Local Meetings on Upcoming Illegal Spraying of Bay Area with Synthetic Hormones

The aerial spraying of pesticide that was forced on Monterey and Santa Cruz a few months ago, is scheduled to continue there and to come to the entire Bay Area.

Individual municipalities have no power to stop this because they are superseded by the State’s declaration of a state of emergency, done to avoid having to conduct an Environmental Impact Review. This supposed “emergency” is the presence of the light brown apple moth (LBAM) in Bay Area counties, but like all toxic dumping by the agriculture industry, it is likely more about industry profits.

The LBAM is not a threat to people’s health, but the spraying is. Green groups are calling on officials to use sticky traps instead of sprays.

The “pheromones” the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) have been spraying are synthetic and contain toxic components that have made hundreds of people sick already, with the homeless particularly impacted. Nearly 3000 people have signed the petition opposing the spraying so far, with the numbers steadily growing. Law suits have been filed, and various city officials have taken a stand against the spraying, including the Mayor and City Council of Albany, which unanimously resolved to stand in opposition to the State’s spray campaign.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of all these people, many of them injured by the spray, the Ag industry has postponed further aerial spraying until “late Spring or early Summer”.

To “educate” and “reach out” to us, the CDFA has hired the PR firm Porter Novelli, started by two men who helped Nixon get re-elected, and who are now helping Dow Chemical (of napalm and Agent Orange fame) put on a friendly public face. A quote from the Porter Novelli website: “[Porter Novelli ] provides a combination of behavioral, motivational, and communication data necessary to develop effective campaigns targeting youth.”

The CDFA has made it very clear that they are determined to continue spraying people’s homes and gardens against the will of the people living here. But their postponement has bought us more time to organize against the spraying.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

· Attend a community and / or city council meeting (listed below)
· Demand that every elected official support 'Non-Aerial Spraying Least Toxic Alternatives'
· Sign a petition
· Write a letter to the editor
· Email / call city council members and state representatives
· Post this message to any email groups you are on
· Visit http://www.stopthespray.org and sign up for email alerts

Community meetings to discuss the situation:
Check the LBAMSPRAY Calendar for events:
http://www.lbamspray.com/calendar.htm

BERKELEY COMMUNITY MEETING
Sunday, February 24, 5pm
Berkeley Hillside Club
2286 Cedar (between Spruce and Arch), Berkeley, CA
The Berkeley City Council, which has not as of yet taken a side in the debate, but was reported as having a “wait and see” attitude, will be meeting with the CDFA at a city council meeting, where the public has the right to be heard. This is an important night to confront the CDFA.

CDFA PRESENTATION TO THE CITY OF BERKELEY
Tuesday, February 26, 7pm,
2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
(To be more prepared for an argument with the CDFA, please review this power point presentation they’re likely to be giving this evening:
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a27/ppt/LBAM%20_2008%20Rollout_LegCaucus_012208%20kz.ppt)

OAKLAND HEARING ON
RESOLUTION AGAINST AERIAL SPRAYING
Tuesday, February 26th, 7pm.
Oakland City Hall, One Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland.
Hearing on resolution against aerial spraying proposed by Councilmembers Brunner and Reid.

CORTE MADERA TOWN CENTER PRESENTATION:
BAY AREA AERIAL SPRAYING
Monday, March 3rd, 7pm.
Informational Presentation on Bay Area Aerial Spray, with members of Pesticide Free Zone of Marin, stopthespray.org, CA Alliance to Stop the Spray, and others.
Corte Madera Town Center, The Community Room, Suite 201

Oakland City Councilwoman Jane Brunner has stated: “I have a resolution in the City Council packet already and it will be heard at Public Safety Committee, February 26th at 7:30 p.m. It would be good to have some people come and speak. If you have more questions Elinor in my office is working on this. Her number is 238-7001.”

Mayor Robert Lieber of Albany is quoted as saying, “The agency should place an immediate moratorium on aerial pesticide spraying until it is proven both safe and effective.”

Jared Blumenthal, the director of San Francisco's Department of the Environment, said the city is opposed to the aerial spraying because it doesn't work in eradicating the pest. "We don't think aerial spraying works," Blumenthal said. "Our first preference is ground treatments in San Francisco, like in Golden Gate Park. Or finding a natural enemy, like a nonstinging wasp, that is introduced to deal with this issue once and for all."

Let’s get public statements from all of our city and state representatives.

For more information on this urgent issue:

MAP:
Map of planned areas to be sprayed - everything circled in yellow - the entire East Bay
and San Francisco, and then some:
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a27/pdf/LBAM_BA_PLAN_08.pdf

GROUPS
http://www.hopefortruth.com
http://www.stopthespray.org
Sign the petition against the spraying!
http://www.lbamspray.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopoverheadspraying
Listserve with up to date information and discussion
http://www.californiaalliancetostopthespray.org
http://www.1hope.org/hope.htm

RECENT NEWS STORIES:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/05/18470272.php
A list of symptoms experienced by those already sprayed
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/15/MN99V2PMN.DTL&tsp=1
Chronicle coverage “State plans Bay Area pesticide spraying” (2/15/08)
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/02/18476684.php
$74.5 Million Earmarked To Aerial Spray Parts of San Francisco Bay Area (2/2/08)
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-01-25/article/29006
Albany Opposes Tree Removal, Aerial Spray (1/25/08)
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=5325&catid=&volume_id=317&issue_id=332&volume_num=42&issue_num=14
Godzilla versus Mothra (1/2/08)

OFFICIAL STORY:
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/PDEP/lbam/lbam_main.html
CA Dept of Food and Agriculture Light Brown Apple Moth Project
(Includes fact sheets, advisories, etc. Warning: propaganda and facts mixed together)

OTHER INFORMATION:
Meanwhile, ground spraying will be happening all along, possibly with permethrin on utility poles, 8 feet above the ground, just a couple of feet above the heads of passers by. Here is a toxicological profile of permethrin:
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Permethrin.htm

Something else in the CDFA’s arsenal is spinosad, which is considered non-synthetic, is “approved” for used in organic farming, but contains undisclosed “inert” ingredients. It is very toxic to honeybees, oysters and other marine mollusks, and somewhat toxic to birds, fish, and aquatic invertebrates. Ironically it is also harmful to the Trichogramma wasp, another part of the LBAM eradication program. For a discussion about the problems with “inert” ingredients of pesticides, which usually make up most of the product, are often more toxic than the “active” ingredients, and which are kept undisclosed, protected by trade secret laws:
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/9374/9374.pdf

About Porter Novelli, PR Firm
Porter Novelli’s Styles communication-planning database is developed from three proprietary surveys—ConsumerStyles, HealthStyles, YouthStyles—that offer fresh insights into the preferences, needs, and behaviors of American families. The ConsumerStyles database is a comprehensive look at what the American public is currently purchasing, where they are shopping, their attitudes toward products and services, and how to reach them through the media. The HealthStyles database is a comprehensive look at the American public’s health orientations and practices. This database is specifically designed to map health beliefs, attitudes, social norms, and behaviors surrounding important public health concerns such as smoking, alcohol use, nutrition, and physical activity. In addition, YouthStyles provides a combination of behavioral, motivational, and communication data necessary to develop effective campaigns targeting youth. . . . We manage more than a dozen global programs for clients such as Wyeth, Gillette, Qualcomm and Dow, coordinating global and regional strategy and execution.”

Porter Novelli Bay Area - San Francisco
Steve Spurgeon
Executive Vice President and Managing Director
Steve.Spurgeon [at] porternovelli.com
550 Third Street, San Francisco CA 94107
Tel: +1 415 975 2200
Fax: +1 415 975 2201
URL: http://www.porternovelli.com


For more info contact: eastbayinfo [at] stopthespray.org