Who decides? The corporations?
The corporate-funded government officials?
The Department of 'Homeland Security...?' Or We, The People
[the ones who are getting sprayed]?
THAT...is the QUESTION.
What's the Deep Democracy Constitutional Solution?
For starters. lets not let the state power holders spray us ( I kid you not)
with an apathy-inducing chemical!
Greetings Friends of EON,
Since late February we have been documenting the emerging political uproar over another deep democracy issue, the forced ground and aerial pesticide spraying of the densely populated central California coastline, center of organic food growing and home to environmentalists devoted to its breathtakingly beautiful ecosytems. [Please scroll down to view some YouTube posts and DVDs on the LBAM forced aerial spraying issue.
] [Click here to go directly to our YouTube Vlog Page and latest LBAM video posts.]
As of June 19, 2008 the California Department of Food And Agriculture (CDFA) announced it has suspended its plan to aerially spray urban areas with secret, untested toxic pesticides. Now the agency will use trucks to spray toxic pesticides in urban areas, as well as many millions of moths dropped from planes that are sterilized with radioactivity to disrupt mating, applications of toxic goop on trees and telephone poles and twist-ties soaked with pesticides hooked onto trees. Aerial spraying will still take place over agricultural lands, ridges, forested areas, hillsides, etc. The CDFA plans repeated applications, monthly, over many years.
Although the agency did not acknowledge the mounting public outrage, multiple lawsuits and political pressure as factors in its decision, they certainly played an important part. Congratulations to the many people up and down the coast who have joined this powerful and growing grassroots movement. While the stopping of urban aerial spraying must be celebrated as an important victory in the struggle to ban irresponsible pesticide use, it is only one successful win in an on-going campaign. Now that we understand this issue as a micro-cosm of the corporate push to dominate the global food system with toxic pesticides and genetically modified seeds and animals, we know this is a movement that must continue to grow. Our bees, children and water still are at risk, not to mention the growing number of people with multiple chemical sensitivities and auto-immune disorders such as MS. So let's celebrate, then keep on going!
BACKGROUND BRIEFING
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has announced plans to resume and expand its low flying (500 ft.) aerial pesticide spraying of these mostly urban coastal areas for the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) in summer 2008 despite enraged citizen opposition. The CDFA has admitted that there have been no tests on the spray's safety and no reported damage done by the moth, yet it has been designated a class A pest, giving the California Sec. of Agriculture sweeping authorization to eradicate it.
Brushing aside local public concerns and a lawsuit, the over $75 million dollar campaign, funded through the USDA with an earmark directly from Bush, began in Oct. 2007 in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties using a synthetic pheromone encased in microscopic plastic capsules along with at least eleven other toxic chemicals, surfactants and emulsifiers. It was the first time this product had ever been applied aerially (by airplane) over populated urban areas in the U.S. or anywhere.
Now the CDFA is ignoring over 643 reports of adverse human health effects, ( eyes and throat burning, muscle aches, asthma, shortness of breath, skin rashes, stomach pains, intestinal disorders, menses problems, etc.) as well as the reported deaths of 650 of birds, and suspected damage to marine life and bees in the sprayed areas, and has announced that it will expand the program to the San Francisco Bay Area, including San Mateo, Alameda, Marin and Contra Costa counties beginning in Summer, 2008. The plan is to continue spraying every thirty days for 3 - 5 years or indefinitely until the moth is 'eradicated.' Since the plasticized pesticide is designed to remain in suspension for thirty days, there will be no respite from the toxins during this time. Dr. Larry Rose, MD MPH - former Senior Public Medical Officer for Cal-OSHA, where he served for 28 years, and a member of the UCSF Occupational/Environmental Medicine Department - has issued a Pesticide Spraying Health Hazard Alert to health professionals on the dangers of the pesticides being sprayed on Californians. According to his report, "Immediate short term acute health concerns are to be expected from the known toxicology of several of the chemicals in the Checkmate formulation mix and in the polyurea plastic particulate capsule...These ingredients include irritants, sensitizers, nervous system disrupters, endocrine disruption, allergens, and hypersensitivity induction. "
." Click here for a PDF of Dr. Rose's Alert
The all out war against the Light Brown Apple Moth however, has recently been called totally unnecessary and ineffective by UC scientists Dr. James Carey and Dr. Daniel Harderwho both testified that the plan is also dangerous. Since the moth flies only a short distance in its short life, the fact that it has been seen from Los Angeles to Northern California means that most likely it has been here for decades without doing noticeable damage. This also means that an aerial application will never "eradicate" it. Despite the CDFA claims that the moth could potentially cause up to $600 million dollars in damage to California growers, LBAM can only live in moist, cool climates and therefore would never survive in the central valley where the major agribusiness is. Click here for a News release on Dr. Harder's Report Click here for Dr. Harder's Report in PDF
Citizen groups and progressive public officials are joining in a growing movement to oppose the state's plan. This issue has the making of a major water-shed, wake-up, precedent-setting test-case for the public right-to-know-and-right-to-participate in decision-making on public health and environmental safety issues. Because California is seen as a bellwether state, this fight has national significance.
Realtors OpposeLBAM Spraying as a Threat to Property Values in an Already Troubled Market
Acording to a press release dated April 22, 2008. "The Board of Directors of the Marin Association of REALTORS® (MAR) today voted unanimously to oppose the scheduled aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth. The 1,700 member organization is believed to be the first realtor association in the region to oppose the spraying. Noting that the aerial spraying 'would be harmful to the quality of life in Marin County', the resolution approved by the board called on state authorities to instead 'conduct an aggressive proactive ground-based eradication program to address the light brown apple moth problem....' The action came after more than a dozen realtors spoke to the board this morning to urge that the organization come out against the spraying. In recent weeks, the association received more than 75 e-mails and phone calls from realtors and the public on the issue. ...In a separate resolution, the 16-member board voted unanimously to ask the California Association of Realtors to also oppose the spraying."
TAKE HOME POINTS
• A major funder of the Governor owns the pesticide company is one of the the largest citrus growers in the world, and stands to profit from spraying, but stands to lose from other countries imposing the same LBAM-scare-motivated quarantine on his produce now that were imposed on NZ and Australia to his great advantage in the 'sixties.
• The company that owns the spray planes has Pentagon security clearance, Dynamic Aviation, also does aerial surveillance work for hire, and is headquartered just outside Washington, D. C.
• The spray contains nano-particles that penetrate the human blood-brain barrier.
• The spray used on Santa Cruz included, among other toxics, "1,2-BENZISOTHIAZOLIN-3-ONE" , which its safety sheet warns induces apathy in those acutely exposed.
• The spray contains emulsifiers and a surfactant that dissolves the oil on seabird feathers causing hyperthermia and drowning.
• The spray contains tiny plastic particles that can permanently lodge in the deep lung, where they cause chronic problems.
• Independent UC scientists say that the spray plan is dangerous to human health, unworkable and unnecessary, based on the century long experience of New Zealand with the same moth..
• The Feds say if the state won't do it, they will.
• Who gains? Who loses? Follow the money. Is this all about trade? Or about democratic choice?
Californians organize to fight state's forced aerial pesticide spraying plans. On Moday. March 3, 2008 a Marin Town Hall Meeting was held at the Corte Madera Town Center hosted by the Marin Pesticide Free Zone Campaign, and organized by Frank Egger, Marin Coordinator of StopTheSprayMarin.org
According to two UC scientists, not only can the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) not be 'eradicated' by the forced aerial pesticide spraying of the San Francisco Bay Area planned for this summer by a state agency, but it poses no real threat to agriculture in the first place.
UC Davis Entomologist Dr. James Carey and UC Santa Cruz Arboretum Executive Director Dr. Daniel Harder present the results of their research at the March 13, 2008 informational hearing held in San Rafael by State Senator Joe Simitian, Chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
Dr. Harder's report on his recent trip to New Zealand, where the LBAM is "...effectively controlled almost exclusively by natural predators in both agricultural settings and wild lands," is available on-line at:
SENATOR SIMITIAN'S LBAM HEARING - Pt. 1
Officials and academics testify.
SENATOR SIMITIAN'S LBAM HEARING - Pt. 2
The people speak.
SENATOR SIMITIAN'S LBAM HEARING - Pt. 3
Official and Activists
New EON DVDs on the LBAM forced aerial spraying issue now avaiable:
STOP THEM BEFORE THAY SPRAY AGAIN: Reports from the LBAM Frontlines Two Scientists and Three Concerned Citizens report on the widespread human and wildlife health effects of the spraying in
Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, the unconstitutionality of the program, the lack of scientific evidence and the political backstory.
STATE SENATE INFORMATIONAL HEARING on LBAM SPRAYING A 2-DVD Set
On March 13, 2008 San Rafael, CA, a California State Senate Environmental Quality Committee Hearing on Forced LBAM Spraying was held, Sen. Joe Simitian,Chair, Senator Carol Migden and Assemblyman Jared Huffman attending.
And please click these links for a quick overview of the video posts on both our YouTube.com/eon3 and EON.Blip.tv vlogs. You can scroll down to view and download the ones that interest you right from this page. As ever, please forward widely.
Please support our work with whatever contributions you can manage. Every amount helps!
To support the work EON is doing please make a tax-deductible donation of any amount via the PayPal link below...
...or become a Subscriber/Supporter at $10 per month by clicking this button...
...or you can send a check or money order made out to EON to:
EON POB 1047 Bolinas, CA 94924 Thanks in advance for your support!
If you have questions, please call 415-868-1900 or
e-mail info@EON3.net Please check out our recent most popular post (over 6000 views and counting): Cindy Sage - The BioInitiative Report:A Rationale for a Biologically-based Public Exposure Standard for Electromagnetic Fields (ELF and RF) Buy this DVD on-line for $15.00 plus $5.00 shipping and handling Cindy Sage will be presenting at this Wednesday's COMMONWEALTH CLUB in San Francisco along with Dr. Magda H on EON.Blip.tv on YouTube/EON3
