Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband used to run after the DDT fogger truck spraying his neighborhood when he was a child. They thought it was fun to chase after the fogger! Now DDT has been banned, but I'm just giving you perspective, OP. I think keeping your kids inside for a week b/c you are afraid of what was sprayed next door is over-doing the protectiveness.

It's all good to be knowledgible and cautious with chemicals, but your kids aren't going to get cancer or fall apart from such minimal exposure. DH seems normal 50 years later.

We did this, too!!

Anonymous wrote:Those of you who use mosquito squad despite the sock puppeting:

You say "oh yeah, the sock puppeting is bad, but..." does it not concern you that if a company is that deceptive on a website, that its employees are sock puppeting (and from the amount of times it appears to happen on many websites, not this one, my guess is that it is systemic and encouraged by the owners), the company might be more inclined to cut corners, lie to the customers in other ways (because that's what they are doing - lying to customers and potential customers, and no less), or otherwise behave as they have led you to expect they'd behave? Are you concerned that if you have a complaint with this company, they will treat you with as much respect as they've treated these anonymous people on a website? That they might SAY they've fixed the problem but haven't, really?

Are you home when they spray? If you're paying for the natural service, are you SURE they're not using pesticides? How would you know? (The pesticides are cheaper, btw). If you're asking them not to spray your children's toys, are you SURE they are not spraying that? Are you SURE they're doing what they're supposed to do?

You have nobody but yourself to blame if you're getting more chemicals than you bargained for from this company, or chemicals in places you don't want chemicals, etc. There have been a number of posters who have complained on these forums that Mosquito Squad people have come to their house and routinely just spray indiscriminately, without waiting for the homeowner to close windows, spraying down children's play equipment, etc.

And you trust these people to spray your house / yard / belongings with toxins?

Anonymous wrote:Your dog got sick. BS, they use a similar product the is in frontline or other flea treatments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three times? They are supposed to be spraying every month per their contract. Was it 3 days in a row? That would be odd. It is safe to play after 30 minutes. I have a 18 month old and feel fine getting our yard sprayed. I also researched the compounds.

It is my understanding that some cities routinely spray down their entire district as a matter of routine mosquito/west nile virus control with this stuff. You just don't know about it.

I live in one of these cities and you absolutely know about it. They are required to send you a letter informing you of it, you are allowed to add yourself to a do-not-spray list (maintained by the state), and have to change your status in writing with them if you want to be sprayed in the future (they still send you the letter each year).

Anonymous wrote:My husband used to run after the DDT fogger truck spraying his neighborhood when he was a child. They thought it was fun to chase after the fogger! Now DDT has been banned, but I'm just giving you perspective, OP. I think keeping your kids inside for a week b/c you are afraid of what was sprayed next door is over-doing the protectiveness.

It's all good to be knowledgible and cautious with chemicals, but your kids aren't going to get cancer or fall apart from such minimal exposure. DH seems normal 50 years later.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use MS and still have butterflys, moths, bees, lightning bugs, etc. Keep ip the good work, MS!! BTW, do I get a discount next year for defending you?

As many of you will remember, we previous identified Mosquito Squad representatives sock puppetting a thread on DCUM. In addition, I subsequently identified a second thread in which sock puppetting occurred prior to that incident, so there have been two previous known cases of sock puppetting. I am not making any accusations against MS or anyone else, but I will simply point out these facts:

1) This user is not from the DC area and, as far as I can tell, never posted on DCUM before;

2) This poster has posted four (4) messages in this thread in support of Mosquito Squad;

3) This poster has not posted any other messages on the site that I can identify;

4) This poster arrived at DCUM, not by going to the home page and not by going to the main forum page, but by coming directly to this page.

Wow, thank you, Jeff. I am really uncomfortable with MS as a company. While I do think permethrin is needed in limited, targeted situations (impregnated bed nets and clothing in malaria-stricken areas, barrier spray for lyme prevention), I think it's a travesty that they are using it profligately, especially since CCD has been linked to its use, and it's so toxic to aquatic life. The fact that MS constantly comes to DCUM to sock puppet threads is just the nail in the coffin, though -- I'll never even use their garlic spray. I just don't trust a company with such deceptive practices.

BTW: totally off-topic, but I cut my garlic scapes off my garlic crop this year and wove them into little braids and tied them around the bannister of my deck. No mosquito bites in the backyard yet, and you can't smell the garlic unless you actually pick up the scape. They dried a few weeks ago but apparently they are still strong enough to confuse the mosquitoes. So if you grow garlic, don't throw out your scapes!

Are you a scientist that specializes in permethrin knowledge?

FYI garlic is an old wives tail and worthless except for maybe your house will be a bit stinky

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2177/does-garlic-repel-mosquitoes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/health/24real.html

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use MS and still have butterflys, moths, bees, lightning bugs, etc. Keep ip the good work, MS!! BTW, do I get a discount next year for defending you?

As many of you will remember, we previous identified Mosquito Squad representatives sock puppetting a thread on DCUM. In addition, I subsequently identified a second thread in which sock puppetting occurred prior to that incident, so there have been two previous known cases of sock puppetting. I am not making any accusations against MS or anyone else, but I will simply point out these facts:

1) This user is not from the DC area and, as far as I can tell, never posted on DCUM before;

2) This poster has posted four (4) messages in this thread in support of Mosquito Squad;

3) This poster has not posted any other messages on the site that I can identify;

4) This poster arrived at DCUM, not by going to the home page and not by going to the main forum page, but by coming directly to this page.

Wow, thank you, Jeff. I am really uncomfortable with MS as a company. While I do think permethrin is needed in limited, targeted situations (impregnated bed nets and clothing in malaria-stricken areas, barrier spray for lyme prevention), I think it's a travesty that they are using it profligately, especially since CCD has been linked to its use, and it's so toxic to aquatic life. The fact that MS constantly comes to DCUM to sock puppet threads is just the nail in the coffin, though -- I'll never even use their garlic spray. I just don't trust a company with such deceptive practices.

BTW: totally off-topic, but I cut my garlic scapes off my garlic crop this year and wove them into little braids and tied them around the bannister of my deck. No mosquito bites in the backyard yet, and you can't smell the garlic unless you actually pick up the scape. They dried a few weeks ago but apparently they are still strong enough to confuse the mosquitoes. So if you grow garlic, don't throw out your scapes!

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use MS and still have butterflys, moths, bees, lightning bugs, etc. Keep ip the good work, MS!! BTW, do I get a discount next year for defending you?

As many of you will remember, we previous identified Mosquito Squad representatives sock puppetting a thread on DCUM. In addition, I subsequently identified a second thread in which sock puppetting occurred prior to that incident, so there have been two previous known cases of sock puppetting. I am not making any accusations against MS or anyone else, but I will simply point out these facts:

1) This user is not from the DC area and, as far as I can tell, never posted on DCUM before;

2) This poster has posted four (4) messages in this thread in support of Mosquito Squad;

3) This poster has not posted any other messages on the site that I can identify;

4) This poster arrived at DCUM, not by going to the home page and not by going to the main forum page, but by coming directly to this page.

Anonymous wrote:Please don't even try to use West Nile or Lyme as your justification for use of these companies. Your chances of catching them are much, much lower than being in a car accident or dying from a heart attack. Really just slim to none. This is done for convenience only. Donttrytonportray it as mitigating a risk-- it isnt or you wouldnt drive or eat unhealthy foods. Which is totally fine in my book but I do find it odd that there are so many people on DCUM who only shop at Whole Foods/eat organic and also so many who use MS. I wonder how many are in both categories.

Anonymous wrote:Please don't even try to use West Nile or Lyme as your justification for use of these companies. Your chances of catching them are much, much lower than being in a car accident or dying from a heart attack. Really just slim to none. This is done for convenience only. Donttrytonportray it as mitigating a risk-- it isnt or you wouldnt drive or eat unhealthy foods. Which is totally fine in my book but I do find it odd that there are so many people on DCUM who only shop at Whole Foods/eat organic and also so many who use MS. I wonder how many are in both categories.