PESTICIDE ALERT: 2 Nights of Spraying Without Public Notice

Yesterday's Oakland Tribune printed a story about IMMEDIATE aerial spraying of the pesticide Imazapyr over several miles of shoreline from Hayward to Oakland to get rid of cordgrass (the article is pasted below). With little, if any notice, the California State Coastal Conservancy's Invasive Spartina Project in the San Francisco Estuary, together with the East Bay Regional Park District and the City of San Leandro, is attacking this plant by spraying poison from a helicopter and endangering the health of residents for miles around. Drift of pesticides has been measured at about 24 miles on a calm day...

The spraying was to be carried out yesterday and today (spare the air days), with the option of postponing it until the end of the month... It is unclear whether the spraying has already occurred or if there's more to come. For local residents, particularly the young, the old, and people with compromised immune systems, this is an uncertainty with potentially deadly consequences, and a shameful betrayal of trust by public officials who not only unleash poisonous fumes onto our neighborhoods, but do not have the decency to alert the public in time to do whatever necessary to protect ourselves. Undoubtedly, after a hot day like yesterday, most residents expected to enjoy a cool breeze coming through their bedroom windows, not toxic pesticide drift.

Maxina Ventura, Chronic Effects Researcher for East Bay Pesticide Alert, responded instantly with the following toxicological facts about Imazapyr:

"expect eye and skin irritation. Animal studies showed stomach ulcers and intestinal lesions. Chronic toxicity? Oh, yes. Animal studies highlighted fluid accumulation in the lungs; congestion of the brain; abnormal blood formation in the spleen; blood pooling in the liver; increase in thyroid cysts. Not yet called carcinogenic by EPA, "carcinogenic concerns" include: increase in brain and thyroid tumors and cancers in rats.

EPA says "....terrestrial and aquatic plant species... in jeopardy... use of Arsenal (Imazapyr product)." A related herbicide has high chronic toxicity to fish at concentrations less than 1ppm. EPA notes its half-life is 17 months. When it enters drinking water sources, ozone degrades only half. Drift and resistance, like antibiotic resistance, is common with pesticides. Cross resistance is seen with Imazapyr.

A neurotoxic breakdown product causes nerve lesions and symptoms similar to Huntington's disease.""

For the full Toxicological Profile, please go to http://eastbaypesticidealert.org/imazapyr.pdf

Please be aware that this is not the first time this area has been sprayed. It is an ongoing, failed project, as pesticide projects typically are. Sooner or later resistance occurs and renders the chemicals useless against the target organism, while people and the environment get sick.

If you or your loved ones show unusual acute symptoms not otherwise explainable, please keep in mind that this project is in progress. As this is an ongoing program, also be aware of chronic sympoms, and issues of carcinogenic concern.

East Bay Pesticide Alert collects information about people's reactions to pesticides as part of informal health surveying. Please let us know if you have had health concerns which may be related to these sprayings.

Be well,
Isis Feral
Disabled Access Advocate
East Bay Pesticide Alert




To voice your concerns to the staff of the Spartina Project:


Peggy Olofson
Project Director
prolofson [at] spartina.org
510.548.2361
Maxene Spellman
Project Manager, State Coastal Conservancy
mspellman [at] scc.ca.gov
510.286.1015
Erik Grijalva
Field Operations Manager
ekgrijalva [at] spartina.org
510.548.2359
Drew Kerr
Assistant Field Operations Manager
dwkerr [at] earthlink.net
510.725.4920
Katy Zaremba
Field Biologist
kzaremba [at] scc.ca.gov
510.548.2384
Oliver Burke
Administrative Assistant
oliver [at] spartina.org
510.548.2461




Article from the Oakland Tribune:



Shoreline to Close Two Days As Officials Battle Cordgrass
By Matt O'Brien, STAFF WRITER
SAN LEANDRO -- Like a mutant B-movie swamp thing that only gets bigger if you pelt it with machine gun fire, the invasive cordgrass known as Spartina alterniflora is a very tough weed to kill.
"It's just really, really good at surviving," said Erik Grijalva, field manager for the San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project. "It takes over the mudflats first, and then begins to spread out into the established marshlands."
Today and Tuesday, Grijalva and a coalition of East Bay officials are attempting their latest of many efforts to rid the Bay of a non- native plant that smothers native life.
More than a decade of similar efforts have proved futile. But this time, several agencies are teaming up in a way they have not before to cover a seven-mile stretch of Hayward, San Leandro and Oakland in two days. They are bringing in a helicopter that will fly up and down the marshlands at low tide, spraying a low-toxic herbicide from 10 to 15 feet in the air.
"This is kind of a seminal year for Spartina control," Grijalva said as he walked with knee-high boots last week along Bunker Marsh at the San Leandro shoreline.
Several shoreline parks and trailsystems will be closed down and blocked off for the two days.
A species of Atlantic coast cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, has been causing problems in the Bay since the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers planted the intertidal grass to reduce erosion in Alameda flood control channels in the 1970s, Grijalva said.
Competing against the low-lying pickleweed and orange-colored dodder of the native Bay shoreline, the invader weeds grow together in huge island clumps that spread quickly and change the composition of local mudflats and tidal marshes. Along with affecting the wildlife, the changed landscape can contribute to flooding and mosquito problems.
And while sending a flotilla of helicopters never seems to work on those B-movie monsters, researchers believe an aerial attack is the cheapest and easiest way to kill large patches of unwanted Spartina.
"It's the most cost-effective way to do it," said Mark Taylor, who supervises the Hayward shoreline for the East Bay Regional Park District.
This week's effort will cover 320 acres of the Hayward area shoreline managed by the East Bay Regional Park District, including Coggswell Marsh and Roberts Landing at the mouth of San Lorenzo Creek. The city of San Leandro is pitching in with money to help out with about 112 acres of city-owned shoreline.
The city spent a lot of money and time getting the marshlands restored in the 1990s. It was a huge project, said Delmarie Snodgrass, manager of the San Leandro Marina. She said it would be a waste of all those efforts if the plants were allowed to destroy what the city has worked hard to preserve.
Several acres of the Oakland shoreline at Arrowhead Marsh also are scheduled to be sprayed this morning.
Snodgrass said the herbicide being used, Imazapyr, is not considered harmful to humans and other animals and does little damage to native plants. But local officials are putting up signs and blocking off access points to the shore today and tomorrow anyway.
Although the weather is expected to be perfect for spraying, the wrong temperature or wind speed this morning could postpone the project until the end of the month.
One of the biggest challenges for the eradication effort is getting past all of the obstacles along the East Bay shoreline, from homes to golf courses or sewer plants.
Housing developments such as Heron Bay in San Leandro jut into Spartina-infested tidal marshes; the aircraft, from contractor Alpine Helicopters, is obligated to stay 400 meters from civilization.
In September, after the clapper rail breeding season has ended, crews will travel by boat and trudge through mud to reach the areas that could not be hit by helicopter spraying.
Matt O'Brien at mattobrien [at] dailyreviewonline.com or (510) 293- 2473.
(c) 2006 Oakland Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Story from REDORBIT NEWS:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/display/?id=575406

Published: 2006/07/17 09:00:29 CDT

© RedOrbit 2005