Thursday, September 10, 2026

Ed Slavin response to Sierra Club on Anastasia Mosquito Control of St. Johns County Commission (2024)

Here's my response to the March 2024 Sierra Club questionnaire re: Mosquito  Control Commission;


Good evening:
Thank you for your patience!  Excellent questions. 


Questionnaire to Candidates for St. Johns County 
County Commission 2024

Please provide answers to the following questions below, or on a separate sheet:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the least important and 10 being the most important), where do
environmental issues rate when compared to other critical issues facing St. Johns County and
Northeast Florida? Please include a brief explanation of your rating.

Most important: 10.  Our frail planet, our city, county, state and nation are all threatened by pollution and climate change. Overdevelopment is destroying our quality of life.

2. What are the most significant environmental issues and challenges in St. Johns County? 

* Proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore deserves our County's support.  First proposed by the Mayor of St. Augustine, Walter Fraser, both U.S. Senators and our Congressman in 1939, this is an idea whose time has come.  https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2023/10/support-st-augustine-national.html
* Developers demanding to be free of fair impact fees.  

* Secretive PACs and campaign contributions, corruption and conflict of interest. Corruption, as Al Gore wrote in 1992, in Earth in the Balance, often leads to environmental devastation.  

* Proposed 25 ideas for local government reform in 2022, one (1) heeded (County Sheriff body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras, long opposed by Sheriff David Shoar). County Commission has STILL not responded to 25 suggestions on government reform. Why not?




+ Support meritocracy amidst one-party rule by mediocrities in St. Johns County Commission





3. What actions have you taken in the past to demonstrate your concern or interest regarding our environment?
 

  2. Helping end pelagic whaling of endangered sperm whales by promoting development of jojoba oil seed crops, an exact duplicate for the oil of the sperm whale. The market system worked. (Working as intern and staffer for Senator Ted Kennedy, 1974-76).  
  3. Helping defeat coal slurry pipeline eminent domain legislation in U.S House of Representatives, helping preserve and protect precious scarce water from Madison Formation aquifer.  (11,500 word Crossroads Magazine (formerly Coal Patrol) investigative article, inserted into Congressional Record by U.S. Rep. Joe Skubitz, Republican of Kansas, except for parts on campaign finance).  July 19, 1978: House Defeated Coal Slurry Pipeline Eminent Domain Legislation



  4. Exposing U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority purchasing and policies that encouraged steep slope strip-mining, corruption, coal quality fraud, antitrust violations and and conflicts of interest. With support from Fund for Investigative Journalism, helped secure GAO investigation verifying  concerns of Appalachian activists, led by Save Our Cumberland Mountains.  TVA's Coal Procurement Practices--More Effective Management Needed



  5. Winning declassification of world's largest mercury pollution event (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) and testifying about it in Congressional investigation.  July 11, 1983: Al Gore's Mercury Pollution Hearing in Oak Ridge, Tennessee -- Largest Mercury Pollution Event in World History (4.2 Million Pounds). 



  6. Security clearance reforms protecting environmental, nuclear anjd other whistleblowers, and LGBTQ, people working for federal agencies and government contractors.  Helped win American Bar Association House of Delegates vote in February 1990, endorsing security clearance reforms that were implemented under President Clinton, halting a proposed Bush Executive Order that would have erased rights to fair hearings and due process.
  7. Environmental whistleblower law victories and precedents at U.S.Department of Labor, including landmark whistleblower case protecting federal environmental crimes investigators against retaliation for recusals or refusing to coverup wrongdoing.  FBI, HUD, EPA Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Ret.), R.I.P.



  8. Exposed intimidation of nuclear weapons plant whistleblowers. February 5, 1992



  9. Questioned aerial pesticide spraying program and winning reversal of illegal, no-bid SJC Mosquito Control Board purchase of $1.8 million luxury Bell Jet helicopter unadorned by nozzles, tanks, pilots, hangar or any plans for aerial spraying, winning 100% refund of deposit.
  10. Defeat of multiple unwise development projects in St. Augustine and St. Johns County,
  11. Adoption of employee whistleblower policy and sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. 
  12. Successfully reported City of St. Augustine illegally dumping a landfill in a lake to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree, after City Manager William B. Harriss had said he would not agree to put the contaminated solid waste in a Class I landfill without a court order.  2008 Folio Weekly cover story by Anne Schindler called me an "environmental hero."
  13. Reported City of St. Augustine illegal sewage pollution to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree.
  14. Helped elect Nancy Shaver as in St. Augustine Mayor and Krista Keating-Joseph as County Commissioner, defeating pro-developer incumbents. 
  15. Helping secure preservation of historic iconic Fish Island as city park with state funds, rejecting proposed ruinous development by D.R. Horton, with fifty (50) witnesses, including former St. Augustine Beach Mayor Sherman Gary Snodgrass.




4. What organizations do you belong to? 

1000 Friends of Florida
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Democratic Party
St. Augustine Historical Society
Fort Mose Historic Society
Florida Historical Society
Sierra Club
Investigative Reporters and Editors  
American Assn. For Advancement of Science  
Florida Adventures in Railroading
WJCT

5. What is your position and suggested solution on these key issues affecting our county?   
- Climate change and sea level rise
+ Support federal, state and local legislation to preserve and protect us from carbon and methane pollution, protect our coasts and wetlands, promote biodiversity, restore balance,
+ Support County's acceptance of federal grants on climate change. 
+ Oppose Florida Governors' attacks on environmental protection, with frequent blog posts.
www,cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
+ Support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. Spoke to every St. Johns County Legislative Delegation meeting since 2006 on National Park and Seashore.


- Growth management and development
+ Strongly support reform of our Land Development Code as we know it.  
+ We must have fair hearings, with full disclosures, lobbyist registration, expert testimony, cross-examination of all witnesses and background investigations of developers.  
+ Are our current local and state procedures are a honky-tonk medley of "regulatory capture," farce and kabuki dance?
+ James Madison wrote, "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. "
+ Affordable housing: we must reject "snob zoning," and allow duplexes and other auziliary dwellling units, preserving land and advancing affordable housing. 
+ We must adopt a Public Housing Agency.
+ We must comply with Fair Housing Act.
+ Let's start by re-writing our LDC and quasi-judicial hearing procedures.
+ For transparency, Commissioners must never meet with zoning applicants ex parte.  
+ St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver refused such meetings during her 1550 days as Mayor (making an exception when an applicant was allegedly being treated unfairly).
+ What kind of administrative judicial system lets zoning applicants meet secretly with elected officials?
+  Reject this corrupt system and will not be embroiled by it. 
+ We must require fuller corporate disclosure and better data. 
+ Require background investigations on zoning applicants -- know your customer! 
+ Are any zoning applicants involved in money-laundering,  
+ Environmental violations by zoning applicants must be researched by County staff and discussed publly in hearings.
+ We need full information on ex parte contacts with Commissioners, disclosed before hearings.
+ All ex parte meetings with Commissioners and staff must be videotaped and made a public record.  
+ As Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Secrey is for losers, for people who don't understand the value of the information.


- Trees and the proposed 14 point tree ordinance
+ Support proposed tree protection ordinance and spoke in favor of it, as did dozens of residents.  
+ I objected to four Commissioners' harsh response to First Amendment protected activity, evident retaliation against reform Commissioner Krista Joseph..

- Management of traffic and infrastructure
+ Support transit, impact fees and reform of zoning and planning as we know it.

- Septic tanks
+ Explore ban on new septic tanks in new construction
+ Monitor septic tank inspections and code enforcement.




6. What is your motivation for running to be a County Commissioner?
+ My first American ancestor escaped the British government-caused Irish potato famine in 1849, immigrating to Philadelphia with Irish neighbors at age six, the rest of her family died in famine.  My father taught me, as JFK's father taught him, that "if you don't stand up to people in power, they walk all over you."   JFK was killed 22 days after I proudly wore a JFK costume on Halloween, at age six. At age 17.5, I went to work for his brother, Sen. Ted Kennedy, the day before my first Georgetown class, inspired after hearing Ralph Nader speak on August 28, 1974 (Feast of St. Augustine).   
Love this magical place. We need to preserve what we know and love, with National Park Service help.  http://www.staugustgreen.com 
Moved here November 5, 1999, after falling in love with St. Augustine when we visited in August 1992, right after first environmental whistleblower trial against Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  
Faster than a speeding dump truck, what we love about St. Johns County is being destroyed. 



7. If you are elected or re-elected, what initiatives would you introduce or promote to protect the environment of St. Johns County?
* St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore
* Environmental Regulatory Commission.
* Independent environmental impact statements for government project, as under NEPA.
* Lobbyist registration and background investigations.
* Video of every County Commissioner "ex parte' meeting with putative "developers."
* County whistleblower protection ordinance
* Reform zoning and planning as we know it. 

Thank you. 
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998


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Prize Winner’s Research Reveals Hidden Role of Microbiota in Mosquito-borne Disease (Walter Beckwith. American Association for the Advancement of Science, July 2, 2026)

From AAAS:

Prize Winner’s Research Reveals Hidden Role of Microbiota in Mosquito-borne Disease

2 July 2026
by: Walter Beckwith

For his work in revealing the hidden role of the microbiota in mosquito-borne disease, Yibin Zhu, a research associate professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, is the winner of the 2026 NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize. The prize rewards innovative research by young investigators working on attributes of the microbiota with the potential to guide therapeutic interventions.

“Pathogens have taught us many of the foundational principles of infectious disease. Yet my work has convinced me that some of the most powerful regulators of transmission are neither pathogens nor hosts but the microbial communities that inhabit them,” writes the author in his prize-winning essay.

Zhu’s work highlights how microbiota from both the hosts and vectors can either promote or suppress virus transmission, depending on where they act in the transmission cycle.

headshot of Yibin Zhu
Yibin Zhu

“There were many exciting entries for the NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize in 2026, and the quality of the research and the essays from the prize winners was truly outstanding,” said Sarah Ross, associate editor at Science.

Mosquito-borne diseases, such as Zika virus and dengue, arise through interactions among viruses, hosts, mosquitoes and their environments. While microbiota are known to affect host immunity and physiology, research has traditionally focused on viruses or mosquito vectors, overlooking the microbes that connect them.

Zhu’s work aims to fill this gap by investigating how microbes influence multiple stages of the disease transmission cycle, including mosquito attraction to infected hosts and viral infection within mosquitoes.

Zhu and his colleagues’ research has found that in infected hosts, viral infection altered the skin immune environment, suppressing the antimicrobial peptide RELMα and allowing acetophenone-producing skin bacteria to expand.

Increased acetophenone production made infected hosts more attractive to mosquitoes, potentially enhancing virus transmission.

What’s more, a naturally occurring bacterial symbiont in mosquitoes, Rosenbergiella_YN46, strongly reduced dengue and Zika virus infection in both disease-carrying Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito species.

After blood feeding, the bacterium secreted an enzyme that acidified the mosquito gut, prematurely triggering irreversible changes in viral envelope proteins and rendering the viruses noninfectious. The symbiote microbe imposed no detectable fitness cost on mosquitoes and was more abundant in regions with lower dengue incidence.

According to Zhu, understanding this “invisible hand” of the microbiota may help us rethink how vector-borne diseases emerge and how they might finally be controlled.

Zhu received an MSc from Xiamen University in the laboratory of Ningshao Xia and a Ph.D. from Tsinghua University. After completing his postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Gong Cheng at Tsinghua University, he joined the School of Basic Medical Sciences at Tsinghua University as a research associate professor in 2024. His research focuses on mosquito-borne virus transmission and the interactions among viruses, hosts, microbiota and mosquitoes.

“Now in its seventh year, this prize celebrates outstanding early-career scientists whose discoveries continue to expand the frontiers of microbiome science,” said Kohey Kitao, CEO of NOSTER Inc. “This year’s winning work demonstrates how microbial communities influence not only human health, but also the transmission of infectious diseases, opening an exciting new frontier for microbiome research. We hope discoveries like these will inspire innovative solutions that contribute to healthier and more sustainable societies worldwide.”

Q&A WITH THE 2026 NOSTER & SCIENCE WINNER

Your essay argues that microbes are the "missing link" in mosquito-borne disease transmission. What was the moment or finding that convinced you to rethink the traditional virus-mosquito narrative?

Zhu: What first motivated us was a simple question: How do mosquito-borne viruses spread so efficiently in nature? Early in an outbreak, only a few people are infected, yet mosquitoes somehow find these hosts and rapidly amplify transmission. When we investigated this question, we found that the virus itself was not directly attracting mosquitoes. Instead, infection altered the host's immune response, allowing certain skin bacteria to produce odor molecules that attract mosquitoes. We had always thought of microbes as background components, but this finding suggested they were actively influencing transmission. From that point on, I started to think of mosquito-borne disease as more than an interaction between a virus and a mosquito. The microbial community is also an important part of the transmission process.

One of your most surprising findings is that viruses can indirectly make infected hosts more attractive to mosquitoes by altering the skin microbiome. Why was that discovery so unexpected?

Zhu: At first, we found that virus-infected hosts attracted more mosquitoes because they released higher levels of the volatile compound acetophenone. The real surprise came when we asked where that acetophenone was coming from. We found that, in nature, acetophenone is produced mainly by plants and microbes, not by animals or viruses. That observation led us to examine the skin microbiota, where we discovered that viral infection reshaped the microbial community, enriching bacteria that produce acetophenone.

This finding showed that the virus was not acting alone. Instead, it was exploiting an existing relationship between the host and its microbiota to enhance its own transmission. It revealed how deeply interconnected biological systems are and how microbes can become essential factors in viral spread.

You describe the microbiota as an "invisible regulatory layer." How has that changed the way you think about controlling diseases like dengue and Zika?

Zhu: Traditionally, we have controlled mosquito-borne diseases by reducing mosquito populations or by developing antiviral drugs and vaccines. These approaches remain essential, but they also face challenges such as insecticide resistance and viral immune escape.

Our work suggests that microbial communities themselves can influence whether transmission occurs. By understanding and harnessing these naturally occurring microbial interactions, we may be able to reduce transmission in a way that is both sustainable and environmentally compatible. I see microbiota-based approaches as another tool that can complement existing strategies.

Your research also identified a naturally occurring mosquito gut bacterium that can block viral infection. What excites you most about the potential of using beneficial microbes instead of relying solely on insecticides or genetic modification?

Zhu: In our study, the bacterium blocked viral infection without imposing detectable fitness costs on the mosquito, suggesting that it could potentially persist in natural populations. More broadly, it reminds us that nature has already evolved many effective solutions. I think learning from nature often provides solutions that are both effective and sustainable.

Many people think of bacteria as something harmful. What do you hope the public understands about the beneficial role microbes can play in preventing disease?

Zhu: Most microbes are actually harmless, and many are beneficial. In fact, many are essential partners that help maintain healthy biological systems. They influence immunity, metabolism, development, and, as our work suggests, infectious disease transmission. I hope people come away with a more balanced view that microbes are not simply pathogens to eliminate but an important part of the natural world that we can better understand and potentially work with to improve health.

What are the biggest scientific or practical challenges that must be overcome before microbiota-based strategies can be used in real-world mosquito control programs?

Zhu: One major challenge is that microbial communities are highly dynamic. They vary across mosquito species, geographic regions, seasons and environmental conditions. We need to understand how stable beneficial microbes are in natural mosquito populations and whether their antiviral effects remain robust under field conditions. Another important challenge is developing practical ways to introduce or maintain these microbes at a population scale while ensuring environmental safety. Answering these questions will require both laboratory studies and long-term field work.

Looking ahead, what research question are you most eager to answer about the relationship between microbes, mosquitoes, and infectious diseases?

Zhu: There are two questions I am especially excited to pursue. The first is whether the beneficial bacterial symbionts we discovered can stably colonize wild mosquito populations and reduce virus transmission under natural field conditions. Laboratory studies are an important starting point, but interactions among microbes, mosquitoes, pathogens and the environment are much more complex in nature. Understanding how these interactions work in the field is one of the questions I am most eager to answer.

More broadly, I want to understand how microbial ecosystems assemble, remain stable, and evolve, and how they collectively influence the transmission of infectious diseases. I think looking at mosquito-borne diseases through this ecosystem will not only deepen our understanding of disease transmission but also help identify new and more sustainable ways to control these diseases.

If readers remember just one message from your essay, what do you hope it is?

Zhu: I hope readers remember that understanding infectious diseases sometimes requires looking beyond the pathogen itself. For complex diseases, especially those transmitted among multiple hosts, the key drivers of transmission may lie within the broader network of interactions among pathogens, hosts, vectors and the invisible microbial communities they harbor. If we understand these microbial partners better, we may find new ways to control infectious diseases. Sometimes, the most important drivers of disease are the ones we do not immediately see.

FINALISTS

headshot of Erik Bakkeren
Erik Bakkeren

 

 

Erik Bakkeren, a researcher at the University of Calgary, is a finalist for his essay, “Ecology of the gut microbiome: microbial competition can be harnessed to prevent and cure deadly diseases.” In his essay, Bakkeren discusses how the community composition and diversity of the microbiome influences its ability to protect against disease-causing pathogens.

headshot of Taichi Suzuki
Taichi Suzuki

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taichi Suzuki, a researcher at Arizona State University, is a finalist for his essay, “The missing thriftiness: host-microbial coevolution and its influence on human health.” This work explores the ecology and evolution of host-microbial interactions and their consequences for mammalian biology and health.

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