Malathion supply will not be renewed in Winnipeg after this year

The city of Winnipeg won't be purchasing any more malathion after this year's supply runs out.

Right now the city has enough of the chemical to fog the city for one normal summer according to Ken Nawolsky, Winnipeg'ssuperintendent of insect control.

Recently the city said it could purchase more if it was needed, but Nawolsky said that changed when the manufacturer insisted the city sign an indemnification clause that would release the manufacturer from any liability for perceived or actual damage from the product.

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"We got advice from our legal department that we should not sign this kind of an agreement and as a result the city will not be purchasing malathion," Nawolsky said.

But he said there is no reason to worry about swarms of mosquitoes just yet.

"We do have enough malathion in stock for treating one season and it depends on the season, and so far things look good and we don't require an adult mosquito control program. So if we don't use it this year, it could be possibly used next year," Nawolsky said.

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This August, the city will test a new product called DeltaGard, which is considered a more environmentally friendly alternative to malathion, but is also much more expensive.

It has been approved in the United States, but will not be approved in Canada until 2017.

So what happens in 2016 if the malathion supplies run out and the mosquitoes are bad?

Nawolsky saidthe city does have access to use a product called Pyrocide ULV, which is approved in Canada, but according to materials safety data sheets, itcauses cancer in rats andis two to three times as expensive as malathion.

The insect control branch does have a contingency fund it can access if it needs to use the more expensive product before 2017.