Admittedly this is
painful and one is well advised to avoid being stung, just as one ordinarily avoids the sting of
wasp or bee. Severe reactions may occasionally occur in sensitive individuals, and medical
literature records one death possibly, though not definitely, attributable to fire ant venom. In
contrast to this, the Office of Vital Statistics records 33 deaths in 1959 alone from the sting of
bees and wasps. Yet no one seems to have proposed ‘eradicating’ these insects. Again, local
evidence is most convincing. Although the fire ant has inhabited Alabama for 40 years and is
most heavily concentrated there, the Alabama State Health Officer declares that ‘there has
never been recorded in Alabama a human death resulting from the bites of imported fire ants,’
and considers the medical cases resulting from the bites of fire ants ‘incidental’.