I remember walking home after work and having helicopters spraying malathion-laced bait overhead. I don't remember how much of the route from the mall was underneath the spray pattern.
Finding #Medfly was a pretty serious thing for a farming state. The risk was that #California produce would not be allowed to be shipped overseas, but also would be banned from US destinations.
Now, it just happens that the areas underneath spray patterns were usually lower-income and ethnic minority communities.