State investigates aerial spraying in Brunswick County

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has launched an investigation into Brunswick County’s aerial spraying for mosquitoes. The county started this spraying late last week, posting online maps showing which nights the spraying would occur and where.

County leaders decided to spray due to an increase in mosquitoes after recent storms left standing water in many areas. However, some residents feel the expenditure on aerial spraying was wasteful and harmful to beneficial insects like bees and dragonflies.

Local resident and state-certified beekeeper Samantha Werner shared her concerns: “I can look around and I can see the loss—my bird bath used to have bees all around it that was their water source; there is one bee on there right now.” She understands the public health concern but thinks the situation could have been handled differently: “I understand there are some areas that have worse problems, but that should be handled on a case-by-case scenario rather than just bombarding the whole county.”

Henry Hamilton, a pesticide operations specialist with the Department of Agriculture, explained the investigation’s focus. “We are the regulatory body. We can act and enforce laws put out by our state government or federal regulations. But unless there is something specific against the product—and in this case, there isn’t either at the state or federal level—we really can only enforce if they violated any of the label restrictions or any specific state laws regarding drift damage.”

We reached out to Brunswick County to see if it had received any reports of damage from beekeepers due to the aerial spraying. Officials stated they haven’t received any reports but urged anyone with concerns about hive losses due to potential exposure to pesticides to contact the North Carolina Department of Agriculture for investigation.