Stop the Spray!

[flygal]

<o:p> </o:p>
I have started to get quite concerned about the plan for aerial spraying of the light brown apple moth (LBAM) in August this year.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> IF WE DO NOT EXPRESS OUR CONCERNS NOW, on August 18th, they will be spraying a cocktail of pesticides from low flying aircraft over a big area including <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Petaluma</st1:place></st1:city>! The plan is to then spray every 30 to 60 days for 9 months of the year for up to 10 years!<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> They sprayed once in Santa Cruz last fall and had over 600 reported cases of respiratory, digestive, and skin problems + thousands of dead birds. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p></o:p>According to various scientists this plan to eradicate the moth with pesticides by disrupting its mating cycle will not work, while natural alternatives such as using local insects will. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p></o:p>I want to help to stop the spraying and have been looking for ways to get involved. https://www.stopthespray.org/ lists various events such as the May 31 rally on the <st1:placename w:st="on">Golden Gate</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Bridge</st1:placetype> and a music benefit on June 8th in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Sausalito</st1:city></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p></o:p>


From SFGATE:<o:p></o:p> Apple moth quarantine around <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:place></st1:city><o:p></o:p> Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer<o:p></o:p> Tuesday, May 6, 2008<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>
A 15-square-mile quarantine was established Monday in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> in the ever- widening - and increasingly controversial - war against the pest known as the light brown apple moth.<o:p></o:p> The quarantine will subject grape growers, nurseries and other businesses inside the infestation zone to inspections and, if the alien moth is found, an extensive treatment program.<o:p></o:p>

A team of scientists from the California Department of Food and Agriculture also announced Monday that sticky traps alone are not an effective way to fight the destructive Australian invader. Instead, they concluded, aerial spraying will have to be used to fight the pest.<o:p></o:p> The quarantine in <st1:placename w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype> was set up after Food and Agriculture officials discovered brown moths in the city of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:place></st1:city> on Feb. 15 and April 20.

The quarantine area is essentially a circle around the city.<o:p></o:p> "The detection of a second moth in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:place></st1:city> is evidence that we must take action to keep this pest from breeding and spreading," Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura, wrote in a statement.<o:p></o:p> The moth species was first detected in <st1:city w:st="on">Berkeley</st1:city> about a year ago, and specimens have since turned up in <st1:city w:st="on">Monterey</st1:city>, <st1:city w:st="on">Santa Cruz</st1:city>, <st1:city w:st="on">Santa Clara</st1:city>, <st1:city w:st="on">San Mateo</st1:city>, Contra Costa, Marin, <st1:city w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:city>, Solano, <st1:city w:st="on">Napa</st1:city>, <st1:city w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:city> and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Santa Barbara</st1:place></st1:city> counties.<o:p></o:p>

The state agency plans to spray a synthetic pheromone pesticide over much of the Bay Area this summer in hopes of getting rid of the pest by interrupting its mating cycle.<o:p></o:p> Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had halted planned spraying in the previously identified 12 counties until Aug. 17 to allow the safety tests to be completed. Agriculture Department spokesman Steve Lyle said he expects spraying to begin the day the moratorium is lifted.<o:p></o:p>

[DavidJohn]

I support your position opposing the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)'s plan to spray toxic chemicals all over several <st1:place w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place> counties, allegedly to control the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). I sincerely wish to literally change the name of this thread (Barry, can that be done?), because we must NOT focus on, or allow ourselves to become, "Prisoners of Spraying." (Flygal, would you approve of changing the thread’s name?) We need to focus on keeping our environment and ourselves healthy.

We CAN and MUST stop this madness!

<st1:personname w:st="on">The</st1:personname>re seems to be a general lack of awareness and a lot of silence in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> on this subject (ours is the most recent county to be targeted for this spray). If we remain silent, it will make it very easy for those who want to move forward with this plan to do so. Undoubtedly, this spray would have serious adverse effects on the health of the people, animal life, agriculture, economy, tourism, and general well-being of our communities in the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">North Bay</st1:place></st1:city>, the Bay Area, and other areas of the state. Such programs have proven very harmful in the past, witness the hundreds of cases of sickness reported.

<st1:personname w:st="on">The</st1:personname> government has delayed the start of this planned spraying until August, in order to "study the health effects" of this spray. Does anyone REALLY believe that the result of this study will be that it determined that the spray is harmful, and that the CDFA will scrap the spraying plan? Expect a whitewash from the government.

I understand and respect the need to protect agriculture in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:state>! <st1:personname w:st="on">The</st1:personname>re are other ways to approach the problem of the Light Brown Apple Moth. First of all, has it been shown that this really does pose a serious threat to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">California</st1:state></st1:place> agriculture? I understand that this has NOT been demonstrated. Even if it is a threat, it makes sense to me to engage in all other methods of control, short of spraying a mixture of petrochemicals and other chemicals with unknown effects on every living thing in sight. <st1:personname w:st="on">The</st1:personname>re is plenty of evidence that toxic spraying would have much more serious negative consequences than positive benefits. By the way, I understand that the promoters of the plan first claimed that the spray had "only" pheromones in it; now we know that it is a toxic mix with petrochemicals in it. Why would they mislead us?

Many questions come up. Would organic farms still be allowed to label their products "organic" after they are sprayed with toxic chemicals? Would ANYONE want to buy ANY produce or other agricultural products from sprayed areas? Would you eat the food from your own gardens? Would this spray harm or kill bees (which are already threatened and in serious decline), which are CRUCIAL to the pollenation of plants, including agricultural crops?

Would the State of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">California</st1:state></st1:place> and the corporate interests who would financially benefit from this plan pay for the medical care of every person, pet, and farm animal sickened (or even killed) by this spray? Why should we have to get sick and require medical care in the first place? Why should we have to go after the government and the companies who would perpetrate this upon us, in protracted legal battles lasting years with uncertain outcomes, to cover our medical (and legal) costs, and to collect for damages? Why should taxpayers have to pay costs and damage awards for the decisions of a few government bureaucrats, politicians, and corporate interests? Would Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tenure as Governor of California survive this upheaval, or would it be terminated in a recall election?

How long would our homes and communities be poisonous? Who would pay to clean it all up, if we could even do so? Would we? How many of us would simply leave our homes to live elsewhere?

Would any informed tourist elect to visit a toxic county, risking serious health consequences just to visit our once-beautiful countryside and communities?

Would Governor Schwarzenegger be willing to allow his own house to be sprayed with this chemical mix also, on an ongoing basis and as long as the program is active anywhere in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:state>, to demonstrate his belief that the chemical is safe? Would those whose pockets would be lined by <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">California</st1:state></st1:place> taxpayers to create and spray these chemicals on us also allow their homes to be sprayed as well? Why not, if the spray is as safe as claimed? Even if their homes may not be in areas "threatened" by this moth, does it not make sense to require (somehow) that those who promote and would execute this plan, including management at CDFA, also be subjected to the effects of it? Why would they resist if they truly believe the spray to be harmless?

<st1:personname w:st="on">The</st1:personname>re must be a more sane, sensible method to deal with this moth, which has not even been clearly shown to be a serious threat.

This spray plan is madness! We MUST ACT to stop it!

<st1:personname w:st="on">The</st1:personname>re have been demonstrations, marches, meetings, hearings, successful legal actions, and numerous other activities in other <st1:place w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place> counties threatened by this toxic spray. Future actions in other counties are already planned. I urge <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> residents to lend our support, energy, efforts, and strength to this movement. Let's get active to save our beautiful county and state from this travesty that could have profound deleterious effects on all of our lives for years to come. We need to stand in solidarity with the other counties threatened by this as well. We need to put our foot down and say NO! We will NOT stand for this! We will NOT tolerate the government and private interests harming us, our communities, our environment, and all forms of life where we live. Christ, the government is supposed to protect us from harm, not spray poison all over us!

Stop the Spray! See https://www.stopthespray.org/ (https://www.stopthespray.org/) for resources and other links.

Remember the words of the great anthropologist Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

[Clancy]

...According to various scientists this plan to eradicate the moth with pesticides by disrupting its mating cycle will not work, while natural alternatives such as using local insects will...

I share your concern about aerial spraying, but if you're going to invoke science to support your position, you are obliged to provide the science, or at least a quote or link that leads to the data. Otherwise, you undermine your own argument and would do better not to mention science at all.

Ironically, the article you included in your post does quote scientists, from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, saying that aerial spraying "will have to be used to fight the pest".

[flygal]

Yes, You are correct and I apologize for the oversight as I know good and well about documentation of resources....

Here are three good places to start reading, but just in case anybody wants more, you can always search about this topic on google.....

https://www.panna.org/resources/lbam

https://www.lbamspray.com/Reports/ECON%20Report%20CASS_v4.0_050508.pdf

https://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/pages/hort/hort_crops/apricots/light_brown_apple_moth.htm:sectID=1122&tempID=1


I share your concern about aerial spraying, but if you're going to invoke science to support your position, you are obliged to provide the science, or at least a quote or link that leads to the data. Otherwise, you undermine your own argument and would do better not to mention science at all.

Ironically, the article you included in your post does quote scientists, from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, saying that aerial spraying "will have to be used to fight the pest".