Whole Bay Area Will Get Sprayed Sept 5-7, 2007

From YubaNet.com

CA
Aerial Release of Light Brown Apple Moth Pheromone in Northern Monterey County
Author: California Dept. of Food and Agriculture
Published on Aug 15, 2007, 08:16

Beginning the evening of September 5, a team of three airplanes will begin releasing a pheromone designed to confuse male light brown apple moths (LBAM) and keep them from locating a mate. The pheromones are scheduled to be applied over approximately 60 square miles including the communities of Marina, Seaside, Sand City, Del Rey Oaks, Monterey and Pacific Grove. The application will occur over two to three nights, with a second application scheduled to occur in the same area in October (see map at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pdep/lbam_main.htm).

While conventional insecticides are designed to kill insects, pheromones are designed to distract or confuse them so that they cannot breed. In nature, the pheromone is released by the female moth to attract a mate. The "scent" is undetectable to humans and is highly specific to the light brown apple moth, so it does not affect other kinds of insects or animals. The aerial releases, which will resemble a light mist, are intended to surround the local moth population with pheromone so that the male moths can't locate the female moths. The moth population will decline and collapse as the rate of breeding slows and eventually subsides. The pheromone remains effective for about a month.

"This insect is a threat not only to our agricultural crops but also to our natural habitat, parks and landscaping, redwoods, oaks and other prized elements of our environment," said CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura. "It was important to identify an eradication alternative that took all of these conditions and constraints into account, and I believe we have succeeded in finding the most appropriate approach. Pheromone release is among the most advanced and environmentally sensitive eradication tools ever used in California."

Agricultural officials from the federal, state and county levels involved in the Cooperative Light Brown Apple Moth Eradication Project will provide two informational "Open House" sessions so that area residents can learn more about the project and discuss any questions or concerns one-on-one with experts in areas such as human health, environment and habitat, insect biology, eradication efforts, and quarantine restrictions. Residents in the treatment area will receive notices by mail detailing both the treatment schedule and the open house sessions.

The sessions are scheduled as follows:

Monday, August 20, 2007, 6-9 p.m. Oldemeyer Multi-use Center Blackhorse Room 986 Hilby Avenue Seaside, CA 93955

Tuesday, August 21, 2007, 6-9 p.m. Monterey Peninsula Unified School District Boardroom 700 Pacific Street Monterey, CA 93942

When applications begin the night of September 5, the planes will release an odorless, colorless pheromone material called Checkmate OLR-F which has been reviewed and approved by the EPA and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. The product has been registered and in use for over a decade with no reports of any health or environmental effects.

The contractor for the aerial applications is Dynamic Aviation, the same company that CDFA has contracted with for several years to release sterile Mediterranean fruit flies to prevent infestations in the Los Angeles basin. The company will fly three King Air twin-turbine aircraft flying at an altitude of approximately 500-800 feet to release the pheromone, using Salinas Municipal Airport as their base of operations. Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems will guide the pilots on preset grids.

Over the past few months, these communities have been part of a regional quarantine that has helped keep the infestation from spreading to other areas of the state. Now that the coope rative team of federal, state and local agricultural officials has deployed an array of insect traps throughout the state and determined that the infestation is largely confined to the Central Coast and East Bay areas, leading scientists have prescribed these pheromone treatments as the next step toward eradication. The Monterey/Seaside/Marina portion of the infested areas was chosen for the first round of pheromone applications because of its proximity to crops susceptible to the LBAM infestation. Pheromone releases in other infested areas will be planned as the program progresses.

The light brown apple moth is of particular concern because it can damage a wide range of crops and other plants including the Central Coast's prized cypress as well as redwoods, oaks and many other varieties commonly found in our urban and suburban landscaping, public parks, and natural environment. The list of agricultural crops that could be damaged by this pest includes grapes, citrus, stone fruits (peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, apricots) and many others. The complete "host list" contains well over 250 plant species. The pest damages plants and crops by feeding on leaves, new shoots and fruit.

© Copyright 2007 YubaNet.com

this is a MANDATORY spraying put in place 9 months with a $15 Million contract, but we only are notified Aug. 15. there is no public imput but you can ask government officials questions only on two evenings Aug. 20 and Aug 21.
i can't find on the internet any other communities with 10s of thousands of residents who were aerially sprayed.
we ARE the first in california. are we the first in the US?
also have never been sprayed for 3 nights consectuitively with a repeat scheduled in october. this is scary.

Light brown apple moth (LBAM) is an exotic pest that has recently been discovered in portions of the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. LBAM is a native pest to Australia and has been introduced into New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and Ireland. This moth can affect a wide variety of plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables, for a full host list and pest description, click here. For information about LBAM and its Impact on You, click here to see a full color brochure. There are ways that you can help prevent the spread of LBAM, to learn How You Can Help, click here for a full color brochure.

To prevent the spread of LBAM, do not remove plant materials from your home. Please dispose of green waste in an approved green waste bin provided by your county. Prior to moving green waste off your property contact your County Agriculture Commissioner for approved green waste disposal sites, click here for a list of California counties linked to their respective agriculture commissioner.

Common Name: Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM)

Scientific Name: Epiphyas postvittana (Walker)

Order and Family: Lepidoptera, Tortricidae

Detections in California counties: portions of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey.

Background
This moth is originally from Australia, and has become established in New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawaii and the British Isles. Its discovery in California is a new North American record.

PAN Pesticides Database - Pesticide Products
Product Name: Checkmate olr-f omnivorous leafroller (playtonia stultana)

click this link for more information on CheckMate®OLR-F from the the Pesticide Action Network (PAN)

The Monterey County Herald
Article Last Updated: 08/22/2007 01:27:15 AM PDT

Just a few decades ago, places with mosquito problems were routinely sprayed with DDT and other pesticides. Trucks equipped with foggers would meander through neighborhoods, coating almost everything with sticky chemicals. Children would run behind, playing in the mist as though it was harmless fog.

We've learned a lot since then about pesticides and other substances capable of harm. We've learned that industry and government have often been too quick to begin using new materials before all the evidence was in. We've learned from our mistakes. We've become less trusting. That, for the most part, is a good thing.

But we cannot expect that everything can be made perfectly safe, that "they" can eliminate all risks. There are times when we should be prepared to accept imperfect approaches to problems, particularly when the problems are bigger than the apparent risks presented by the solutions. We're approaching one of those times now with the plan to spray much of the Peninsula with Checkmate OLR-F, a pheromone designed to help eradicate the light brown apple moth, the latest threat to crops and other plants.

"They" say it is safe, that is essentially a scent that will confuse male moths and prevent breeding. But the experts cannot guarantee that it's 100 percent safe, much like they can't guarantee that all organic produce is 100 percent safe. Checkmate OLR-F is officially classified as "slightly toxic." The Environmental Protection Agency says that means it isn't known to be poisonous to anything, not even moths, but that it can be an irritant.

CONTINUES AT:

>i can't find on the internet any other communities with 10s of thousands of residents who were aerially >sprayed.
>we ARE the first in california. are we the first in the US

Don't you remember the medfly spraying in Santa Clara county and I believe around LA during the 80's? That was done over a very large area for a couple of months with malathion, not just something that makes male moths horny. Guess what? The only problems it caused were psychosomatic in the minds of the hypochondriacs.

Guess the internet doesn't have all knowledge yet.

Gee, I wonder why Pebbles and Carmel won't be sprayed.
Insufficient testing on humans, until now?

Other communities have sprayed pheromones to control moths. In Virgina and in Capay, California--with great success.

OLR-F may not be a pesticide, however, apparently pheromone treatment OLR-F is not synonymous with "harmless."
EPA Registration states is a level 3 toxin. Causing eye corneal irritation and redness to skin. Eye irritation may not subside for up to 7 days. Kawamura and other officials present at Aug meetings could point to no studies to substantiate harmlessness to humans. No population (urban areas) have been aerially sprayed with this level 3 toxin.
Additionally, manufacturer (Suterra) label, warns of potential harm to humans, including eye and skin irritation. Label states handlers should avoid inhaling or touching. If one is to be subjected to overhead spray, one should wear chemically resistant headgear. CDFA did not provide this warning with its notification.
Kawamura claims the application will be so diluted, he and CDFA toxicologist to not EXPECT any harm to humans. But if it is so diluted, isn't it unlikely to be ineffective for moth eradication. What about the cumulative affect on humans? Spraying is planned for multiple times.
Monterey Herald quotes Kawamura Sept 10: " . . . We're going to do our best to help this Peninsula try to stay healthy. The most important point has got to be that THE ONSLAUGHT OF INVASIVE SPECIES IS THE BIGGER ISSUE." i.e. Kawamura (with governor's approval) values agricultural interests over human health.

Kawamura comes from a family of strawberry growers. Doesn't this fact pose a significant conflict of interest for him to be given the power to decide an issue that may risk human health?

He failed to answer adequately why the alternative measure of spraying from the ground the areas now known to be invaded by the moth would not be effective. This seems to me to be a risky overkill. I think the time to draw the line on doing an EIR is not when urban areas are to be aerially sprayed with a level 3 toxin for the first time in the world.

Many persons I spoke to in affected area told me they received no notice warning them to stay inside if they wished to take precautions. No hotel I visited had received the notice to pass on to their guests.

Please visit the EPA registration site and manufacturer Suterra warning label for OLR-F and pass along these facts to all you know, so at least they will take measures to protect themselves during the spraying. Kawamura appears to be minimizing the risk.

FROM SUTERRA, THE MANUFACTURE OF OLR-F:


Suterra > mating disruption > Omnivorous Leafroller > CheckMate OLR-F

LOWER THE COST OF OPERATION. MANAGE INSECTICIDE RESISTANCE.

CheckMate® OLR-F is a pheromone-based product designed to disrupt mating of adult omnivorous leafroller. Used as directed, this product saturates the orchard environment with the female sex pheromone so that individual males cannot locate female moths ready to mate. This product emits pheromone over an extended period of time (up to 30 days) providing continuous mating disruption of omnivorous leafroller. This system was designed for use in peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, prunes, cherries, other stone fruits; apples, quinces, and other pome fruits; almonds and other tree nut crops; and grapes, wine grapes, and raisins. The benefits of using CheckMate OLR-F are:

• Biorational insect control
• Will not harm beneficial insects
• No re-entry restrictions
• No permits or NOI required
• No pesticide residues
• Minimal protective clothing
• Helps manage pesticide resistance
• No environmental hazards
• No impact on thinning schedules

CheckMate OLR-F is specific for the omnivorous leafroller leaving beneficial parasites and predators in the orchard. These beneficial insects aid in control of mites, aphids and other secondary pests.

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD

Download a 2 page pdf from the manufacture.

From the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

* Information Source: Suterra LLC (The manufacture!)

Sex Smells
Illness, money and a lawsuit complicate the moth scent-spraying controversy.
Sep 27, 2007
By Kera Abraham

The pheromone products that critics are calling “weapons of moth destruction” appear to be drumming up more local resistance than the Iraq War.

The feds and state Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) aim to eradicate the invasive light brown apple moth by aerially spraying the Monterey Peninsula with pheromone products Checkmate OLR-F and Checkmate LBAM-F, which confuse the male moths and disrupt mating. The first spray occurred Sept. 9-13 and the next is scheduled to begin around Oct. 9 despite opposition from concerned locals.

The issue has also become an environmentalist-versus-environmentalist debate. California Certified Organic Farmers supports the spraying, and the Natural Resource Defense Council’s senior scientist is unconcerned about it. While Californians for Pesticide Reform prefers the use of pheromones to conventional pesticides, the group has reservations about spraying it from planes.

A growing number of local groups agree. Helping Our Peninsula’s Environment (HOPE) and the Fort Ord Environmental Justice Network initially spearheaded the opposition, but in the past few weeks three new groups have joined the resistance.

The cities of Pacific Grove and Monterey have threatened to sue the state over the spraying, but HOPE is the first plaintiff to follow through. The group filed a lawsuit against the CDFA and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura on Sept. 24.

The lawsuit alleges the pheromone spraying injures the Peninsula’s residents.

The lawsuit alleges that the pheromone spraying injures the Peninsula’s residents and the National Marine Sanctuary’s invertebrates. It also questions the validity of the EPA’s “emergency” exemptions, which permit the spraying over a residential area without an environmental impact report and public review required under the California Enviromental Quality Act.

HOPE may request an injunction to delay spraying while the lawsuit moves forward, HOPE’s David Dilworth says.

Meanwhile, activists following the money have discovered that the owner of the pheromone manufacturing company is a major contributor to Gov. Schwarzenegger. State records show that Stewart and Lynda Resnick, co-chairs of Los Angeles-based Roll International, contributed $144,600 to Schwarzenegger’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign. Roll International’s many subsidiaries include Fiji Water, Paramount Agribusiness and Suterra Inc., the company that manufactures the Checkmate products being sprayed on the Peninsula.

An alternate form of pheromone is available. Pacific Biocontrol Corporation develops and distributes—and mammoth chemical company Shin-Etsu manufactures—twist ties infused with the moth scent, which can be placed around infested areas. The state has tried the twist ties in seven cities, including San Jose.

But CDFA officials have said that aerial spraying is cheaper and more effective than ground application, despite citizen requests to do the latter. About 40 residents at the Aug. 21 Monterey City Council meeting indicated that they would volunteer to place twist ties.

The owners of Pacific Biocontrol and Shin-Etsu did not contribute to Schwarzenegger’s 2006 campaign.
• • •

Within an hour of going outside on the afternoon of Sept. 13, PG resident Mike Lynberg began to feel congested. His wife and two kids also got sick. He suspects that the symptoms were related to the pheromones sprayed over his neighborhood the night before.

Lynberg started Concerned Citizens Against Aerial Spraying and began collecting illness complaints from other residents. As of Sept. 24 he’s received 81 reports of sore throats, bronchial congestion, stuffy noses, headaches, fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain and skin rashes. He sent a summary to local mayors and Assemblyman John Laird.

The state Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) instructs people who feel sick to first see a physician. Doctors who suspect a link between the symptoms and pesticide exposure should fill out a state form and submit it to the county agriculture commissioners’ office, which investigates complaints and then shares them with the DPR.

The county has received 11 complaints so far and plans to investigate them all, says Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Robert Roach. But the going is slow. According to the state’s Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program fact sheet, “DPR has longstanding concerns about delays in receiving illness reports.”

The County Health Department’s Dr. Hugh Stallworth, who says he has no formal role in the reporting process, has also been hearing from residents who think they’re sick from the spray. “It’s certainly a possibility that it’s more related to people’s concern, anger and anxiety than an actual physiologic problem,” he says.

While there’s little he can do at a local level, Stallworth is passing illness reports on to the state Department of Public Health. “They are getting public pressure to do something,” he says.