The Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC) will host its 2012 Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, California. The top issues being addressed at the conference are a new Clean Water Act permit requirement that may result in mosquito control agencies being unable to provide the same level of protection from vector-borne diseases and the recent infestation of the Asian tiger mosquito in Southern California.
"The new NPDES regulation impedes mosquito control districts' primary mission of protecting public health and the environment," said MVCAC President Ken Bayless. "Money and manpower are being diverted from directly protecting public health to activities that do not provide any additional environmental or human protection." MVCAC has been communicating its concerns about the new NPDES permit to Senators Boxer and Feinstein in support of H.R. 872, a bill that would provide a public health exemption for public health pesticide applications.
"We face the threat of newly introduced vectors and diseases each day and this conference brings together the brightest minds in vector control to find ways to prevent and combat these threats," said Truc Dever, Chair of the MVCAC Public Relations Committee. "The Asian tiger mosquito symposium will allow us to share our strategies and gain a better understanding of the scope of the infestation."
A session on the NPDES permit is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. on Monday, January 30, 2012. The symposium on the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus - a non-native, day-biting mosquito) is scheduled for Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. and brings together the major players in the Los Angeles County control efforts.
In addition to these headline issues, scientific and operational symposiums are being held on important topics such as modeling mosquito abundance and West Nile virus transmission, population demographics and outreach programs, disease surveillance programs, stormwater and mosquito production, and tick-borne diseases. The MVCAC Annual Conference kicks off the evening of Sunday, January 29, 2012 and concludes with the MVCAC Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, February 1, 2012. Attendees will include trustees, managers, supervisors, technicians, vector ecologists and biologists, and state and local public health officials.
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