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Laird calls on state for moth-spray answers

Friday, 28 March 2008

Staff report

As opposition to aerial spraying against the light brown apple moth continues to mount, Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, has introduced legislation calling on state agricultural and health officials to answer unresolved questions.

As opposition to aerial spraying against the light brown apple moth continues to mount, Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, has introduced legislation calling on state agricultural and health officials to answer unresolved questions.

Laird introduced Assembly Concurrent Resolution 117 on March 13, asking for the Departments of Food and Agriculture and Pesticide Regulation, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and other state agencies to address questions surrounding the state’s moth eradication plan.

“It is the responsibility of our government to demonstrate its LBAM actions are necessary and do not compromise human or environmental health,” Laird said. “It isn’t the responsibility of the people to demonstrate the reverse.”

The resolution is expected to go straight to the Assembly floor for a vote. If it passes, the same fast-track process will be followed in the state Senate. Because it’s not a bill, it doesn’t require the governor’s signature.

Meanwhile, leaders of the opposition jumped on a report in which Food and Agriculture Secretary A. G. Kawamura called the spray program a model for the world.

Elsa Dooling, Pesticide Watch organizer for Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, said she heard Kawamura speak during a news conference at the Monterey County Fairgrounds on March 19.

“The most significant thing Secretary Kawamura said about the spray was even though the public does not like the aerial application, we should just tolerate it,” she said.

“He also said this was our ‘big chance’ to show the world that pheromones can be used to eradicate pests. It’s clear to me, and disturbing as well, that an example is being made of this eradication effort, and it’s going to be used to move a plan forward that likely has a global scope.”

Also disturbed was John Russo, founder of StopTheSpray.org, another opponents’ group.

“If this is his vision, then he is implementing a massive involuntary experiment on the population of California. By admitting this today, Kawamura has essentially confessed to a crime.”

Russo cited the Nuremburg Code, adopted after World War II, that requires consent of human subjects to experimentation. The code has been adopted by the National Institutes of Health, according to its Office of Human Subjects Research.
The state anticipates starting spraying in June in a wider area than last year. The new area includes all of Scotts Valley, San Lorenzo Valley and Bonny Doon. State officials say the light brown apple moth is a threat to many California crops, but that claim has been questioned by others.