Florida Mosquito Control White Paper*

*NOTE: The updated 2009 version is now available!!

In the Spring of 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requested that the Florida mosquito control community develop a "White Paper on Florida Mosquito Control". The intent of this document, which is scheduled to be published later this year, is to provide a "snapshot" of Florida mosquito control during 1996-97 with the goal of developing recommendations on how mosquito control chemical use and risk can be reduced in the future. While this request was not directly from the EPA's PESP Program, it is right in line with PESP's goals and objectives. The White Paper, which is approximately 200 pages in length and written by over 20 contributing authors, has now been adopted by the FCCMC and is currently in the process of being professionally edited.

This report was initiated, reviewed, and approved by the Florida Coordinating Council on Mosquito Control (FCCMC). FCCMC was created and mandated by the Legislature in Chapter 388 F.S. in 1986 to develop and implement guidelines to assist the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) in resolving disputes arising over the control of arthropods on publicly owned lands, to identify and recommend to Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University research priorities for arthropod control practices and technologies, to develop and recommend to FDACS a request for proposal process for arthropod control research, to identify potential funding sources for research or implementation projects, and to evaluate and rank proposals upon request by the funding source. A final mandate is to prepare and present reports, such as this one, on arthropod control activities in the state to the Pesticide Review Council, the Florida Coastal Management Program Interagency Management Committee and other governmental organizations as appropriate.

To oversee the development of this report, FCCMC appointed a Steering Committee who selected the contributors for this publication.

This publication is a public document and can be used for educational purposes.