It has been hypothesized that excessive regulation of aquacultural activities could have contributed to the recent spate of ghastly shark attacks. Some such as former Earth First! troublemaker Dave Foreman would inadvertently wreak similar carnage on the mainland through the reintroduction of top-level predators such as mountain lions, grizzlies and wolves to their former ranges. However, most Americans now find their lives threatened by a creature not as likely to make racy headline copy or capture the imagination but every bit just as deadly.

Residents of the Eastern Seaboard --- and the Washington, DC Metro Area it seems in particular --- have fallen prey to an especially virulent infestation of Asian tiger mosquitos over the past few years. These imported pests pose problems beyond a pricked pinky as they potentially purvey a pernicious pestilence.

Dead birds have been found in a number of states infected with nightmarish diseases arresting the neurological system such as West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, both known to be transmitted by mosquitoes.

Usually in the face of such threats to public safety and well-being transcending the ability of the individual to protect themselves it becomes the task of government to step in and provide some kind of solution. But instead of stepping forward to take action in light of this pending public health crisis, many authorities are shifting the blame to residents and homeowners.

Rather than embarking on a rigorous campaign to eradicate these pests through the strategic application of pesticides, officials issue sanctimonious press releases urging residents to dump standing water (perhaps the first thing they ought to do is eliminate those putrid recycling buckets they impose on everyone). One statement made by the Maryland Department of Agriculture to the Prince George's Sentinel read, "Personal protection measures such as the use of repellant, wearing long sleeved clothing, remaining indoors at night, and avoiding mosquito-infested areas cannot be stressed too strongly."

This is about as insightful as advising someone to stick a plastic bag over their head to avoid oxygen. Because this year, at least in the proto-ghetto's of the Washington Metropolitan Area where us working saps live, the mosquitoes seem as ubiquitous as the air itself.

Hearing such advice, one wonders just exactly when the government will allow us to enjoy the outdoors since we are now being quarantined inside our homes to avoid being bitten and are also expected to remain there regarding the midday sun as part of our patriotic duty to avoid skin cancer. It would seem an aspiring autocracy wouldn't have to issue restrictive measures such as curfews or travel limitations to obtain the power such a regime craved. All it would have to do is manipulate man's innate concern for his own well-being and by failing to address those matters clearly within the purview of its own legitimate authority such as the burgeoning mosquito populations.

If the advice offered by these credentialed experts is as sound as it is scientifically accurate, we could all be in for a heap of trouble.

According to the Prince George's Sentinel, mosquitoes carrying Eastern Equine Encephalitis were recently detected on Maryland's Eastern Shore, but not to worry since this disease is rare in humans. Try telling that to high school baseball coach Mike Payne of Levy County Florida who now lies in intensive care from Equine Encephalitis thanks to a mosquito bite, so reports WESHNewsChannel2000.com.

In certain respects, there is more at work here than typical government incompetence or nature run amok. Much of the danger stems from the results of environmentalism's undue influence.

Though not all, many municipalities and local governments have foregone spraying for these tiny harbingers of death out of a higher misplaced loyalty to the environment. These decisions have very little to do with the availability of resources or expertise.

For example, the City of Hyattsville, Maryland where I live has essentially decreed they're not going to spray until someone becomes very ill or drops dead (after all, wouldn't want to create an undue hardship for those darling insects). Yet, city officials certainly have no trouble mustering the personnel needed to enforce the urban forest initiative that outlaws citizens from removing trees from their own yards.

Last year on a Baltimore, Maryland news broadcast, when asked her opinion on a fumigation proposal an environmentalist responded she was opposed to all poisons. No one was asking her to bathe in a barrel of the stuff. It seems the time has come for environmentalists to decide whose side they are ultimately on --- either that of mankind or that of the nasty bugs from which these evolutionists believe we sprang from in the first place. Maybe they will get their priorities straightened out when they find their own friends and loved one's dropping dead from these apocalyptic diseases.

Copyright 2001 by Frederick B. Meekins

For additional commentary by this author and links to stories around the Internet, please check out the following: The American WorldView Dispatch.