NOTE: The following is a statement from Dr. Robert Strang, Chief Medical Officer of Health.

The Province is facing a potential outbreak of the spruce budworm in the Pleasant Bay area of Cape Breton. This has happened before in our province, and the effects were devastating.

To mitigate a potential outbreak, small amounts of bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki, or Btk, is used on a targeted area. Btk is a naturally occurring biological microbe that has been used worldwide for decades. It has been studied extensively and been approved by Health Canada for organic farming.

Btk only affects spec…