An online community for eradicating bogus bug eradication programs.

Six Things to Do To Eradicate the Eradication

Here is the latest from Stop the Spray San Francisco and Stop the Spray East Bay.
Time to get busy again...

As you have heard, the apple moth environmental impact report has
been released and the program is much the same as before, with aerial
and ground spray and other chemical and environmentally disruptive
treatments.

Here are SIX things you can do now to stop the spray:

1. Call USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and ask him to reclassify the light brown apple moth to non quarantinable status and stop the LBAM program now.
- phone: 202-720-3631 is the main line for the USDA. Ask to leave a message for Secretary Vilsack. OR EMAIL: agsec@usda.gov
*Talking points for calls/emails below after #2

2. Call California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura and ask him NOT to certify the apple moth EIR and to stop the LBAM program now.
- phone: 916-654-0433 OR email:akawamura@cdfa.ca.gov
*Talking points for calls/emails:

The state environmental document on the program has just come out and includes the possibility of aerial spray of large populated areas of California

The moth has been intercepted in CA since 1984, but the state can point to only 1 questionable incident of possible apple moth damage in the past 26 years

The program is an enormous waste of taxpayer money in hard economic times

3. Call your local city councilmember or county supervisor and ask that the city council or county board immediately send a letter to Secretary Kawamura asking him to delay certification of the Environmental Impact Report (which could be certified any day now) until public hearings on the program are held in all affected communities.

4. Call your state and federal representatives and ask them to support federal reclassification of the moth and ending of the apple moth quarantines and eradication program, and tell them that the eradication program is a complete waste of taxpayer money.
* some key contacts at end of this email

5. Call the state departments of Public Health, Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and Pesticide Regulation and ask them to contact Agriculture Secretary Kawamura to request that he not certify the environmental impact report until the full formulas of the apple moth pesticides, including the adjuvants or so-called inerts, are disclosed (and for good measure add that you think this program is a complete waste of taxpayer money).

California Department of Public Health:
Mark Horton. Director 916- 558-1700 [ASK TO LEAVE A MESSAGE FOR DR. MARK HORTON] mark.horton@cdph.ca.gov
Department of Pesticide Regulation:
Mary Ann Warmerdam, Director 916-324-1452 mwarmerdam@cdpr.ca.gov
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment:
Joan Denton, Director (916) 322-6325 jdenton@oehha.ca.gov

6. Call or email the office of State Assemblymember Sandré Swanson and express your appreciation for his introduction of AB 1721, the School Healthy and Safety Protection Zones Act, which would establish pesticide spray safety zones around schools across the state. Mr. Swanson's office needs to know BY NEXT WEEK that we support his efforts, especially from residents of his district: Oakland, Alameda, and Piedmont.
916-319-2016 OR Fax: (916) 319-2116

SOME BAY AREA LEGISLATOR CONTACTS

Federal:
U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (East Bay) (510) 763-0370
U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (San Francisco) (415) 556-4862 -
Senator Dianne Feinstein (415) 393-0707
Senator Barbara Boxer (415) 403-0100

State:
Assemblymember Sandré R. Swanson (Oakland, Piedmont, Alameda) 916-319-2016
Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (Berkeley, Albany, Richmond, San Pablo, Kensington, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill) (916) 319-2014
Assemblymember Tom Torlakson (Northern Contra Costa) (916) 319-2011
Assemblymember Jared Huffman (Marin) (916) 319-2006
Senator Mark Leno (SF, Marin) (916) 651-4003
Senator Loni Hancock (East Bay) (916) 651-4009

Note: StoptheSpray East Bay is updating its website regularly with new information on the EIR and efforts to stop the program: www.eastbay.stopthespray.org

Thank you for your continued attention on the issue of dangerous and unnecessary pesticide use in California.

Michelle Darby & Lisa Abbott
Stop the Spray - San Francisco

Tags: EIR, LBAM, activism, agriculture, farming, food, health, moth, organic, pesticide