Several dozen Albany residents stayed up until midnight at the City Council meeting Tuesday, waiting for the Council’s decision on whether to oppose a state pesticide spray program. Photo by Linjun Fan.
Albany City Council unanimously passed a resolution to oppose a state pesticide spray program Tuesday, saying that it could cause “unpredictable” and “often serious” health and environmental problems.
The program, launched by California Department of Food and Agriculture to eliminate a non-native moth, has aroused widespread public concern since last fall.
Albany is the first city in the San Francisco Bay Area to pass a resolution opposing the aerial spray, which is scheduled to be conducted in the Bay Area in August.
“Our hope in Albany is that this resolution will be a model for other bay area governments to cast, so that local governments will stand united opposing this, ” said Nan Wishner, an Albany resident who spent numerous hours collecting information on the issue and drafting the resolution.
The state department has been trying to convince the public that the chemical used in the spray is not toxic to either human or animals.
“It doesn’t even hurt the moths, ” said the food and agriculture department on a public notice on its web site.
The chemical, named CheckMate LBAM-F., is a replica of the pheromone a female light brown apple moth releases to attract a mate. Spraying of the chemical won’t kill the moths but reduce their population by disrupting their mating, according to the state department.
Both the federal Environment Protection Agency and the state Department of Pesticide Regulation have approved the use of the chemical.
“EPA believes use of these pheromone products, including aerial application over residential areas, presents negligible risks to human health and the environment, ” said the agency in a statement on its web site.
But their position is challenged by a number of environmental groups and local governments, who said that the state hadn’t conducted enough independent studies to prove their statements.
Several hundred health complaints have been filed following the aerial spray of pesticide in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties in recent months, and several local governments of the two counties have filed lawsuits against the state department on the issue.
“The state has relied almost entirely on its own scientists to address public concerns about the LBAM(Light Brown Apple Moth) spray program, and has not employed independent outside experts to evaluate and support the program or address issues in a direct and impartial manner, ” Albany’s resolution says.
The resolution also says that there are better ways to deal with the moths, and request the state to use “least-toxic” and “organic or natural” methods for pest control.
But the state department said that ground-based methods are not “logistically feasible” in some situations, and only aerial spray would be effective in heavily-infested areas.
The light brown apple moth, a native of Australia, was first found in California in early 2007. It hasn’t caused significant damage to any plants in the state, but would cause considerable harm to the state’s agriculture and becomes “a permanent unwanted resident in California and the rest of the United States” if not eradicated while the infestation is still small, according to the state department.
The department also says that the pesticide program needs to last for four to five years before it can effectively control the moths, and costs a total of $97 million in 2008.
Director of the program John Connell told the audience at the Albany City Council meeting that his office is looking for new formula of pheromone products, which are being experimented in New Zealand, that would be sprayed in the Bay Area in a few months to see whether it’s more effective than the current ones.
But this statement caused more skepticism among the audience.
“It’s experimenting new products and expects to have answers about those products within months. That’s unrealistic, ” said Albany Mayor Robert Lieber.
Albany City Councilmembers voted unanimously to oppose the program at around 11:45 pm Tuesday. Several dozen people in the audience broke into loud applause at the voting result.
“This is not just about making a statement. This is about our children, our families, and our dogs and cats, ” said Lieber. “We want to give people the choice on whether they want to be sprayed or not. “
Click here to read the fulltext of the resolution.
Albany Today 
I respect the extensive work put into the resolution to stop the LBAM eradication program, as well as the desire to protect the health of our community. I also believe agencies should take more steps to engage public review for proposed programs like this one.
However, as an environmental professional involved in invasive plant management, I also want to caution against opposition to all chemical methods. Counterintuitive as it may be, in some circumstances, such methods can have the lowest nontarget ecological impact.
We also need to be careful that we understand the full impacts of each pest. LBAM may be a threat to agriculture, but it may also be a threat to native ecosystems. Though it can be tempting to fit a pest like LBAM into the storyline of “industrial agriculture defending its financial interests at the expense of public health,” this may not be the whole story.
Finally, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is defined as “a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health, and environmental risks.” There is no filter that says, “chemical methods are inherently bad,” even if environmentalists may be inherently skeptical. Many natural resource managers employ herbicides as part of their IPM toolbox when controlling invasive plants, and the environment is better off because of it.
When working to control a pest, there should be full scientific evaluation of risks and benefits of all treatment strategies. Invasive species will continue to have a major impact on our state, and we will be called upon to make decisions on the best ways to prevent—and when necessary—to treat them. Informed public involvement is essential to engage with the complexities of such issues.
[…] Commentary: I want to caution against opposition to all chemical methods Albany resident Doug Johnson wrote a commentary on the story Albany takes lead in passing resolution to oppose pesticide spray program: […]
GET the FACTS.
LBAMspray.com
Do it for the children.
Do it for the elders.
Do it for those who can not.
Check out the facts
1hope.org
California Alliance against the Spray
http://www.cassonline.org
there’s a stinky money trail here. Do some research.
Share what you find out with others. Don’t have blind faith here.
Get the facts.
It’s worse than you think.
We can all stand together and say NO
There may be a war in the middle.
The TRUTH will win in the end.
Get the facts. http://www.LBAMspray.com. Santa Cruz has done much research. They are ahead of you with buring eyes, breathing problems, lung irritations, headaches, pet health problems, children asthmas problems.
Don’t be fooled. This is not what it seems. Does your gut tell you it’s wrong? Of course it does.. trust it.
CDFA just spent $500,000 to sway public opinion. They don’t have alot of faith in our intelligence.
CDFA has some big money friends who want this. The fight has just begun. THEY want to do this regardless of the health consequences and health negative reactions to us.
Have you noticed they are not listening? Isn’t that a little strange? With so much outrage from the people proposed to be sprayed and the negative health reactions to the spray that was done.
Go to http://www.LBAMspray.com, http://www.1hope.org, Pesticide watch, California Alliance to Stop the Spray, http://www.cassonline.org
The City council members and all 5 supervisors of Santa Cruz and SC county voted against aerial spraying of this chemical mix. Albany unanimously voted against this. Is that enough to stop it …NO. We need YOU the People to get the facts.
Get your cities to write “rights based ordinances” against this. It’s a start. City Councils Vote against it.
Draw up a city ordinance stating no pesticide spraying on anyones private property or aerial spraying .
Speak up against this and speak up for your rights.
Our rights are being violated for a few who would gain.
This moth is not a dangerous pest. No other country considers it a threat to crops. It has lived for many years in many places with no significant damage.
Natural predators keep it in check when we don’t upset the natural order of things by using chemicals that harm this. It was deliberately catagorized in such a way so the State gov could call it an emergency , then get the federal government and homeland security to fund this. They didn’t then have to do an environmental impact or health report by calling it an emergency.
You should be outraged that such a thing would even be considered. Aerial spraying chemicals in the AIR that we all breath. Spraying every man woman and child. Should you be concerned about the growing lungs and health of babies. YOU BETCHA. get the facts.
This chemical was made to last in the air for 30 to 90 days. I experienced it for 6 weeks burning my eyes for days and then off and on. A metallic tast in my mouth, both of which I have never experienced before. We are wise beings but sometimes big money and profits can cause a blind eye and weak ethics. This is a case of exactly that.
5 Legislators are trying to change this from ever happening like this again. Read the bills being written. WRITE to the legislators to support these bills to get passed. They will be voted on. They will get pressure from the powers that be. Tell them you want them voted in. That we need to change the laws so this would never happen again.
democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a13/press/2008022AD13PR01.htm
No Spray on US!
Bills being presented to change laws to prevent this from ever happening again.
democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a13/press/2008022AD13PR01.htm
Write to the legistlators to support and vote for these bills.