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Hello Residents,
Happy February and belated Valentine's Day! Love is in the air...We love clean pools, mosquitofish in ponds, and dry backyards. We hope you love these things too since they prevent mosquitoes from breeding around your home and transmitting debilitating diseases. We also love serving you. Make sure to contact us if there is a breeding source around your property or in your neighborhood that you'd like to have inspected. You can reach us online at www.glacvcd.org or over-the-phone at (562) 944-9656.
We hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and that you enjoy this issue of Buzzword. We're providing you with additional information on the NPDES permit problem and discussing the visit from SEED scholars.
Until next month,
GLACVCD
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NPDES Social Media Outreach Strategy Can Be a Federal Game-Changer
| | By Truc Dever and the MVCAC Public Relations Committee
"Need an exemption from the #NPDES permit in order to protect public health to the best of our abilities! #MVCAC #HR872"-30 Jan. via Twitter for iPhone, @PlacerMosquito
"Dave Brown at #MVCAC conf talks about the needed solutions to the new #NPDES permit for mosquito control."-30 Jan. via Twitter for iPhone, @CCMosquito
They were electronic postings that started as simple tweets and developed into national news in less than six hours. In fewer than 140 characters per post, social media messages sent from the halls of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport during this year's Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC) Annual Conference have galvanized a tidal wave of dialogue between members, the American Mosquito Control Association, state and federal legislators, the media, representatives from the agricultural industry, and pesticide watch groups. The Association's efforts to raise awareness about the public health implications of the new NPDES permitting and monitoring requirements have finally garnered attention from the U.S. Capitol and other stakeholders, and it's now up to Association members, key allies, and the public to maintain the momentum towards a possible legislative fix.
On the morning of January 30, more than a dozen Twitter messages were posted and retweeted from the annual conference in Burlingame, California by members of the MVCAC Public Relations Committee. Within hours, reporters from Contra Costa County picked up the feeds and began covering the MVCAC conference and NPDES issues. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Agricultural Committee issued a press release in support of MVCAC. The next day, House Republicans were pushing the Senate to undo the new NPDES permitting regulations.
Through the tireless efforts of a northern region public relations collaborative group and input from numerous MVCAC members, a public outreach strategy on the NPDES issue had been developed prior to the conference and was promoted using two key messages: 1) the new regulation impedes mosquito control districts' primary mission of protecting public health and 2) money and manpower are being diverted from directly protecting public health to activities that do not substantively provide additional environmental or human protection. Local government and taxpayers will ultimately shoulder the administrative and economic burden of this new permit, which will lead to inefficient public health protection.
Federal legislators and policymakers agree with the need to regulate smarter, and many understand that regulating mosquito control will not change the issues that currently exist in U.S. waterways but will, instead, harm public health. MVCAC must impress upon them that public health pesticides constitute less than one percent of all pesticide applications in California, and unregulated pesticide use, such as consumer sales and homeowner use, contribute significantly to the current impairment of U.S. waterways. "Regulating smarter" means addressing these unregulated sources.
Environmental groups recognize that vectors and vector-borne diseases pose a significant public health risk, but they naively call upon the increased use of non-toxic control measures to solve all vector-related problems. It's up to MVCAC members to educate them that mosquito and vector control agencies have for decades used Integrated Vector Management methodologies and maintain a toolbox of safe, effective, and non-toxic control measures. However, the permit and current restrictions require onerous monitoring of even these environmentally sensitive products, and remove critical tools necessary to protect public health during epidemics and battle new, emerging diseases.
In his recent State of the Union Address, President Obama called upon federal agencies to eliminate rules that don't make sense. The President expressed concern about how a simple majority will no longer suffice to get legislation passed through the Senate. It seems as though the President was directly referencing HR 872. Using his call for more efficient government, MVCAC members submitted messages to the President encouraging him to urge Senator Reid to bring HR 872 to a vote.
MVCAC's goal now is to continue educating both decision-makers and constituents about our commitment to protect both public health and the environment and the regulatory challenges we face. To achieve effective outreach and affect change, the Association is asking each agency to include information on its website about the new regulations and how members of the public can make a difference by voicing their concerns.
Last spring, social media proved it had the power to spur political revolutions in the Middle East. This spring, mosquito control agencies across the nation will turn to social media in their attempt to bring a legislative fix to the costly and burdensome NPDES permitting requirements.
To join the conversation and to follow what's trending on Twitter, check out #NPDES, #HR872 and #MVCAC. |
GLACVCD Welcomes SEED Cohort III
| |  Third group of Latin American public health officials visits the District
GLACVCD welcomed its third group of Latin American public health officials this month as part of the Scholarships for Education and Economic Development (SEED) program.Twenty participants from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua visited the District to learn more about vector control and how to improve public health in their countries. Just like the previous two cohorts, scholars were presented with in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of each department. They also accompanied District employees in their day-to-day activities such as bleeding chickens and treating breeding sources to gain first-hand experience. GLACVCD is confident that the education they imparted to the SEED scholars will be put to good use when they return home.
For more information about the SEED program, visit http://cied.georgetown.edu/seed/.
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| Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District | | |
Headquarters
12545 Florence Avenue
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
Phone: (562) 944-9656
Sylmar Branch
16320 Foothill Boulevard
Sylmar, CA 91342
Phone: (818) 364-9589
info@glacvcd.org
www.glacvcd.org |
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