mosquitoe "problem" here in the south of France

[scott magic]

Hello, Bonjour,

The mosquitoe "problem" here in the south of France, has been dealt with primarily by "extermination" efforts over the past 3 years. The chemicals used are quite toxic as the political motivation is to build a tourist industry... and to be reelected. As elections mean "short term" consciousness, the attitude which has prevailed has been rather "non-ecological" in the sense that little (to not say no) "organic pesticides" or other "companion" solutions (as in companion planting) have been tried.

The problem is NOT MEDICAL here, as there is NO malaria since 1948. It is basically an urban, cultural, sociological problem, in that when vacation time comes, the city folk love to go to the south of France (where mosquitoes live) but they don't want to be disturbed while picnicking, or looking at pink flamingos, or sleeping with the windows open... Tourism in Nature today means NO mosquitoes.

Is there anybody on this list who could either tell me of experiences or practices that they know of in this domain, attitudes that have been or are currently adopted, either in North America or elsewhere so we may suggest "looking to our neighbours" for advice ?

A bibliography of articles and/or books would also be appreciated.

Of course, to put this in perspective, we would also like information about developping countries and their plight with mosquitoes. Of course, yellow fever, dengue and malaria are all public health mosquitoe related problems. How do these countries deal with these public health insect-vector problems ?

Thank you for your advice in giving our fledgling research some direction.

Scott Rawdin