Marin County to be sprayed for apple moth
Mar 6th, 2008 by Ginger Wilcox
I am sure you have heard the updates that Marin is going to be sprayed for the light brown apple moth (LBAM). My sister and my parents live in Santa Cruz County where spraying has already taken place. This quote comes directly from an email my sister sent to me:
We actually did get a respiratory illness immediately following the spraying. It was a really hard one to get rid of. Dad and Mom also got the same thing we had and much worse. Dad who usually doesn’t question this kind of thing is totally convinced that his respiratory illness was from the spraying. They were sprayed directly while we just had residuals.
I just think they are spraying without doing enough research on the effects of the chemical on humans.
There is not enough proof that is kills the LBAM and every evidence that it is not good for humans. The CDC even has information on their website that the spray is harmful to humans and we should not come into physical contact with the spray.
I have asthma and any illnesses I get always go straight to my chest. I have enough problems breathing. I don’t need anything else to make me sick, thank you. More importantly, the children and the elderly don’t need respiratory illnesses.
Stop the spraying in Marin until more research is done.
Learn more about the LBAM program at http://www.stopthespray.org. While this site is obviously not in favor of aerial spray every attempt has been made at collecting truthful information.
After months of intense research on the LBAM issue, I do find it telling that we arrive at this report that was released today: http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a27/pdf/HarderNZReportFINAL.pdf
Basically this report tells us what our grandmothers already knew: Grow flowers and herbs in your vegetable garden and foster beneficial insects. What is now called Integrated Pest Management is successful in keeping The Moth at bay in New Zealand, so why do we need to spray millions of people and already fragile ecosystems with pesticides in California?!
This issue is impacting women in particular. Many of us are mothers and caretakers of those most likely to be affected by the spray (children and the elderly). There is also the issue of endocrine disruptors in the spray, a known trigger for breast cancer and a common side-effect of pesticide exposure. Very scary stuff.
Finally, sign the petition calling for informed consent of the people as a prerequisite for any aerial spray program at http://www.stopthespray.org