EPA pulls approval of moth pesticide

Fred Haskins

Amazing how the Sentinel avoids any information on this Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM)

Only after this story was printed two days ago in the Bay are does the Sentinel pick it up. Given Santa Cruz is the hot bed of this moth and where they illegally sprayed, you'd think the sentinel would be on it, but they only print AFTER it makes it in the Bay area papers.

The Sentinel could have interviews with the top scientists in the Santa Cruz area about this topic, but they seem to intentionally avoid the topic and only print AFTER the big bay area papers print it. That only shows that they don't want to look delinquent in a review of their newspaper. But what a poor excuse for a paper supposedly in the town where this illegal by two superior courts aerial spraying occurred.

Why doesn't the sentinel interview the local families who rushed their kids to the hospital and had to have their lives saved after they stopped breathing after the spray.

Who's side is the Sentinel on? It certainly is not the people of Santa Cruz. They are now owned by a company in Colorado that is buying up paper after paper and they also cut their staff and moved out of Santa Cruz, so even if one of their reporters wanted to do the right thing, they don't have the time and the paper edits any core truths about this LBAM program.

Their are scientists up at UCSC that are expert in LBAM, and they should be regularly interviewed for current status, since this pesticide program affects lives here in Santa Cruz, but sentinel ignores them. But Sentinel never ignores press release from the department of food and agriculture (CDFA) when they deliver lie after lie about this LBAM program.

There is an "Infestation" of LBAM in Santa Cruz county, but the CDFA can't find a single bit of damage to plants or crops or trees or anything, and the moth has been here for decades, not days. Why doesn't the Sentinel take it upon themselves to report this stuff over and over again when the top scientists are available to them in our own area?!*

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Rocket J Squirrel

What should be banned is the raising of millions of sterile male moths at the Moss Landing commercial Park on Dolan Rd. hey they may not breed but they will eat crops, damaging nursery stock, ag and private property maybe leaving damage where other species may burrow, inhabit, lay eggs, open plants to disease creating another layer of problems. Doesn't anyone think this through at the USDA? and btw way, nice to see Federal money is so plentiful that the USDA hired two guys to to wash and detail you private vehicles full time at your building in the commercial park.
What is going to happen to millions of unsatisfied females, I'll tell you, they are going to eat everything in sight. I know Mrs Squirrel does if she doesn't get any.
Science marches on....

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Taxpayer

Thank you Barack.

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Scat Kittle

The Sentinel was a proponent of spraying that's why they did not run this important story. They ran editorials saying the spray was safe. Now they simply look like feckless chuckleheads.

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Phil

The sterile moth program is also a scam and part of the fraud of this whole LBAM program.

The CDFA needs activities to make it look like they are really eradicating the moth. We already know that the moth doesn't need eradication and can't be eradicated just as ants, spiders, earwigs can't be eradicated. There are simply too many and spread too far. LBAM doesn't bother anything in California. But the CDFA needs to spend money and pretend the emergency in order to receive the emergency funds.

Sterile insect release can only assist controlling an insect when the insect is isolated in a single crop, so that the sterile insects can target the population in one area. LBAM spreads itself everywhere, just like people do, so sterile insect release doesn't work for LBAM. Canada tried to use Sterile Insect Technology on a moth that located in only three crop areas and it failed miserably. People in the industry know this, but they are not speaking out as they might, since these same people are often funded by the CDFA or associated agencies.

Wild moths also know or quickly learn the difference between themselves and those raised by people in a Moss Landing facility. What we'll get is millions of moths released, balances in nature affected and LBAM still living happily in California. But some of the balances in nature that may occur are new opportunities for CDFA to have further "Emergency programs" and the story continues.

A.G. Kawamura, the secretary of the CDFA, should be questioned under oath. As a public servant, he should then be charged with crimes of lying to the public, misappropriating funds and crimes against nature. Of course that would be in a dream world where people are honest and privileged bureaucrats don't get to violate other people's rights and the lives and well being of innocent children.

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slightly salty

What's frustrating is that those of us who were truly sickened by the spray were made out to be loonies by the Sentinel and by the State Ag Commission. Let's see if maybe the Sentinel can do a better job next time of providing us with the facts and scientific information we crave instead of just shoving their (erronious) editorial opinions on the subject in our faces. Enjoy your plate of crow now, editors. Sheesh.

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Roy Upton

The fact that CDFA is still intending to dump their Checkmake pesticide in rural areas gives me no comfort. Around Watsonville and Monterey it means increased exposure to farm workers. Around Santa Cruz it means Bonny Doon, Lompico, all along Highway 1 where we surf, bike, hike, and camp; it means the residents on Last Chance Road and those visiting our state park areas. In San Francisco and Marin it means Mt Tamalpais. In their own toxicity studies, CDFA showed that Checkmate, remember, the stuff they said was completely safe, caused "pale lungs" and death in 20% of animals tested. The other products they tested showed a potential for liver and lung toxicity were found to be dermal and eye irritants. They plan on using this stuff in our backyards, in our neighborhoods, playgrounds, parks, along beaches, everywhere! Everywhere is the only way for pheromone mating disruption to work. And remember, it cannot be eradicated and it is for the Lacks Damage to Anything Moth (LDAM).

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Patriot

We live in Corralitos, adjacent to many acres of apple orchards(the only place they didn't spray!). We grow Ten varieties of fruit trees, Twenty varieties of cut flowers, and have seen ZERO DAMAGE. That's correct, NO monetary losses. Nor have I spoken to anybody else who has had any losses.To recap, that's ZERO ZILCH SQUAT NADA THE BIG GOOSE EGG. Warm up the tar, gather the feathers, it's time to go get those **** who insist on poisoning us and squandering our hard earned dollars and give them a new spring outfit to wear.