Action Alert: Rally Against Pesticide Spraying Aug. 19, 12:15 pm

People living in counties north of Sac (Yuba, Placer, Colusa, Butte, etc.) also experienced some pesticide residue carried by the winds off the bay. There are many organic farms who didn't want to get any pesticide drifitn up onto their crops either..

For those who can't make it there in physical, we send solidarity energy in spirit!!

No more aerial spraying to subsidize chemical corporations, expose the hoax of ineffective abatement, grow dragonflies, not tumors!!

Every act of chemical spraying effects somebody somewhere else. Another way that pesticides and herbicides effect people's health is when materials (reeds) for basketweaving are collected the gatherer is exposed to carcinogenic chemicals. It is well known that the wetland regions of the Yolo/Sacramento watershed being sprayed are also home to many reeds and grasses that are used for indigenous basket weaving. The tule reed is lightweight and long enough to build waterproof boats and rafts for fishing and wild rice collecting..

There is an upcoming conference in Tahoe City where one of the topics will be chemical spraying by the forest service. This case in particular is herbicide spraying of clearcuts by the forest service to cover for the logging corporation's mistakes. However, the spraying of pesticides for "West Nile eradication" is almost identical in the health effects on humans, cancer and other long term health problems from bioaccumulation of pesticide compounds like pyrethrin. The supposed harmless concentrated chemical compound derived from crysanthemum begs the question, would you feel well after eating hundreds of crysanthemum flowers??

Similar to the chemical pesticide boom post WW2, the remaining chemical warfare compounds were slightly altered and marketed to the American consumer as household pesticides. Since the Iraq invasion and ongoing occupation, many outdated defoliants and other chemical weapons are being replaced and the leftovers find their way back across the Atlantic and back into the coffers of the petrochemical corporations (ex. Monsanto) who brought you DDT and dead eagle crushed superthin eggshells just a few decades ago..

When people eventually realize that the West Nile scare was mostly bogus hype concocted by the profit hungry chemical corporations to sell their toxic product (thanks to those pesky organic farmers chemical pesticide sales are down) so they can remain in business, it may be too late to remove the pesticides from their eventual intrusion into the ground water where UV light cannot break it down as quickly..

This upcoming conference sounds like a chance for people to talk about the greater effects of our society depending on petrochemical based pesticides and herbicides and possibly offer some suggestions on how everybody can live healthier and more independent form the petrochemcial addiction..

info collected by luna moth






The Great Basin Native Basketweavers Association
Silent Auction Fund Raiser

August 27, 2005, 11:00 am - 5:00pm

At the Gatekeeper's Museum

Tahoe City, CA Join us for our first silent auction event to bid on Northern Paiute, Washo and Western Shoshone baskets made by members of the Great Basin Native Basketweavers Association. Funds from this event will help to support the GBNBA's activities for the year.

California Indian Basketweavers Association website;

http://www.ciba.org/index.html

http://www.ciba.org/news.html#eldorado

info below from CIBA

"Recently, herbicides are being proposed for use on approximately 9,000 acres of the Eldorado National Forest for the purpose of "fuels reduction." Fuels reduction is the term for removing vegetation growing in the vicinity of the young trees that are planted by the agency after wildfire or clearcutting. The Forest Service deems this to be necessary to protect the trees from wildfire risk.

This is a new use for herbicides that has never been analyzed in an environmental impact statement. We believe that using herbicides in this manner will set a precedent for future actions throughout the Sierra, where similar fire hazards exist. With more than $44 million in the 2002 FS budget for "hazardous fuels reduction," the potential for huge increases in herbicide use now exists. Widespread contamination of water supplies, fish and wildlife, and basket plants will undoubtedly ensue if herbicides become commonplace for fuels reduction.

However, the recent Sierra Framework plan, that sets policy for management in the area, requires protection of oaks and other non-timber producing species in plantations. And, herbicides are not authorized for the purpose of fuels reduction in the Framework. We have

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written a letter to the FS opposing this project, citing numerous flaws in the environmental analysis and conflicts with existing policies.

This issue was recently the subject of a successful lawsuit, brought by Californians for Alternatives to Toxics and the Environmental Protection Information Center, against the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). In the lawsuit, the north coast based groups argued that CDF had not considered the effects that the use of herbicides would have upon human health and the environment if landowners decide to use herbicides after land clearing for fire reduction.

Numerous alternatives to the use of herbicides exist, such as the use of fire, spot fire or flaming of individual shrubs, mowing, masticators, hand grubbing, pruning, mulching, and goat grazing. CIBA will continue to advocate for these alternatives while we press for the elimination of herbicide use by public land agencies.

For more information about these proposals, contact Vivian Parker, CIBA's Resource Policy Analyst at 530-622-8718 or by email at vparker [at] innercite.com."

Here's a link to the PAN website with info on pyrethrins (possible carcinogen, endocrine disrupter);

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Index.html

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_ChemUse.jsp?Rec_Id=PC34291

Here's a link to the PAN website with info on pyrethrins (possible carcinogen, endocrine disrupter);

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Index.html

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_ChemUse.jsp?Rec_Id=PC34291

Butte Environmental Council has info on vernal pools of the eastern Sacramento Valley. From north of Sacramento/American River until Modoc there are a variety of seasonal wetlands home to endangered species like the vernal pool fairy shrimp..

Pesticides collect in the hardpan bottoms characteristic of vernal pool soil structure. The hardpan bottom is often an impermeable clay layer that slows drainage, giving the rare wildflowers like Butte County meadowfoam a chance to quickly flower and seed before the summer drought. These flowers are adapted to the hot dry summers and cool wet winters of the Sacramento Valley. To lose these endemic species because of some corporate chemical contrived "West Nile" hysteria would be another slight against the future generations..

http://www.becnet.org/vernalpool.html

One simple explanation of West Nile, Lymes disease and other "Don't go into the woods, little Red Riding Hood" insectphobia media hysterics is that viruses evolve over time into new versions that can effect humans. The flu bug is a common example that most people have experienced. An older person or someone with unhealthy immune system can be bedridden for weeks by the flu whereas a healthy person is up and running after a few days. The key term here is healthy, many Americans are either unable or unwilling to maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. Here is where the energy needs to be devoted, to improving people's access and intake of healthy food instead of spraying our surrounding ecosystem with a poison that doesn't really work that well anyway. Once a healthy person is exposed to West Nile they will be immune for life. If they later become unhealthy and their immune system goes down, than the same West Nile or an even newer virus can knock them off their feet..

Of course it is sad when an elderly loved one dies, however to adversely effect the majority of the healthy population with toxic chemicals isn't the solution either. Maybe their children/relatives can spend more time with their elderly loved ones or the community can try to outreach the elderly who are living alone. Conversation and quality time together can do wonders for the immune system of an elderly person. Maybe cook them a meal with some healthy organic locally grown vegetables (hopefully covered up during the pesticide spray flyover) and there is a good possibility that their health will improve also, therefore giving them a fighting chance against the myriad of viruses continually evolving alongside our human species..