Harm Dilling, owner of tire dealer Dikabo from Assen, is celebrating an anniversary: the Asian tiger mosquito has been found there for the tenth year in a row. Dilling doesn’t know exactly how much. “I will only be told that at the end of the year from the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).
Asian tiger mosquitoes can transmit more than twenty viral diseases such as dengue fever, Zika, chikungunya, West Nile virus and various types of brain infections. The small, striped mosquitoes are not native to the Netherlands.
Dilling walks to the back of the large site on Europaweg, where 80,000 new and old tires are stored. He shows the safety net where the tiger mosquito was probably found. “I have two of those traps on the site. Once every two weeks they are emptied by the NVWA and taken to the laboratory where they are examined under a microscope for a tiger mosquito.” On June 15 and 27 it was hit.
Wilfred Reinhold, chairman of the platform ‘Stop invasive exotics’ wants to prevent the tiger mosquito from multiplying and states that the tire company is not doing enough to prevent this: “The import of used tires is one of the main routes through which tiger mosquitoes enter the country. The importers are therefore obliged to import the tires dry and store them dry. If the companies comply with those regulations, tiger mosquitoes would never be found, because the eggs in the tires need water to hatch. come.”
Owner Dilling wants to get rid of the image that his company is not doing enough to keep the tiger mosquito away. “Tires that come from risk areas, such as Italy, are delivered dry, unloaded and stored dry. All those tires get a sticker that they come from a risk area. I follow the rules and the NVWA often comes here to check.”
This is confirmed by the NVWA: “As soon as an exotic mosquito has been found on a tire company, we start the control with the help of a control company. That means combating adults with a biocide as well as against larvae on the tire company. the environment is checked for potential breeding sites, such as buckets, trays, watering cans, a rain barrel with rainwater, and an inspection is carried out to determine the situation on the farm and whether they are complying with the regulations. A tire company is found does not automatically lead to a fine for the tire company. A finding does not necessarily mean that a tire company does not comply with the regulations,” said a spokesperson for the NVWA.
Dilling is therefore upset that the platform ‘Stop invasive exotics’ sees the tire trade as the source of the tiger mosquito problem. “The tiger mosquito is not only found in the tire trade, also in Aalsmeer at the flower auction, at Schiphol and in residential areas. In addition, holidaymakers unnoticed take the mosquito with them when they camp at an Italian lake, for example. The Asian tiger mosquito flies with everything.”
That picture is confirmed by the NVWA: “Tiger mosquitoes most likely come along with travelers and/or freight traffic that have visited southern Europe or other continents. In large parts of southern Europe, the Asian tiger mosquito is common and there are established populations.”
In addition, the NVWA has announced that the number of mosquitoes found on tire companies has decreased over the past ten years.
In addition to dry storage of the tires, the owner of the Asser tire trade has another solution to defeat the tiger mosquito: “I want to disinfect every load from a risk area. But according to Dutch regulations, that is not allowed. Those regulations prescribe that all tires have to be disinfected. That means that instead of 300, more than 80,000 tires have to be done. And also by a separate company; I can’t do that myself.”
Tire director Dilling will not celebrate the bitter anniversary of the visit of the tiger mosquito for ten years in a row. “We do have a party for someone who has been employed for 25 years. At least that’s fun.”