Need to put money where our moth is

It's been a little more a year since the first light brown apple moth was confirmed in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[Mim]

Let's take this apart.
With all respect, Mr. Hoffman, your article is full of misinformation.

1) The misinformation has been intentionally disseminated by CDFA in an attempt to deceive the public into thinking that they would be sprayed with 'just a pheromone' which would cause no harm to humans or the environment. As you may have heard, the compound contained 11 ingredients, only one of which is a synthetic pheromone. The list of carcinogenic, mutagenic and tumorigenic ingredients in the spray has been widely publicized in an attempt to inform the public as to the truth of what they were being sprayed with against their will.

Though some misinformation, certainly exists on the Internet, the majority of the deceptions have been authored by CDFA and the main proof of this may be found in the 643 documented illnesses suffered by local families following the spraying of the so-called 'harmless pheromone'. The adverse health damage matches, point for point, the true ingredients in the spray.
Please don't insult our intelligence by appearing to claim that CDFA and USDA are keepers of the truth in this situation. They have been called out for deception by town mayors, senators and the private citizens of California.

2) As has been researched and indicated by premier UC scientists, the class A classification of the LBAM as a pest is not only disputable, it is incorrect. Mexico and Canada only have their ludicrous import restrictions in place because of US Policy. If we change ours, they'll change theirs.

3) According to non-CDFA scientists, the damage to actual agriculture is totally negligible. It is the trade restrictions that make the presence of LBAM costly. LBAM has done ZERO damage here, despite the fact that it has likely been present for 50 years. We can go right on ignoring it without any threat to our habitat.

4) The enforced aerial spraying of California will affect at least 7 million residents and 315 million annual tourists. We will flee our homes, lose our jobs, suffer irreparable health damage and lose the safety GUARANTEED to us by the California Constitution. It is a terrible shame that the incorrect classification of LBAM is causing economic damage to farmers because of trade restrictions, but in terms of sheer numbers, citizens vastly outnumber farmers and our health is more important than international trade profits.

5) It is unconscionable that CDFA and USDA have determined that international trade profit takes place over human and environmental health. It is disgusting that these entities and Stuart Resnick will be funded by exposing 3.5 million Californian women to a xenochemcial which causes breast cancer. It is intolerable that CDFA is approaching pest management with a 1950s tool kit and mentality of 'poison 'em all' rather than creating diverse habitat that maintains a natural balance without adversely affecting humans, animals, the water shed, the soil and the air.

To be continued due to length...

[Mim]

When it comes to a choice between money or heath, any sane person chooses health. When it comes to a question of whether it is safe to inhale carcinogens, synthetic and plastics, even a small child can answer that the only thing that is safe for humans to breathe is oxygen. Anything else is a toxin. Not hard to understand.

We know that this is your job, Mr. Hoffman. You are paid to make such statements as you have in this article. No one, however, is funding or paying the thousands and thousands of Californians who are devoting every last inch of their strength to stopping this evil violation of our basic right to breathe oxygen. You are being paid - not us. We don't have a reason to lie.

Please, ask yourself, do you truly want to go down in history as a man who supported a violation of the human rights of 7 million people? Is any amount of money going to enable your conscience to handle this? You are a human man. We care about you, your family. We are working to protect your wife from breast cancer, your mother from respiratory failure, your children from liver damage. We want California to be safe for you and your loved ones as well as ours. There is every chance still for you to part company with an agency that would expose 7 million beings to documented poisons against their clearly stated will.

I want to invite you to join us, Mr. Hoffman in this historic moment where mankind is making a valiant stand against abuse, injustice, vicious cruelty and the wrongheaded agricultural practices of the past that are holding us all in jeopardy.
We know this is your job. But people can change jobs...change their minds. We would welcome you.

[afsml]

I agree with MIM completely. As a member of the medical community I would like to add that completely wrong that no EIR was completed prior to spraying our communities with your chemical soup. We don't know if the medical complaints to date are the result of the spray however, the burden of proof should NOT be on the citizens of California! STOP this insane experiment. We are not your guinea pigs. My three young children should not be exposed to these chemicals. Please stop this!

[MRD]

I agree with Mim and afsml. Mim, please send article directly to Herald and ask for "equal time" in paper print.

Mim's article says it all extremely well.

Mr. Hoffman, can you state how many times CDFA has declared emergencies for pest control and how many eradications you have made since 1984? We looked it up. You have over 250 emergencies declared and zero eradications to account. Heck, you are still trying to eradicate the medfly.

Mr. Hoffman, can you provide the number of people that need to be made ill by your toxic pesticide concoction before CDFA will stop spraying?

Also, we know CDFAs only interest is protecting itself, the AG business and economy, not that of people, as evidenced by your article and past statements and actions. You have no real business interest in not harming the public. Your article does not make one comment about safety concerns for the people or environment. It is obvious to me, based on your half truthful statements, you have plans to say and do whatever you think it will take to complete your job assignment. You trample on the trust the people have placed on people in your position and the State government.

Stop the Spray and stop injuring people and untold animals and damaging the environment.

[afsml]

For more information and links to more information:
www.lbamspray.com
California Alliance to Stop the Spray (CASS): http://cassonline.org/
Stop the Spray.org - Monterey, CA

Get the other side of the issue.

[afsml]

Mr Hoffman, Can you tell me why children and adults were sprayed in SC County at their football game? Can you tell me why the information given from your CDFA hotline did not require people to stay indoors..."recommended... but not required". Can you please tell me how the many tourist in our county were informed regarding the spraying or did it matter? Thanks.

[Mernie1]

The state oversimplifies the situation, as usual. The LBAM has not caused damage to this area in the whole time it has been here. Not even the state officials can refute that fact. Also, in Watsonville this last year, they had one of the biggest apple harvests ever. How can that happen with such a voracious pest on the loose.
What is it that they really want to spray on the people of Northern California? Better yet why? Kawamura is holding the purse strings to a giant bag of money and if this plan doesn't fly (no pun intended)he won't be able to head off into the sunset with his own pile of bucks. Stuart Resnick, sitting in his little citrus empire, will be angry and maybe not donate anymore funds to the governor and on and on. Our trade practices have gotten us to this point, not our bad bugs. This could be changed with a stroke of the pen declaring this pest not a serious threat. These people would rather poison the state of California and any other state which gets in their way just to accomplish their own ends and save themselves the embarrassment of saying THEY ARE WRONG.

[Mim]

Thank you for the support, folks. We are blogging and blogging about this public health crisis on our site: http://www.veganreader.com . We welcome any and all input and public comments there, and have just published a series of graphics and images that we are making freely available to the public for use in making fliers, writing articles, etc.

I think each of you is seeing so clearly the absolutely absurd and yet horribly frightening situation we are all finding ourselves in. I really appreciate your comments.

Keep working to stop this!
Mim

[Reader]

In general you'll notice that the state essentially ignores the public health issue, as though it doesn't exist. We need to track these articles and their in person presentations around wherever they go. City Councils are often unaware of the full situation and are dependent on US to hear about the public health disaster that awaits them because NO ONE from the state is talking about that in their presentations. It's as though there literally are no health effects as far as they are concerned. I urge everyone on here to keep up the pressure.

[stu]

check www.mcpost.com . there's an article that compares NZ's spraying experiences with California's. not a lot of difference!

[Heather Chang]

The Light Brown Apple Moth is already permanently established here and has been for many years yet caused no damage except bringing fear into the hearts of those who stand to loose big money by economic sanctions, and the damage caused by those peoples spraying sythetic pheremones encapsulted in minute plastic capsules which could cause a wide array of long term negative health effects to the people.
Heather Chang

[Tom]

At an Alameda City Council meeting last week, Secretary Kawamuru admitted (after trying to change the subject which is what he always does when he's on the spot) that farm workers may not be present in a field when it is being sprayed with pesticide, i.e. Checkmate. Note that Mr. Hoffman never uses that word "pesticide" to describe the EPA registered Checkmate, another tactic always used by the CDFA.

It looks to me as if the role of protecting the health and environment has fallen on the shoulders of the residents of California. If that's the way the State wants it, then it can be assured that that is what they'll get.

[Jane]

At the Berkeley City Council meeting on Feb.26, 2008, Mr. Kawamura stated that the smallest particle size (he was talking about the plastic capsules) is 10 microns and that 10 microns CANNOT be inhaled into the lungs. 10 microns is classified as particulate matter and can of course be inhaled into the lungs. Is Mr. Kawamura simply ignorant of the facts or attemtping to mislead our elected officials?

[Wendy G]

Thank you Mim for writing such a truthful and very informative response. Thank you everyone for your support in helping to STOP THE SPRAY. What the CDFA is trying to spray on our community is horrific! It is unethical, irresponsible and extremely dangerous. If we want to completey ruin this state by jeopardizing peoples health(of course physical health, but also mental health), scaring off tourism, creating debt and chaos for people who will have to move from the state because they cannot tolerate the spray.And what will happen to the homes of those who must move? Surely no citizen in they're right mind would want to buy a home in the "spray zone". They're were many people who had stong reactions and illness to the last spraying(many who did not even report it), and if this spraying continues they're will be many, many more. The California Government needs to stop the spray by taking the Light Brown Apple Moth off of the Class-A pest list. LBAM is not a pest, but Kawamura, Resnick, you are the biggest pests of all!!!

[Wendy G]

NOT ONCE DOES HOFFMAN TALK ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF THIS SPRAY ON THE PEOPLE OR TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THAT THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WILL NEED TO MOVE FROM SPRAY ZONES BECAUSE MANY OF US HAD HORRIBLE REACTIONS TO THE LAST SPRAY. PEOPLE WHO OWN HOMES AND BUSINESSES. THIS WILL HAVE WAY MORE OF AN IMPACT ON OUR COMMUNITY. IF HOFFMAN WOULD STOP TO REALIZE THAT MUCH OF MONTEREY PENNISULA RELIES ON TOURISM AND OUR BUSINESSES HERE. THIS AREA WILL BECOME A GHOST TOWN, MARK MY WORDS! CHECKMATE WAS NOT DEVELOPED TO SPRAY OVER URBAN COMMUNITIES, WE NEED TO FIND MORE NATURAL METHODS TO DEAL WITH PROBLEMS OF THIS KIND.