Malathion to Be Sprayed Monday in Medfly Fight

Aerial spraying of the pesticide malathion to eradicate Mediterranean fruit flies will begin Monday at 9 p.m. and last until midnight over a 16-square-mile area that includes Northridge, Chatsworth and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley, officials said Friday.

Federal, state and county agricultural agencies made plans for the first-ever spraying of the pesticide in the Valley after the discovery of two female Medflies in a Northridge neighborhood this week.

The discovery prompted Gov. George Deukmejian to issue a declaration of emergency to allow the spraying. Since the two flies were found in traps three-fourths of a mile apart, agricultural officials said, a sizable Medfly population is probably located between the two areas.

Helicopters will spray the pesticide on an area bordered by Devonshire Street on the north, Sherman Way on the south, Wilbur Avenue on the west and Haskell Avenue on the east. The operation is expected to take only three hours, but mechanical difficulties and other delays could prolong it.

Leaflets Distributed

More than 40,000 leaflets were distributed by California Conservation Corps members door-to-door, notifying residents. The leaflets said “no known hazard to human beings or pets has been associated with extensive aerial spraying of malathion in other urban areas in the past, and none is expected to result from these actions.”

Bob Atkins, supervisor of the pest-prevention division of the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner’s office, said no “ill health effects from spraying should occur if residents avoid unnecessary contact with the spray.”

The leaflets told residents to put their cars in garages or cover them during the spraying. A syrupy protein bait that is mixed in with the pesticide could damage paint finishes, officials said.

Pet dishes containing food should also be covered, officials said, but windows can remain open.

Lawrie Mott, a senior scientist with the Natural Resource Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental organization, said: “People have no choice but to be exposed to the spraying. They should have considered other measures.”

Deukmejian on Friday said: “If you don’t get the Medfly immediately, it can really create severe impacts on agriculture and be extremely costly, not just for the farmers, but for the consumers as well.”

The governor, who talked to reporters at a Sacramento airport lounge before beginning a two-week trade trip to Australia and Asia, said he had been advised by “all of the experts” that ground spraying “doesn’t seem to work” and aerial application of malathion is probably inevitable.

Foliage Sprayed

However, ground crews supervised by the state Department of Food and Agriculture spent much of Friday spraying the pesticide on trees and foliage in the Northridge neighborhoods where the two flies were found. One Medfly was discovered in the 9000 block of Amestoy Avenue and another in the 17000 block of Napa Street.

Deukmejian said it was his understanding that a single aerial application of the pesticide in the area should be sufficient to control the infestation.

Medflies are considered a super pest because they prey on more than 200 varieties of produce, can reproduce rapidly and can survive in a range of climates.

The last eradication attempt was started last summer in East Los Angeles and lasted five months. Aerial spraying was combined with the release of more than 700 million sterile fruit flies in a birth-control program. By mating with the sterile male flies, the females, in effect breed themselves out of existence.

That operation cost $2 million in state and federal funds, and county officials predicted that the Valley attempt could cost the same. County officials said sterile fruit flies would be released in a few weeks in the area supposed infested.

In 1981 and 1982, a large-scale eradication effort that was delayed by debate over the safety of spraying wound up costing $100 million and covering 1,400 miles of Los Angeles County.

Times staff writer Leo C. Wolinsky contributed to this story.