California Halts Urban Aerial Spraying of Pesticides

Residents are Cautiously Optimistic, but Significant Work Remains and Further Citizen Pressure is Critical

Sacramento, CA, July, 2008 - In what health and environmental advocates are hailing as a monumental victory, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced a halt to the spraying of pesticides over California cities as part of a misguided attempt to eradicate the light brown apple moth (LBAM). Participants in the grassroots campaign to "stop the spray" are excited about the state's decision, but are quick to point out that there is more to be done to correct the misguided program.

In late June California's Secretary of Agriculture, A. G. Kawamura, announced that aerial spraying over urban and residential areas for the LBAM would be discontinued. He said that spraying of the pesticide CheckMate LBAM-F would continue only over agricultural areas and areas inaccessible by road. Kawamura added that sterile male moths will be released by 2011 in urban areas as an alternative approach to eradicating the LBAM.

Dr. Dan Harder, a scientist who traveled to New Zealand to study the LBAM there, commented, "The pressure is off urban centers, but this announcement will not protect vast forested areas, rural and agricultural regions and animal and human populations from aerial spraying."

Kawamura did not offer an explanation about how the CDFA will release sterile moths, and said the state will use other tools, including pheromone laden twist-ties, pheromones in a sticky paste applied to utility poles and tree limbs, and ground spraying of chemicals.

"We are empowered by the victory that the CDFA's decision represents for the organizations involved in the campaign to stop the spraying of poisonous chemicals over urban areas," said Frank Herd, Executive Director of Citizens for Health (CFH), a national natural health advocacy organization. "It is a critical victory and an important reminder of the power of grassroots organizing and demonstrates what is possible when citizens raise their collective voice in protest. However, the fight must continue if we are to stop the program entirely."

While the halt to urban spraying shows that the CDFA heeded the calls, letters and emails sent in protest by thousands of California citizens, the state maintains that eradication is still the goal of the LBAM program.

Three internationally known scientists from the University of California, Davis, have sent letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture saying that such eradication is unnecessary and impossible.  These scientists believe, as do local opponents of the LBAM program, that the justification for the program depends on a faulty premise: LBAM's misclassification as a major pest.

"California has tried to legitimize the eradication program by exaggerating the dangers of the LBAM," Herd commented. "However, the impact of the LBAM is, at worst, cosmetic, and is not the major threat to the state's agricultural industry that the CDFA would have us believe." Like other organizations involved in the campaign to stop the eradication program, CFH believes that the LBAM should be downgraded the from a Class A to a Class C pest.

Look here for further opportunities to get involved on this issue shortly, and check out these allied organizations for important information and other ways to take action:

Californians Allied to Stop the Spray (CASS)

Stop the Spray