Whistle blower letter raises concerns about Collier Mosquito Control

NAPLES, Fla. An internal whistle blower letter claims pilots with the Collier Mosquito Control District have sprayed pesticides where they don’t belong.

The pesticide called Dibrom aims to eliminate mosquitoes, but can be harmful to humans if exposed to an excessive amount.

The whistle blower claimed faulty equipment and inaccurate GPS data led to dumps in wrong areas.

WINK News reporter Channing Frampton provided more details of the letter on Facebook:

Barry Gray is visiting Marco Island with his family, just one of the places the letter states pesticides was applied to outside an area intended for treatment in June.

“I think you’ve got to be sure about what you’re doing and take into account what the public thinks,” Gray said.

The whistle blower also claims this happened in August 2016 over the areas of Immokalee and Ave Maria in addition to Everglades City, Copeland, Plantation Island and Chokoloskee this fall.

“Pending the results of the investigation, we don’t know what’s happened,” Collier Mosquito Control District spokeswoman Robin King said.

Investigator Eric Vasquez has been working to answer questions since last week, King said.

“It’s a rather old software, so the question is, how much can you rely on its accuracy?” Vasquez said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Gray says he’s glad someone blew the whistle.

“It happens everywhere these days: in finance, in banking, in the government. People have to follow their conscience,” he said.