Are the insecticides used for fogging safe?
The USEPA reviews and approves insecticides (and other pesticides) and their labeling to ensure those used to protect public health are applied by methods that minimize the risk of human exposure and adverse health and environmental effects. Generally, there is no need to relocate during mosquito control fogging. The insecticides have been evaluated for this use and have been found to pose minimal risk to human health and the environment when used according to label directions. For example, USEPA has estimated the exposure and risks to both adults and children posed by ULV aerial and ground applications of the insecticides malathion and naled. For all the scenarios considered, exposures ranged from 100 to 10,000 times below the amount of pesticide that might pose a health concern. These estimates assumed several spraying events over a period of weeks and also assumed that a toddler would ingest some soil and grass in addition to dermal exposure. Other mosquito control insecticides pose
