Chemical Control: No Magic Bullet Yet

From October 26, 1990 (update #5)

The use of an African plant toxin, oleanolic acid glucoside, as a promising means of controlling zebra mussels has been widely reported in the press. The Toronto Star and Toronto Globe & Mail both recently published reports on efforts by Carleton University (Ottawa, Ont.) professor John Lambert and Toledo University professors Peter Fraleigh, Harold Lee and Paul Klerks to evaluate the potential use of this chemical for zebra mussel control. The chemical has been previously studied as a molluscide for snails carrying schistosomiasis, a disease affecting hundreds of millions of people in Africa, Asia and South America. Susan Fisher, an aquatic toxicologist at The Ohio State University who is testing zebra mussel control techniques, cautions that shining the public spotlight on this particular chemical control is premature. "Lots of things kill zebra mussels," she said, "but that's only the first step in developing an effective control method.".

ID: 19901026-6.

The Zebra Mussel Update was a 4- to 8-page quarterly national newsletter published by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute from May 1990 through May 1997. The ZMU documented the spread of the zebra mussel -- an exotic nuisance mussel -- through North America's freshwater environments, especially the Great Lakes, and on efforts to control it.