The spotted lanternfly is the new gypsy moth, and like the gypsy moth, the lanternfly has been persistently hyped to justify the spraying of chemical and biological pesticides in forests, parks, and communities. This summer homeowners will flock to their neighborhood home improvement stores to buy these poisons, which will likely be incorrectly applied, resulting in more harm to the environment than the microscopic bugs could ever do on their own.
The latest research on invasive insect pests indicates that healthy intact forests with functioning ecosystems have a natural immunity to invasive pests and diseases. When healthy forests are fragmented by development, new roads, utility lines, irresponsible logging and chemical spraying, they lose their natural immunity and are more vulnerable to pests and diseases.
Earlier this year the United Nations released its Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecological Services, reporting that the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with overwhelming evidence that human activity is driving these extinctions.
Pesticides destroy ecosystems. There is no validity to claims that pesticides kill only targeted species without harming any of the other millions of species on the planet. Until this lesson is learned, Pennsylvania will continue its endless cycle of spraying, followed by resistant strains and new pests, followed by more spraying, loss of biodiversity, and eventually, extinctions.
Juliet Perrin
Albrightsville