LAUSR

Good morning and welcome to the 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA). Since the founding of the AMCA in 1935 the AMCA (originally with 25 members as the Eastern Association of Mosquito Control Workers) has led the country and indeed the world in providing information, education, and leadership to control mosquitoes and even more importantly to reduce the risk from the diseases that they transmit. During this meeting the members of the AMCA and our guests will continue our leadership in reporting the discovery of new, better, and more ecologically friendly ways to prevent the human and animal suffering from mosquito-transmitted diseases. This mission has never been more important than it is today as the threats of vector-borne disease, specifically those mosquito-transmitted, increase dramatically. I will talk more about our program in a moment but first wanted to tell you a little bit about what the AMCA Board and the AMCA’s many volunteers have been involved in in the past year. The reason I want to tell you a little about the Board is because although I have been an active member of the AMCA for 40 years the Board remained a mystery to me until 3 years ago when I joined the Board as VicePresident.