A contentious debate over aerial insecticide spraying to knock down mosquitoes carrying Zika virus raged again Wednesday morning in Miami Beach.
Hundreds of residents packed City Hall for about three hours of public comment and testimony from medical professionals and government officials that ended with the City Commission passing two resolutions urging Miami-Dade County and Tallahassee to investigate mosquito control methods that don’t include naled — a controversial neurotoxin that has been sprayed over the Beach twice now.
One commissioner’s motion to seek an emergency injunction to stop the spraying —which will happen again Sunday — failed. The city will also spearhead the creation of a panel of experts to evaluate alternative mosquito control methods.
The discussion was peppered throughout with angry outbursts from frustrated audience members, who ranged from outright Zika skeptics to residents who urged the city to place a moratorium on aerial spraying and explore alternatives.
But the city says it has no jurisdiction over mosquito spraying, and it is the county’s decision to make. All commissioners can do is pass resolutions and possibly pursue legal action.