posted for information/discussion purposes only...see story at:

http://www.sltrib.com:80/05202000/utah/50660.htm

especially:

"...will use the pesticide malathion.
Smith said the plan is to use a crop duster to spray the perimeter
around Tooele, but not over the city itself. City residents will be asked to
spot-spray their own yards.
The crop duster will blanket the rest of the Tooele Valley -- locations
such as Erda and Pine Canyon.
"We have to advise our beekeepers to relocate their hives and protect
bees, but the spraying campaign should do the job," Smith said.
"Theoretically, the hatch next year will be extremely light, because we will
get this year's crop of grasshoppers before they can lay eggs."
Malathion has proved effective and is safe around humans and most
animals, Smith said. But he hopes a new pesticide, dubbed Dimilin,
eventually is approved for widespread use, he said. It can be targeted at
some crops, but has not been cleared for use on alfalfa and cannot yet be
used on federal lands or in aerial spraying.
Dimilin is a growth inhibitor that targets grasshoppers and crickets and
does not affect insects such as honeybees. The pesticide is sprayed when
the pests are in the molting stage. It stops the growth of the grasshoppers'
outer skin, but their insides keep growing.
"They sort of blow up," said Smith, grimacing. "It's kind of a gruesome
sight to see."
Equally unsavory is what happens to crickets when they eat poisoned
bait laid out by farmers and extension agents.
"They are cannibals," said farmer Raymond "Bob" Pehrson of Vernon,
35 miles south of Tooele. "A cricket eats a piece of bait and dies, another
cricket eats the dead one and the poison spreads to other crickets. Up to
five crickets can die that way from a single piece of bait."

© Copyright 2000, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on Utah OnLine is
copyrighted The Salt
Lake Tribune and associated news services.