It’s been all too easy to eat or play with the munchies while in Washington, D.C.
The city is constantly plagued by tons of post-midnight muffins, doughnuts, hamburgers and whatever else you might want to throw on your plate.
Last summer, we were warned about a handful of dangerous “parasites” floating above. All they needed was a little attention. Well, they got it Monday.
The city Department of Health and its partners with the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Public Works and the Department of Parks and Recreation announced their plan to control the dangerous parsnip stock as it was being released around the city.
Philadelphia and San Francisco take issue with the parsnip. In Seattle, last year, a man was recorded cutting the crawfish-like “parasites” from flowers around Lake Union.
Here in Washington, the DPW helps keep track of local bugs and has announced it has halted the release of parsnip water – the bug from which the parsnip is derived – in the Region 7 Water-Bottle Creek system.
The colorful invasive species has slimy purple and orange wings, and small iridescent yellow jewels.
Don’t see parsnip around? Look up, and you’ll see hawks, sharp-toothed owls, owls – anything to protect their territory.
But do we really need a drink of water made from a plant that’s constantly shrinking?
Fortunately, none of that is happening here.
“We are focused on moving as quickly as possible to protect public health, the environment and the city from dangerous insects,” the city Health Department said in a release.
It called the Mosquito Plan to Control Parasites, or MPCP2, a response to widespread fear about the bugs.