We have until the 20th of March 2008 to send written comments to Jim Rains, California Department of Food and Agriculture Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services. This is your chance to answer the CDFA’s call for public comments regarding the aerial spraying of California for the so-called threat of the LBAM (Light Brown Apple Moth). Please send an email stating that you do not want to be sprayed to jrains@cdfa.ca.gov. Please copy your email to eir@lbamspray.com so that the LBAM Spray organization protesting the spray will have proof that CDFA received your comments.

You can also write to Jim Rains at 1220 N Street, Room A-316, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Again, your comment must be received by the close of the business day on March 20th, 2008. What follows is our letter to Jim Rains.

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Dear Mr. Rains,
Please accept this as our registered protest against the aerial spraying of any and all parts of the state of California for the improperly classified Light Brown Apple Moth. We have natural predators here who can take care of moths if farming is carried out in a sensitive, organic and holistic manner.

We do not want to be sprayed against our will with mutagens and carcinogens, synthetic pheromones and mystery ingredients.

We especially do not want to inhale particulate plastic. Human lungs were never intended to inhale plastic and this does not need any special or deep thought to conclude.

We need governments who put human health over financial concerns and relationships with special interest groups such as chemical manufacturers.

The moth does no damage to fruits or vegetables. It causes minor damage to leaves. We can all still eat plenty of good produce in California while the moth is here. Whether we can sell the produce outside of the state is a secondary matter and of literally no importance when compared to the appropriate priority - the health of human beings, wildlife, water and soil.

650+ human beings were made ill by the spraying of the sparsely populated Monterey bay region. The sprayed population was totaled at some 2000 people. So, some 32% of the reported population experienced immediate health effects including menopausal women re-commencing menstruation - an incredibly bad aberration which can be traced to the known ingredients of the spray. This figure does not, of course, take into account the many people who cannot afford health insurance, who are homeless, or who are too disabled to seek medical attention. The total population of the SF Bay Area is around 7 million. If the same % is applied here, we can expect at least 2,240,000 cases of immediate illness including respiratory problems, skin rashes and burning eyes, vomiting and other gastrointestinal problems. Local doctors and hospitals are not capable of dealing with this type of epidemic illness.

This, of course, is the immediate concern, but the longterm damage done to people’s health also deserves urgent attention. The spray forced on the people of Central California contained known carcinogens, mutagens and tumorgens. We can expect severe cancers to become the norm for California, beyond what we are experiencing even now in our already-toxic environment.

And then there is the environment itself. The labels on the spray that was forced on Santa Cruz against the stated wishes of local government and private citizens state that it must be kept out of water. The rivers and ocean were contaminated, as has been documented. There is no reversing this now that the damage has been done, but that is no excuse for continuing to do it.

The labels also state that the product must be kept out of the reach of children. Well, sir, that product was sprayed over all the region’s defenseless children, many of whom are still sick months later, and that is because the CDFA failed to protect these innocents from unforgivable harm.

We protest this violation of our bodies, our water, our food supply and our land. We are disgusted by the fact that this is being done because of trade considerations. You cannot put a price on health and by refusing to make the health of Californians what counts, CDFA is guilty of an abuse of basic human rights.

Stop this unconscionable plan to spray human beings and their ecosystems with poison. Reclassify the moth and stop the spray.

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