Malathion supply depleted in Winnipeg with no other approved insecticide in place

The future of fogging in Winnipeg is cloudy.

The City of Winnipeg is just about out of malathion and doesn't have any other alternative mosquito control products currently in place.

• Malathion sprayed in Winnipeg may not have met guidelines
• Health Canada tells Winnipeg it can't fog with years-old malathion
• Malathion supply will not be renewed in Winnipeg after this year

The city announced on Thursday that itcompleted its fogging program, with only 100 litres of the insecticide left to spare.

Winnipeg is divided into 51 insect management areas and 100 litres of malathion would only be enough to cover two or three areas, saidKen Nawolsky,the city's superintendent of insect control.

"We're pretty confident that the mosquitonumbers will be kept at bay because of the recent fogging program and with no significant precipitation forecast for the next seven days,"Nawolsky said.

In the event of a West Nile virus breakout in the next few weeks, the province would likelycontract the city to spray with the province'ssupply of malathion, Nawolskysaid.

However, the province's supply of malathionis no good, he said.

"We do know from the test results that we received back a few weeks ago that it's not in compliance with the World Health Organization standards for isomalathion," he said."If I had the province's inventory, I couldn't spray. That's the immediate concern."

However, a spokesperson for the province said it's "highly unlikely that the [West Nile virus]risk level would increase to the point that a health order for adult mosquito control would be recommended."

The city did not renew its malathionsupply in 2015 and was running on its last reserve this year.

Nawolskysaid it would be difficult for the city to buy more malathion if needed becausethe manufacturer doesn't even make it every year.

The city is planning to switchto a moreenvironmentally-friendly productcalled DeltaGard, which is not yet approved in Canada.

Nawolskysaid the active ingredient inDeltaGard,calleddeltamethrin, is already used in other products inCanada and that could make it easier for Health Canada to approveDeltaGard.

"Hopefully we could get it registered next year but we just kind of have to wait," he said."We're hopeful it will be but in the case it's not, council will have to be consulted and they will ultimately have to make a decision on the city's next options."

A spokesperson forManitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living said the province would review all options if DeltaGard isn't approved in early 2017.

"This could include malathion, if new stock becomes available, or any other product that may be registered for use by the PMRA [Pest Management Regulatory Agency]," she said.