One of the most renowned entomologists in the world says:
Stop aerial spraying for Asian gypsy moths when few are found.

This letter was sent to Washington State's Governor Locke at the end of April, 2000 in an attempt to convice him to cancel the aerial spraying of the Ballard and Magnolia neighborhoods of Seattle with Foray 48B after a single male Asian gypsy moth was trapped. The letter had no discernable effect.

Wendell Roelofs  (see more info on him here) is an expert in insect biochemistry and a discoverer of a number of  pheromones used to trap many species of moths. He is the Chair of the Department of Entomology at Cornell University. He mentions some other qualifications in his letter below.

At the time, Joe Dear was Governor Gary Locke's Chief of Staff.

Mr. Dear:

I have become aware of the situation in Seattle in which it is proposed to spray a large area in fear of the spread of the Asian gyspy moth. I would like to comment on that relative to the information I have on hand. First let me say that I have carried out considerable research on pheromones since 1965, and have consulted for many of the commercial companies working on alternative pest control methods, including in the use of sex pheromones for monitoring and control of insect pests. I have over 300 publications in this area of research and have received the National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize from Israel, which is the highest award to be given in agriculture in the world, and am a member of the National Academy of Sciences. I have worked with the European gypsy moth for many years and have published on both applied and basic research on that pest.

My comments are not to infer that I do not appreciate the consequences of breeding populations of this pest in the United States. However, the circumstances do not require such drastic actions at the present time. A review of reactions in the past in the western United States and across the border in Canada suggests that other more reasonable tactics are more sound. In Canada, when faced with similar data of single Asian gypsy moths caught in pheromone traps, they deployed a pheromone delimitation survey in the next flight and determined that no breeding populations were to be found. The catch of a single male moth does not suggest a breeding population in the area and does not by itself even offer proof that a breeding population is found anywhere in the States. It makes more sense to set up a pheromone trap network over a large area to determine if there are any hot spots detected in the next flight. A network of 20 traps per kilometer square could be used throughout a large area to detect any male moths. The capture of any males should then be followed immediately with more intensive trapping in that area to delimit the hot spot. Control tactics of various sorts could be used on the hot spot.

I have spoken tonight with 3 experts throughout the United States who are among the world's experts on the Asian gypsy moth. They have studied the European gypsy moth for decades and have studied the Asian gypsy moth in Asia. They all agree that the proposed spraying tactic is a huge overreaction at this time and they all agree that all efforts should be placed into defining the presence of a breeding population before such tactics are taken. I would urge caution at this time in launching into a spray program, and that it would be prudent to review all the data from Canada and the United States that pertain to the establishment of breeding populations of the Asian gypsy moth relative to the capture of a spurious male in a pheromone trap.

Sincerely,

Dr. Wendell Roelofs
Professor and Chair
Department of Entomology Cornell University Geneva, NY 14456