The city settled a lawsuit involving the spraying of pesiticides to kill mosquitoes. A group of environmental organizations now has a pile of money from taxpayers, which it is going to spend on producing commercials warning citizens against the danger of sprayed pesticides. The city will continue to spray pesticides to combat mosquitoes, as the courts have allowed it to since 1997.
The $80,000 will go toward educating the public about possible side effects of pesticide spraying, and creating alternative ways of keeping insect-borne diseases at bay. The money will be split between the five nonprofit environmental groups that filed a federal lawsuit in 2000 to stop the city from spraying malathion.
