Showers Over "Urban Areas" Halted

Here is a letter copied below from Nan Wishner that I recommend reading to all.

We might be spared the crop dusters flying over our homes and skyscrapers, but several other methods of poisoning us haven't been ruled out. Visualize ubiquitous permaculture and organic farming! Keep the dream alive and don't rest on our laurels yet.

- Kevin


From: Stop the Spray East Bay Info
Date: June 19, 2008 9:45:04 PM PDT
To: "EastBayInfo Moth (E-mail)"
Subject: STOP THE SPRAY - EAST BAY SPECIAL EDITION: SPRAY HALTED OVER URBAN AREAS

Dear Friends,

As many of you have already heard and as detailed in the press release below, State Agriculture Secretary Kawamura announced this afternoon that aerial spraying of urban areas for the light brown apple moth has been halted. Ground treatments will continue however, and aerial spraying remains an option in forested and other areas (as yet unidentified) where ground treatments are considered to be infeasible. This announcement came on the day before a number of announcements were planned related to lawsuits against the spraying that have been in preparation in the Bay Area.

I have a mixed reaction of joy + awe, and misgiving at this news.

First, the joy and awe: this shows that our voices have counted in a big way. I am joyful at this victory for every individual who spoke out against the spray - every mom, every Ph.D., every congressperson, every MD, every individual who sent a fax, wrote a letter, showed up at a city council meeting, talked to someone else at the grocery store to oppose the spray. I am in awe of all of you for all you have done and at our collective power.

And now the misigivings: The state is proceeding an eradication program for the moth even though there is no evidence that it poses a threat, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it has been here a long time and is being kept in balance by natural predators. These eradication activities include ground treatments: ground spraying of the pheromone; twist ties whose safety is untested; and pheromone-laced goo on telephone poles, which I assume is the same "attract and kill" strategy previously planned, using permethrin, a pesticide that is toxic to honeybees and a carcinogen and neurotoxin to humans. Aerial pheromone treatments may still be used over forested and other areas.

So science has not really prevailed. Secretary Kawamura continues to insist the moth just arrived here (even though he himself said it has been here 6-7 years on a radio show a few weeks ago and CDFA's recently released trapping data from 2005 are so hopelessly incomplete that there is no way those data prove the moth was not here in '05). The state continues to risk the health of humans, the environment, and the food supply and to spend our tax money on use of toxic pesticides rather than on solutions that support natural ecosystems and eliminate chemical use. The gravy train of pesticide use to combat "invasive species" continues to ride the rails.

So what does that mean for us?

I think we should first celebrate hugely the victory of having stopped the aerial spray in urban areas, and take some time to feel the relief that we no longer face the imminent public health threat of spraying in the Bay Area and Central Coast. The public outcry that has stopped this spray has also raised awareness in the agricultural industry that aerial spraying of populations is no longer a tenable option - I have heard this said at meetings recently. We may well have changed the perception that the default reaction to a pest can be to spray it from the sky.

Next, we need to decide who wishes to continue to work to change the paradigm that allows this program and similar programs to go forward even in the absence of the hot-button issue of aerial spraying. I believe that one reason the state made this move now was that they knew that the more people become educated about pesticide use and invasive species programs, the more criticism there would be of their model of making war with pesticides as their weapons, without regard for health and environmental impacts. They are hoping, by taking away the most fearful specter of airplanes spraying us, to soothe us back to our daily lives so we will not keep up the scrutiny of their "science" and the pressure for change.

So let's all celebrate and reflect for a few days, and find out the details of what the state plans to do in the continuing LBAM program.
Then we can decide how we want to move forward.

Please excuse me for not sending this message earlier in the day as I was in transit most of the day.

Thanks so much for all your support, and please understand if I am not able to respond to every message promptly for the next few days.