Letter to the Editor: Workers suffer

The cherry fruit fly will be contained in an established control area, by an appointed inspector, according to ORS 570.405 and 570.420.

The migrant workers are suffering that first week of harvest from the last round of malathion spray; their faces show discomfort. Organic substances like chile pepper and mint extracts, nicotine and pyrethrin would control the fruit fly well; the cost is higher.

Malathion is a man-made nerve poison that contains a phosphorus-sulfur bond that is unknown to nature. It is highly flammable. Malathion kills fruit flies, bees, birds and amphibians. The name means “bad sulphur.”

God’s pure rain will continue to fall on the cherries year after year to wash off the malathion and save the pickers.

Tom Somerville

The Dalles

Editor’s note: According to a recent report in The Chronicle, orchardists have resorted to malathion to control the spotted-wing drosophila fly, which has not been found to be responsive to other methods that control the cherry fruit fly.