Science backs up county's use of herbicides in lake

According to an article in the Daily Bee (July 9, 2006), opponents of the use of herbicides to suppress milfoil in the area's waterways are now turning to prayer vigils to "positively effect" (the) water." Let's hope they have more success than those participating in the most rigorously conducted prayer study to date. That recent study, involving 1,800 heart bypass surgery patients, failed to find any beneficial effect whatsoever. In fact, one group of patients who were prayed for had more complications than those who were not. (See http://www.stnews.org/news-2754.htm)

Hopefully, the spiritual entity to whom the vigil participants are praying will be more sympathetic toward the condition of our water than the one in the aforementioned study was toward the well-being of the patients. Be that as it may, if such an entity really has control over water quality and is genuinely concerned about it, one wonders why milfoil was permitted to become such a pest in the first place.

Certainly, people have the right to pray, chant, hum, etc. all they want to try to favorably influence the quality of our water. The evidence indicates, however, that the best chance for controlling the milfoil in our waterways will be achieved through the use of herbicides with a proven track record. Bonner County's approach of using these herbicides may not have a prayer. Nonetheless, more to its credit, it has well-documented scientific studies to back it up.

JACK DeBAUN

Sandpoint