Are you getting fogged? Mosquito spraying resumes in Winnipeg

The City of Winnipeg will be out fogging mosquitoes Thursday night with malathion the first time since June 27but in the next few weeks it will alsobegin testing a new product called DeltaGard.

While it is considereda more environmentally-friendly alternative tomalathion, DeltaGard is also much more expensive and has yet to be approved in Canada.

The city is moving away from malathion, in part because the International Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC), a WHO agency, published a preliminary report in March calling malathion "probably carcinogenic."

• Too soon to say if report will affect malathion use in Manitoba
• Malathion supply will not be renewed in Winnipeg after this year
• Mosquitoes vs Malathion

The city has decided, partly because of those findings,it won't purchase anymore malathion after this year's supply runs out.

It was recentlygiven approval fromHealth Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to test the DeltaGard which is already used in the United States.

Thosetests will be done in the next couple of weeks, a city spokesperson said.

However, it will not likely be used for city-wide sprayinganytime soon. DeltaGard is not expected to beapproved in Canada until 2017.

In the meantime, Winnipeg's mosquito population has increased, prompting theresumption of fogging, starting Thursday night.

• Winnipeg to resume mosquito fogging as numbers climb

The first area to be targeted will be thesouthwest quadrant of the city.

The list of specificinsect management areas (IMA) tobe fogged include:20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33.

Weather permitting, fogging will take place between9:30 p.m.and6:30 a.m.

Find your City of Winnipeg Insect Management Area