion spraying.
>
> First an update.  Last night, Westchester County (southeastern New York
> State adjacent to New York City) announced a weeklong plan to spray the
> entire northern part of the county based on the finding of some dead
> crows (numbers yet to be reported).
>         The crow deaths have not been confirmed to be due to West
> Nile-like virus.
>         Moreover, even if dead crows are antibody positive, it is not
> confirmed that they died of the disease.
>
>           We were in northern Westchester  last night and actually found
> two mosquitos in my parents house.  However, the total mosquito
> population this summer has been far below normal because of the drought.
>         Moreover, there have been no human cases of encephalitis in
> northern Westchester.
>         So the widescale pesticide spraying is in response to crows that
> have died of still undocumented cause(s). This is not a rational public
> health activity.