Crop Damage From Cold Snap

As an individual whose household was subjected to the repeated insult of aerial malathion spraying, my feelings of sympathy for those whose crops were destroyed by the freezing weather (Part A, Dec. 24) are overshadowed by the obvious irony of it all.

It seems that the skyrocketing citrus prices, which the multimillion-dollar Medfly eradication program was supposed to protect us from, will occur anyway, and the livelihood of the fruit growers is still being jeopardized by an environmental “hazard”--bad weather. In other words, the economic horror story told to us by the advocates of malathion spraying is now going to come true for a different reason.

In her own way Mother Nature has eloquently illustrated what we have known all along: Growing crops is a risky business.

It was folly to jeopardize the health of millions of citizens in a reckless attempt to lessen part of that risk.

TIM BRADLEY

Pasadena