Governor orders moth spray ingredients released

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Robert O’Farrell lifted a restraining order Friday after determining the ingredients used in the pheromone CheckMate made by Oregon-based Suterra did not contain toxic chemicals.

“My department will ensure a safe eradication of a pest that has the capability of crippling our agriculture and nursery industries, damaging our environment and raising the cost of putting fresh food on our families’ tables,” Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura said in a statement Saturday.

“Gov. Schwarzenegger made it very clear that, to the maximum extent possible under U.S. trademark law, the list of ingredients in the product used to eradicate the light brown apple moth should be disclosed to the public,” Kawamura said. “The governor supports the public’s right to know every ingredient in the product and is confident that full disclosure will confirm what my Department, the California Environmental Protection Agency and California Department of Pesticide Regulation established before treatment began -- that CheckMate LBAM-F is nontoxic to humans, plants, animals and insects.”

Mary-Ann Warmerdam, director of the state Department of Pesticide Regulation, said, “California has what is considered the strictest and most comprehensive state pesticide regulatory program in the nation. My department will continue to assist the LBAM task force [established in Thursday’s court hearing] in performing further analysis and monitoring to ensure that the community’s concerns are fully considered.”

Aerial treatment on the Monterey Peninsula will resume Wednesday and continue through Saturday. Spraying in North Monterey and parts of Santa Cruz County is slated to take place Nov. 4-9.

Residents living in affected areas have been mailed details of the spraying.

The ag department has arranged to send e-mail updates to subscribers announcing intended areas of treatment, weather permitting. The morning after the treatment, follow-up e-mails will be sent to subscribers with results of the applications. E-mails will include a link to a map showing the progress of the treatment. Those interested in receiving e-mail updates may sign up at: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/PDEP/lbam/lbam_main.html

The highest concentration of the light brown apple moth in the state has been found in Live Oak and Soquel with more than 6,000 trapped. The state says the moth has the potential to damage a wide range of crops and other plants including the Central Coast cypress, redwoods, oaks and other varieties found in urban and suburban landscaping, public parks and natural environment. Among the list of agricultural crops on the moth’s diet includes grapes, citrus, stone fruits [peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, apricots]. The complete host list contains more than 1,000 plant species and 250 crops.

The pest damages plants and crops by feeding on leaves, new shoots and fruit.



The ingredients in CheckMate LBAM-F are:

Water

(E)-11-Tetradecen-1-yl Acetate

(E,E) -9,11 Tetradecadien-1-yl Acetate

Crosslinked polyurea polymer

Butylated Hydroxytoluene

Polyvinyl Alcohol

Tricaprylyl Methyl Ammonium Chloride

Sodium Phosphate

Ammonium Phosphate

1,2-benzisothiozoli-3-one

2-hydroxy-4-n-octyloxybenzophenone

SOURCE: California Department of Food and Agriculture