Feature Article July 22, 2004
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EditorialGot a mosquito bite? Sue the government
Over the past couple of years, all newspapers in the province have been running some amusing ads by the Ontario Ministry of Health, extolling readers to avoid still water, and stay indoors during cloudy weather because they might get bitten by mosquitoes otherwise.
There is something wonderfully ludicrous, from a rural perspective, about an ad campaign that tells people not to get bitten by mosquitoes.
Did people ever seek to get bitten by mosquitoes?
Thanks to these ads, we know to clear standing water from bird feeders and old tires, although we are left with a nagging feeling we are missing something. Maybe its the swamp out back. That could be a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Come to think of it, there dont seem to be any less mosquitoes around in 2004 than there were back in 2002, before the ad campaign started. This is not a scientific observation, but the wet weather this summer seems to have outstripped all human efforts to keep the mosquito population down.
That hasnt stopped a lawyer from Toronto from accumulating 40 victims of West Nile virus, some of whom suffer debilitating long-term effects from the disease, and proceeding with a law suit against the provincial government for doing nothing about West Nile virus in 2002.
So, those same ad campaigns that have led us to scratch our heads about what the government is doing with our money, were started too late, according to the claim. If we had cleared our bird feeders earlier, the scourge of West Nile virus would have been eliminated by now.
Parents beware; the government will not be the only institution to be sued over this. Who knows - anyone whose children were bitten by mosquitoes may eventually be held accountable in a court of law.
Wed better all move to Toronto, where mosquitoes are as rare as clean air.
