Berkeley Meeting on the Aerial LBAM Spraying - Page 1
Community Forum on Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) - San Francisco and the Bay Area
February 24, 2008 - 5:00p to 7:40p
This is a summary of points covered at the informational meeting on proposed aerial spraying over San Francisco and large areas of the Bay Area. The spraying is proposed for the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM).
More information:
- News & Updates on LBAM Spraying 2008
- 10 Reasons to Oppose the LBAM Spray
- LBAM Spray Resources
- Stop the Aerial Spraying - Things you can do
- Upcoming Community Meetings on Light Brown Apple Moth Issue
Summary of Points at Berkeley Community Meeting
The meeting took place at the Hillside Club (2286 Cedar) in North Berkeley, and featured a number of speakers:
Mike Lynberg (Pacific Grove resident of 1hope.org)Roy Upton (Citizens for Health), Dan Harder (Director of UC Santa Cruz Arboretum), Paul Schramski (Director of Pesticide Watch), Nan Wishner (Chair of the Albany Integrated Pest Management Task Force), Robert Lieber (Mayor of Albany, California) and John Russo (Stop the Spray).
Summary of opening comments :
- The Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) has been declared a "voracious pest" by the USDA
- Aerial spraying will be conducted by low-flying airplanes at 500 to 800 feet
- Aerial spraying will occur each month, for nine months of the year
- There could be three or more years of continuous spraying with the state legislature having authorized ten years
- The product is being used in an "off label manner" - not been approved for aerial application to urban environments
- The active ingredient is a synthetic pheromone - inert ingredients include known carcinogens, liver toxins, mutagens, and substances that are not intended to be inhaled
- Product is delivered in plastic microcapsules with unknown inhaling risks, and anyone exposed to the spraying will be breathing these capsules
- Exposure will be ongoing after application through time-released capsules
- There has been a rising tide of opposition, including the city of Albany passing a resolution opposing the aerial spraying
Mike Lynberg - Pacific Grove resident and activist
- Mike is a Silicon Valley businessman who became ill, along with his wife, after the spraying in Pacific Grove, adjacent to Monterey - both had been healthy prior to the spraying
- 643 health complaints have been filed from residents of the Santa Cruz and Monterey areas
- Mike described one case of an 11-month old child of an Air Force Major who developed "reactive airway disease" following the spraying
- Reported symptoms include: swollen glands, rashes, fatigue, headaches, dizziness with some menopausal women reporting pre-menopausal symptoms
- Symptoms reported in the claims are consistent with the side effects of the inert ingredients of the product used in the spraying
- Mike's final comment was that the aerial spraying constitutes a gross violation of civil rights
Roy Upton - Citizens for Health
- Two weeks after the Monterey spraying, Roy Upton found 29 dead cormorants at Elkhorn Slough
- On the second day after the spraying the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported hundreds of dead seabirds were being found by residents
- Native Animal Rescue in Santa Cruz saw an unprecedented number of birds with a surfactant on their feathers, which leads to their ultimate death by drowning or starvation
- Inert ingredients of aerial spray formula contain aquatic toxins
- One submitted report described a pet cat accidentally left outside during the spraying who died several days later -- the two cats that were inside were okay
- CDFA does not make a connection between the sprayings and these effects
Dan Harder - Director of UC Santa Cruz Arboretum
- The Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) is a leaf-rolling moth and we have other species of leaf-rolling moths in California
- As of today, there are no reported, quantifiable damages to any plant -- caused by the LBAM
- The LBAM is present in both New Zealand and Hawaii but is considered a "minor pest" - - Harder does not believe this emergency situation is warranted
- There are no known studies on these pheromones for the purpose of eradication, no precedent that it will work
- This aerial spraying is without precedent and is experimental in its application
- Because the National Marine Sanctuary imposes buffers for aerial spraying, eradication is not possible anyway - populations of the LBAM will be maintained
- Nurseries in California are now forced to spray organophosphates if LBAM or larvae are found
- Aerial spraying over urban areas has unknown consequences - and no one knows about effects on native moths which could dramatically affect our ecosystem
- Under the emergency exemption obtained for this spraying, there is no need for reports on environmental effects and health effects
Paul Schramski - Director of Pesticide Watch
- Paul made reference to early reassurances that DDT was also a safe product
- Pesticide watch believes that people have the right to breath clean air and to drink clean water
- CDFA is spending $500,000 on educating us about the spraying program
- There will be pests in the context of international trade, but we have to institute policies that protect our health and our environment - "control means doing things safely and effectively"
Next Page: Nan Wishner (Albany IPM Task Force), Robert Lieber (Mayor of Albany) and John Russo (Stop the Spray)