A week or so ago, I finally composed my letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger regarding the crisis of the people of California being sprayed against their will with toxic chemicals. What follows is the response I received. My rebuttals to the downright lies in this letter are in bold.

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Thank you for writing Governor Schwarzenegger and sharing your thoughts about the Light Brown Apple Moth project. The Governor appreciates hearing from Californians on issues that are important to them.

The Governor isn’t supposed to appreciate hearing about issues. He is supposed to carry out the wishes of Californians. He is our appointed servant.

The Light Brown Apple Moth - if unchecked by aerial and ground applications of a natural moth pheromone - has the potential to devastate California’s forest canopy and endanger threatened animal species and food production. Since the Apple Moth is an invasive pest species, not native to California, it has fewer natural enemies here to reduce its population. This invasive species threatens our diverse range of agricultural and natural plant life.

This is a big fat lie. The Light Brown Apple Moth does not eat the needles of evergreens like the Redwoods and Pines of California’s forests. In fact, it doesn’t EAT leaves at all. It builds its home on them. So, to eat the forest would be to destroy its own home. No smart insect would do this. It doesn’t eat vegetables or fruits at all, either. And, as for it being a threat to endangered species, this claim is based on the nonsense that the light brown apple moth will eat the habitat that animals live in. This is completely false. The Light Brown Apple Moth has done 0 damage in California and is considered a negligible pest elsewhere where it is kept in appropriate population levels by natural predators like birds, bats and earwigs. No spray needed.

The real threat is in the aerial spray Gov. Schwarzenegger has forced on California, killing hundreds of birds, sickening mammals, and destroying the endangered honey bees and frogs that are already in danger of extinction here in California. Gov. Schwarzenegger and his allies have polluted the watershed and air which all creatures depend on for life. This is the truth.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has determined that an integrated pest management approach - applying the insect pheromone Checkmate OLR-F instead of toxic insecticides - is the best method to combat this growing threat. An aerial application is necessary because mass trapping is not known to be effective, and twist-tie technology is not logistically feasible in the Monterey and Santa Cruz areas.

Huge lie #2. The spray IS TOXIC! It contains documented carcinogens and mutagens that cause deadly cancers. Short term effects include respiratory failure, pesticide skin rashes, eye irritation, vomiting. The sprayed people of the Monterey Bay Area came into doctor’s offices and hospitals displaying all of the documented health effects of the ingredients in the spray. One baby nearly died of respiratory failure. Additionally, menopausal women recommenced menstruation! And if that isn’t scary enough, the rivers and ocean were coated with a toxic sludge that killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of seabirds. Gov. Schwarzenegger and his CDFA allies know very well that the spray is packed with fatal toxins. They are simply lying about this.

Lie #3 revolves around the claim that aerial spraying is the solution to killing the moth. Scientist after scientist have now testified that aerial spraying has never been shown to eradicate a species of insect as widespread as the non-threatening light brown apple moth. It doesn’t work, and Gov. Schwarzenegger knows this. It is a lie that the spraying will kill the moth. It’s just a lie.

Insect pheromones are signals that some insects release to attract mating partners or trigger other behaviors. Humans and other mammals do not respond or react to these insect pheromones and, in fact, cannot detect them. The Checkmate pheromone confuses male moths and prevents them from finding females, thereby stopping the mating and reproduction process. When the pheromone is applied, the moths simply live out their natural life cycles without being able to locate mates. As breeding subsides, the colony collapses.

Lie #4. There have been NO tests to discover what effects of exposure to synthetic pheromones will have on human beings and other lifeforms. It is a lie to say that humans and mammals are not harmed by exposure to a substance that has never been tested. Additionally, when aerial spraying of pheromones is used to confuse moths, there is so much of it that the moths don’t know where to go to be killed. This is the opposite of putting out targeted sticky traps that draw moths to a specific location with pheromones that lure the insects into traps where they die. Because the pheromones don’t kill the moths, all that the aerial spray will do is confuse them, not eradicate them, unlike sticky traps which draw the moths to a specific place and kill them. This lie about aerial spraying eradicating moths is a perfect example of the bad science being used by the California Department of Agriculture to support their plan to subject 17 million Californians to untested chemical trespass.

CDFA is completely confident in the safety of the Checkmate pheromone. During more than a decade of using such pheromones to control Apple Moth infestations in Australia and New Zealand, no adverse effects have been reported. Pheromone safety records have also prompted the United States Environmental Protection Agency to conclude that consumption of food containing pheromone residues presents no risk. In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture has also approved this pheromone for use on organic crops. On October 20, 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger further directed CDFA to disclose all ingredients in Checkmate. The complete list of ingredients can be found on the California Department of Food and Agriculture website at www.cdfa.ca.gov.

CDFA is engaging in the spraying of 17 million human beings in order to receive funding from the federal government to keep their organization financially solvent. They are very well aware of the fact that spraying carcinogens on human beings will ruin their health but they don’t care. In order to protect their pocketbooks, they are completely willing to poison millions of children, women and men, the watershed, the soil, wildlife and the environment while they hide behind the ridiculous lie that they are spraying a harmless pheromone from their airplanes. The pheromone is but one of the many ingredients in the spray. Gov. Schwarzenegger and CDFA know very well that they are spraying carcinogens on innocent human beings. They have already proven themselves to be corrupt and totally unworthy of Californians’ trust.

Additionally, true organic agriculture will come to a devastating end in California when once-organic farms are aerially sprayed with the cancer-causing chemicals in the spray. Every bit of soil and water will be poisonous. The governor and the CDFA know this. They simply don’t care.

This project is thought to be the most environmentally friendly pest eradication project in the history of the Department. This approach also fully addresses unique local environmental concerns, such as protecting the monarch butterfly and local sea life by creating coastal buffer zones based on wind speed.

The watershed of the Monterey Bay Area, including the Pacific Ocean, was fouled by the toxins, surfactants and carcinogens that drifted into them from the aerial spraying in 2007. The same thing will happen to the precious watershed of the SF Bay Area when spraying begins this summer of 2008. It is a federal offense to introduce poisons into human water sources, and the label on the substance sprayed in Monterey asserts that it is forbidden to introduce it into water. CDFA knows this. The governor knows this. They have broken the law.

One of our nation’s truly worst threats to agriculture is honeybee colony collapse. Honeybees are responsible for nearly all of the food we eat, the food farm animals eat, and basically our whole ability to nourish life on the planet. Following the spraying of the Monterey region, beekeepers reported total confusion and die off amongst their bees. Local gardeners reported thousands of bees struggling on plants and on the ground, or having totally vanished from the landscapes they once inhabited. From this, it’s pretty reasonable to confer that the ingredients in the spray disorients and kills vital honeybees (not just the light brown apple moth). The moth is no threat to agriculture, but the death of honeybees could turn our continent into a desert, resulting in a deadly world famine. For this reason alone, the spraying must be stopped.

Again, thank you for contacting Governor Schwarzenegger and adding your voice to this issue. The Governor truly appreciates your commitment to the future of our Golden State.

The future of the Golden State? Unlike Governor Schwarzenegger, I was born in California and my dream for the future of my state is to see that humans are protected by International, Federal and State laws concerning human experimentation. My dream includes people breathing air free of particulate plastic, eating organic food grown in safe soil and water, and having non-toxic water to drink. My dream for the future of my state is that it will try and convict offenders against human and environmental rights. My dream for the the future of my state does not include airplanes dumping toxins over cities full of frightened, sickened, enraged people.

People with dreams like this should not be running our state or any state. If Governor Schwarzenegger does not give up his dreams of power and wealth, his is a name that will live in infamy for the poisoning of 17 million American citizens. Such a thing, on such a scale, has never happened in this country before and the official policy of deception about what is being done to the people…to lie to our faces as they spray us with carcinogens…is being documented in the letters that they are sending out (like this one) to the Californians who are writing in to express their demand that the spraying be stopped.

Sincerely,
David Richey
Office of Constituent Affairs
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Have you written to the governor’s office? Did you receive this same intentionally deceitful letter in reply? Please, feel free to copy any response you have received in the comments field. The Internet is the tool that is breaking the dangerous silence and documenting, publicly, that Gov. Schwarzenegger, his staff, Secretary of the Dept. Of Agriculture A.G. Kawamura and his staff are lying to the citizens of the United States. Many people, including the Mayor of Albany, are calling for the resignation of Kawamura and I believe we will soon be hearing people demand that Schwarzenegger be removed from his present position of power.

These men are liars. We are all seeing this.

Please, check out this post from Billy Amon, a fellow vegan who lives in Washington and runs the terrific Vegan Talk blog.

We are so grateful to Billy and his readers for caring about this. My experience with the aerial spraying disaster in California is that once people know it’s happening, they are horrified. We need desperately for all Americans to react with loud, resolute opposition to this violation of human, animal and environmental rights. We need to keep spreading the word.

One of Billy’s readers shares that family members living in Monterey wound up with a $2000 vet bill when their dogs were sprayed and had to be rushed to medical care due to violent illness. It is incredibly wrong that innocent, helpless animals are being abused in this way by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

As we have learned, there are 2 possible solutions to the spraying crisis.

1) To reclassify the moth as a non-invasive pest so that trade restrictions will not be applied to the money interests who are demanding that California be aerially sprayed with poison.

2) Have the Federal Government withdraw funding for the spraying.

We must fight until we make one of these 2 things happen, and Vegan Reader gives special thanks to Vegan Talk for being one more voice of hope during these dark, fighting hours.

Take ten minutes to watch this LBAM Myth Debunking YouTube Video.

UC Davis Entomologist Dr. James Carey and UC Santa Cruz Arboretum Executive Director Dr. Daniel Harder present the results of their New Zealand research at a March 13, 2008 hearing held in San Rafael by State Senator Joe Simitian, Chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.

As you will see and hear, LBAM is kept in control by natural predators like birds, earwigs, and beetles in New Zealand so long as organophosphates are not sprayed. The scientists urge that California stop spraying organophosphates and reclassify the moth so that trade restrictions will not be applied to produce grown where the non-threatening Light Brown Apple Moth exists.

What is vital for you to understand is that scientists speaking on behalf of the California Department of Food and Agriculture are employed to twist facts and logic to support CDFA’s plan to aerially spray 17,000,000 Californians. By contrast, non-CDFA scientists are concerned about the environment and human health, and the brave ones, like Carey and Harder, are speaking out to defend us from the unwarranted, toxic aerial spraying.

Please watch the video and share it with everyone you know.

Prior to the atomic bomb testing that took place in the American southwest in the 1950s - 1960s, a government propaganda film was shown to the small rural communities that ranged around the bomb testing site. In that film, a kindly preacher quieted a young man’s fears about the bomb, telling him that mushroom clouds ascending to the heavens in a rainbow of colors were a wonderful sight to behold. Local people were repeatedly told that they would be safe.

“We accepted all this. It was our government and we accepted it. . . .We didn’t connect it to people’s cancer at first. It takes a while. . . .I’ve been at work on this for two years. I was concerned about it many years before that. The people of St. George, after the 1953 blast, some of the people got a little nervous. . . People had to have cars washed down . . . The AEC guys came by to soothe all the ruffled feathers. . . And yet so many people died from that. You’d have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to see it. And it’s pretty horrendous….”

If you are a Californian and the above is ringing bells for you, making you reflect on the public relations assurances, the undertone that one should be able to trust one’s government, it is doubtless because the menace of the aerial spraying of carcinogenic particulate chemicals in the LBAM/human rights crisis bears many similarities to the circumstances surrounding the testing of the A-bomb.

In both cases, communities are being assured that it is perfectly safe for human beings to be exposed to toxins.

Following the decade of atomic bomb testing, an epidemic of cancer seeped through one small community after another in the southwest. Children and adults died slow, agonizing deaths of leukemia, lymphoma, and various deadly cancers. In my own family, acute thyroid damage was present in all of the children of my mother’s generation. Mutations and birth defects became the norm for the bombed communities.

“My father and I were both morticians, and when these cancer cases started coming in I had to go into my books to study how to do the embalming, cancers were so rare,” remembered Elmer Pickett, a lifelong resident of St. George, Utah. “In ‘56 and ‘57 all of a sudden they were coming in all the time. By 1960 it was a regular flood.”

The people of the Monterey Bay Area were aerially sprayed against their will between September and November of 2007. The formula of plastic-encapsulated toxins forced on them included 2-hydroxy-4-n-octyloxybenzophenone, which causes breast cancer. The spray contained other ingredients which are known carcinogens, mutagens, and tumorgens. Every man, woman, and child in this area of central California has now been exposed to cancer-causing substances.

Unless the California Department of Food and Agriculture is ordered to cease their plans for 2008, the people of Monterey Bay will again be re-exposed to known carcinogens and the 7,000,000 people of the San Francisco Bay Area will suffer the same fate.

It relieves and heartens me to see that so many people have not forgotten the lies the government told them about the A-bomb, about DDT, about Agent Orange. It is good to see that they recognize the same voice, telling them the same lies about the latest experimentation - LBAM spray.

During the past week, I have been reading an interesting book called Miles from Nowhere by Dayton Duncan in which the author travels around the off-road places of rural America. In his journey through the southwest, he encounters the survivors of the A-bomb testing - the people who have remained alive while so many of their loved ones have died of painful cancers. In this book, Dayton quotes from the 1980 report, The Forgotten Guinea Pigs, that was issued by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, recommending that Congress,

…promptly compensate the victims of our mistakes. Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s may well have been essential to secure the national defense. However, because the agency charged with developing nuclear weapons was more concerned with that goal that with its other mission of protecting the public from injury, the government totally failed to provide adequate protection for the residents of the area.

Ten years after this report was issued, the bill was passed.

In the words of one survivor who had lost a husband, a brother, and who had watched her grandchildren be born with horrific deformities,

“They couldn’t pay anyone for the loss of a child. I hope they realize that.”

Is this what it’s going to come down to?

Our government will spray our people for a decade with known carcinogens and 20 years later will admit they made a mistake?

With the level of environmental pollution we are already struggling to live inside of, with the number of diseases and cancers we already watch our loved ones dying of, does it take a decade of concentrated aerial spraying of biochemical carcinogens on human beings for government bodies to admit they have somehow failed in their job of protecting the public?

In the Light Brown Apple Moth situation, these ‘official’ people don’t even have the excuse of national security to explain away the expendability of human life and health. Their given reason for their actions is to attack a minute brown insect.

Right now, there are people across America fighting violations of human rights and offenses of gross chemical trespass. These people refuse to believe that it is safe to be subjected to toxins. What can we do in California to make a statement that will not be ignored by our own government? A statement that demands that human health be put forever above concerns for profit, international competition, and the activities of war.

We must not forget the forgotten guinea pigs. We must act for a change that will protect our lives and the health of future generations. We must tell our government that enough is enough.

What follows is our letter, appealing to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, asking them to help protect the women of California from the chemical in the LBAM spray known to cause breast cancer:

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Dear Ladies,
The women of the Monterey Bay Area of California have been aerially sprayed with
2-hydroxy-4-n-octyloxybenzophenone. This is a Xenochemical that binds to estrogen receptors not just in animals, but in humans. In other words, even in small doses, it signals people’s bodies to take a specific biological action. Even small doses could affect hormonal functions by causing the constant production of estrogen. Prolonged exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals is the cause of breast cancer.

The California Dept of Food and Agriculture conducted aerial spraying of this urban area in
Sep-Nov of 2007. They will resume spraying in June 2008, and will also begin spraying the
San Francisco Bay Area in August 2008, which has a population of some 7 million people.

This spraying was authorized by the governor of California, against the will of local governments and outraged private citizens.

More than 600 people were made immediately ill by the spraying in the Monterey Bay area…
if the percentages hold true for the SF Bay Area, we can expect an epidemic of 2 million cases
of pesticide poisoning with short term effects of respiratory failure, skin rashes, vomiting and
severe irritation of the eyes. Menopausal women are also reporting that they have recommenced menstruation! Our hospitals are not equipped to deal with these many violently ill citizens.

The spraying is being conducted to combat the presence of a moth, the light brown apple moth (LBAM). The moth was incorrectly misclassified as a Class A pest and this is what is allowing our governor, who receives documented monetary contributions from the spray’s manufacturer, Suterra LLC, to subject the people of California to the aerial spraying of untested chemicals on urban populations.

It is against federal law to experiment on pregnant women and children, yet, the governor and the CDFA have overruled this law, claiming the moth will destroy agriculture in California.

In point of fact, the moth does no damage to foods. It is a leafroller moth that does minimal
harm to leaves and is considered a negligible pest in New Zealand and a beneficial insect in Hawaii.

The truth behind the egregious actions of our state government and its partners is that some
interstate and international trade restrictions might be put on traders because of the presence
of the moth, because the moth has been incorrectly classified as a threat. So, basically, the monetary concerns of special interests have been given precedence over the health of millions of human beings.

We are desperately attempting to stop the spray before it resumes this summer. Our mayors and representatives are trying to protect us from harm, but because this is a state level program, the only people with the power to stop it are the governor, the head of the CDFA and potentially, the USDA. Unfortunately, all of these individuals have created the lies and media spin that have enabled them to do this to the children, men and women of the Monterrey Bay Area. Only severe, national public outrage can help us.

As your group knows, countless women are diagnosed with breast cancer in California every year. Our government is telling us they will spray us every 30 days for an unlimited number of years with a known breast-cancer-causing chemical. We are terrified and reaching out to anyone who might care about what is happening to us here. We don’t want a horrendous rise in breast cancer here. Enough women are already sick and dying from it.

The toxic compound with which we are being sprayed also contains tumorgens and mutagens.
It is encapsulated in microscopic particulate plastic (think biological warfare). The plastic
is then inhaled deeply into the lungs where it remains forever.

In addition to the immediate poisonings caused in Monterrey, the rivers were fouled with
surfactant foam and the precious coast experienced the worst red tide local people have ever seen. At least 600 seabirds washed up dead and dying on the shore, and people have reported pets dying, too.

I realize this sounds nuts. It sounds like it couldn’t be true, but it is, and is being covered by
all major news sources in the state. You can visit www.lbamspray.com to get pertinent information, do Google searches and go to YouTube, search for ‘lbam spray’ and access video documentation of what is happening to us here.

One of the videos on YouTube is from a Santa Cruz doctor. She explains the link between the spray components and breast cancer and her fear that this will sicken all of the women she treats. Please, watch the video linked to.

The government has told us it is fine for us to breathe particulate plastic. They have told
us we don’t need to worry about having our air, our water, our bodies loaded with carcinogens.
They are lying, and the people know it, but we need the support of organizations like yours.

The Breast Cancer Fund has already come out with their statement against the spray. It would
mean everything to the women of California, many of whom are breast cancer survivors and desperate to be protected from forced exposure to carcinogens, if the Susan G. Komen fund would speak for our protection. Please, research what is happening here.

It is our belief that if the government is not stopped now, aerial spraying of urban populations
will become a given in all US states.

Thank you for your time and concern.

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If you are an American woman, if you are a man who loves his wife or mother, if you are a breast cancer survivor living in California, I urge you to contact the Susan G. Komen Foundation at 1-877 GO KOMEN to plead with them to join is in saying that women will not tolerate being given breast cancer so that corporations can make profits.

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.

————————

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.

‘They’re always a-hammering and a-letting out a smoke and a stench, and there isn’t no peace even at night in Hobbiton. And they pour out filth a-purpose; they’ve fouled all the lower Water and it’s getting down into Brandywine. If they want to make the Shire into a desert, they’re going the right way about it.’ - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Finding myself living in a time and a place where it is possible for a government body like the California Department of Food and Agriculture to perform an experiment of untested chemicals on the 7,000,000 people of the San Francisco Bay Area and Monterey Bay, I am struggling desperately to find teachings and parallels in history that may help me keep my head in the midst of the madness I am experiencing here in California.

I have brought to my mind the words and wisdom of humanitarian leaders like Mohandas K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesus Christ. I believe that each of these lights in the history of the world would have plenty to say about how to think correctly about corrupt governments and systems, and each would likely be recommending a similar mode of fighting evil injustices.

However, it was when I turned to the words of one of my other great heroes, J.R.R. Tolkien, that I found a literary parallel for the agony of peoples and lands in the hands of ruthless marauders. I have been reading Tolkien’s works since the 1970’s, and am now attempting to take some small comfort in the applicability of his writings to the people and actions happening around us right now.

CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura was put in charge of the welfare of our state’s lands, growing plants, and agricultural communities. Rather than caring for the priceless treasures in his charge, he wishes to pour filth, plastic, and poison down from our skies onto us and our food, water, and land.

‘He has a mind of metal and wheels; and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment…he and his foul folk are making havoc now.’

Tolkien’s description of the corrupt and powerful character of Saruman is very apt when I think about Secretary Kawamura and his deceptive position as a steward of agriculture.

There will be scores of men and women in his employ, flying airplanes over human habitation, fouling and poisoning our corner of the world with their synthetic toxins and particulate plastic. Rather than turning in horror from such vile deeds, the spokespeople for the special interests who are carrying out these actions against humanity seem to take professional pride in the path of destruction they are hewing across California.

There they picked up the trail of the Orcs. It needed little skill to find.
‘No other folk make such a trampling,’ said Legolas. ‘It seems their delight to slash and beat down growing things that are not even in their way.’

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is responsible for letting these misguided and dangerous people poison the inhabitants of California and all of our natural resources. Following the aerial spraying of the Monterey Bay area of Central California, the besieged residents came out of their houses to discover their rivers covered in toxic foam and their beaches drowning in an unprecedented red tide. Dead and dying seabirds littered their beautiful shore. Mankind’s willful use of poison in his own environment is destroying nature’s balance and turning a paradise into a wasteland.

Here nothing lived, not even the leprous growths that feed on rottenness. The gasping pools were choked with ash and crawling muds, sickly white and grey as if the mountains had vomited the filth of their entrails upon the lands about. High mounds of crushed and powdered rock, great cones of earth fire-blasted and poison-stained, stood like an obscene graveyard in endless rows…
They had come to the desolation that lay before Mordor: the lasting monument to the dark labor of its slaves that should endure when all their purposes were made void; a land defiled, diseased beyond all healing…
‘I feel sick,’ said Sam.

More than 600 people who live along the Monterey Bay reported being sickened by the aerial spraying. This does not take into account the damage done to the health of people without medical insurance, the homeless, and the countless domestic and wild animals that call the Monterey Bay home. The CDFA intends to return to the area with their carcinogens and endocrine disrupters to spray the people of the Monterey Bay region against their consent and the wishes of their local government again in June of 2008.

Their planes, spewing secret chemicals, will begin flying over the entire San Francisco Bay Area in August 2008. Nearly 7,000,000 people live in this densely populated metropolitan area of the United States. The local government bodies of Marin, Berkeley, Oakland, and Albany are attempting to protect the innocent people of the Bay Area from this atrocious offense against basic human rights. The mayor of Albany is calling for the resignation of Secretary Kawamura unless he immediately halts his insane plans to spray untested chemicals and known carcinogens into the air and water and onto the people of the Bay Area.

The summer nights over San Francisco Bay will be filled with the drone of airplanes passing back and forth, spewing toxins on the panicked citizens. The airplanes will come every 30 days for an unnumbered count of years.

Iron wheels revolved there endlessly, and hammers thudded. At night plumes of vapour steamed from the vents, lit from beneath with red light, or blue, or venomous green.

Because the synthetic substances and toxic chemicals are contained within time-released plastic microcapsules, there will never be a day with clean air to breathe, there will never be a glass of clean water to drink, there will never be a safe patch of sand to sit on if Governor Schwarzenegger and Secretary Kawamura are not told that their plans will not be tolerated by the American public. This is not a case of being able to leave your home in Berkeley the night of the spraying and returning the next day when all’s clear. Because the spraying will happen every 30 days and the substances stay in the air for at least 90 days, there will be no safe day to be breathing, drinking, or eating in the SF Bay Area unless this unconscionable plan is halted.

Having been told of the hundreds of immediate illnesses following the spraying of the people of Monterey Bay, the so-called Environmental Protection Agency’s response has been that they have no evidence of the chemical product causing harm. Rather than dignifying the suffering they and their partners have caused with the notice it deserves, they have instead given $500,000 to a marketing firm to distribute deceitful propaganda in hopes of quelling righteous public outrage. The employees of this marketing firm are tasked with infiltrating community meetings, news and advertising, and the Internet with their skilled, convincing, and honeyed words. As any good Tolkien reader will tell you, we are hearing the Voice of Saruman:

Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke, they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell…
None were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will…

If you find yourself speaking in a forum, online or off, and are suddenly in the position of being accused of being alarmist, irrational, stupid, or wrong for expressing correct condemnation of the intolerable human experimentation that is being conducted by the CDFA, you will be wise to question whether you are speaking to one of our government’s paid public relations professionals.

Sauron and Saruman found it easy to gather evil men and orcs around them to carry out their bidding in The Lord of the Rings. Evil is nothing new, but discernment between good and evil is something that many modern people are in danger of losing. We need to call evil like it is when we see it, and if we are truly now living in a country and a time where a government can place the love of money and the special interests of corporate entities over the health of the people and their environment, our last valiant act of freedom needs to be to discern that we are living in evil times.

‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.
‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’

Is there still hope that this abhorrent injustice can be overcome? Yes, and we need to hold onto that hope with both hands as all of us try to stay sane in the midst of a mad situation.

At this very moment, the report of UCSC Arboretum Executive Director Daniel Harder, Ph.D. and Horticultural Consultant Jeff Rosendale is in the hands of assemblymen and senators. Read this report, which thoroughly proves that the Light Brown Apple Moth causes a negligible amount of agricultural damage in New Zealand and that it is kept in control by natural predators.

By simply correctly reclassifying the Light Brown Apple Moth as a more or less harmless insect, the CDFA and USDA will have lost their last feeble excuse for subjecting millions of Americans to unforgivable health hazards. The moth was incorrectly classified in the first place. All they need to do is change the classification and no more harm will be done to the people and their environment.

The great thinkers in the history of mankind have always encouraged man to believe that courage is rewarded in the face of evil, and that good eventually triumphs. As we write our letters, publish our blog posts, call government officials, talk to our neighbors, and persist in our unwavering statement that poisoning of humans and ecosystems is unacceptable, we can know that we have won the approval of history’s most humane figures. We know we are right.

……………………..

For complete up-to-date news on the aerial spraying of California against the will of the people by the California Department of Agriculture, please visit LBAMSpray.com.

When you think of Santa Cruz, surfers may be one of the first images that comes to mind. Few people know the beaches around Monterey Bay like the men and women who have been surfing it - many for 40+ years.

Following the illegal and horrific aerial spraying around the Monterey Bay Area, the worst red tide in recent, remembered history appeared along the beaches and lasted for some 30-60 days.

Please watch this YouTube testimony from local surfers regarding the toxic red tide. Many were made ill, others stated that the tide was foul beyond anything they’d ever seen in all of their years of surfing the sea. Do not miss the crucial testimony of these people who love Monterey Bay.

Monterey Bay features a world-famous marine sanctuary, adjunct of the Monterey Bay Aquarium which is visited by millions every year. The sea otters, dolphins, whales, sharks, seals, sea lions, shellfish and sea birds depend on this part of the sea for life.

The Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary is a Federally Protected Wildlife Area.

When the CDFA sprayed one of California’s most cherished coastal areas with CheckMate, they knew it contains Tricaprylmethyammonimum chloride which is labeled as such:

Very toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment. Target organ(s): Liver. Nerves.

When the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) flew their airplanes over Monterey area and their toxic spray drifted into the ocean, they were breaking the law.

An uncounted number of sick and dead sea birds washed ashore after the spraying. No one knows how many fish, sea otters, seals, and other marine mammals have been damaged and killed by the substance that was sprayed into the ocean by CDFA.

The fouling and poisoning of the water and beaches of Monterey Bay must not be forgiven. This precious ecosystem is one of California’s crowning glories and needs to be protected from men like Ag Dept. Secretary A.G. Kawamura who believe that experimenting on precious water, sea life and human beings is his right. He should not have the power to do this and the Mayor of Albany is being joined by many citizens who are calling for his resignation. This man is an enemy to civil and environmental rights.

What Do We Stand To Lose In the Bay Area When The Spraying Starts
Obviously, our psychological and physical health. We humans stand to lose the very basic freedoms of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and clean food to eat.

But what about our own precious wild areas and the birds and animals who inhabit them?

The entire Point Reyes Peninsula, the migratory destination of over one hundred vital species of birds, is located in Marin County which is set to be aerially sprayed starting August 1, 2008. The Bolinas Lagoon, Rodeo Lagoon and the Marin headlands are all currently struggling to recover from the unforgivable oil spill of last year which resulted in the death of untold numbers of wild birds.

And now, the CDFA is telling us that they will fill the water and air these birds depend upon for life with particulate plastic, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.

WE MUST NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.

Just like the people of Monterey, we of the SF Bay Area cherish our wildlife and our coastline.

From the spray product label:

DO NOT contaminate water, food, or feed by storage or
disposal.”

IT IS A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW TO USE THIS PRODUCT IN A MANNER INCONSISTENT WITH ITS LABELING

It is against Federal Law for the CDFA to contaminate our water, our food with this product. The people doing this need to be held by the same laws as citizens. It is a criminal act to ignore the very laws and warnings which are set in place to protect human life and ecosystems.

Please, join us and fight this. Demand that the Light Brown Apple Moth be correctly reclassified as a non-invasive species. Demand that A.G. Kawamura be removed from his position as the Ag. Dept Secretary and carefully consider your position as to the fitness of our governor who has permitted Federal Law to be broken by special interest groups.

With the governor of California clearly up to his ears in political payola and private, yet obvious, deals with special interests, it is nice to know that there are still elected officials capable of giving human rights priority over corporate profits.

Vegan Reader applauds this clearheaded and just letter from Mayor Lieber of Albany, California, stating the true facts of why the CDFA is going to spray us.

Mayor Lieber’s decisively accuses Ag. Dept. Secretary A.G. Kawamura of intentional fearmongering and lying to the public. He is requesting that Kawamura resign if he does not immediately halt this experimentation on defenseless human beings. From the letter:

It’s all about money. Big money. Rather than admit that LBAM is not the threat that’s been claimed and request that LBAM’s USDA classification be revised based on up-to-date science, Secretary Kawamura is willing to poison us and our environment. And to spend $500,000 on a public relations firm to help “sell” this charade to us.

I am ashamed of Secretary Kawamura’s disgraceful public deception campaign to sell a hopeless, dangerous and likely unneeded “eradication” program to the people. He should immediately call an end to the plans to give us time to make rational decisions based on sustainable, Integrated Pest Management principles. Short of calling off the spray and undertaking sound pest management, he should resign.

Vegan Reader supports the Mayor of Albany in his truthful and humane stance and admires him greatly for his bravery in speaking up about the insidious corruption that is at the heart of this plan to destroy our health and environment. Thank you, Mayor Lieber. You are a hero.

When my husband and I launched this blog a couple of weeks ago, we envisioned this as a nice project that would enable us to share what we know about compassionate living, drawing on our combined 22 years of experience living a vegan lifestyle. We looked forward to sharing helpful tips, inspirational humanitarian stories, and our very best vegan recipes.

But now something has happened where we live that has completely absorbed our attention, and Vegan Reader has suddenly taken on a far more urgent and desperate tone as we have set about blogging about the aerial spraying of the light brown apple moth (LBAM) that is currently being enacted on California’s people, animals, plants, land, and water. We are living with daily fear, outrage, and a strange wistful hope that, somehow, this illegal abuse of U.S. citizens can be stopped.

A Quick Summary

• In September 2007, the Santa Cruz and Monterey region of Central California were aerially sprayed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
• The sprays used, Checkmate OLR-F and LBAM-F, are labelled as biochemicals that are illegal to introduce into water sources. The labels declare these products to be a contaminant that damages eyes, skin, and the respiratory system. The labels warn that these substances must not be inhaled.
• The chemicals in the sprays include a synthetic pheromone as well as known carcinogens and dangerous endocrine disrupters.
• Following the spraying in Central California, more than 600 individuals reported illnesses to their doctors. Symptoms included irritation of eyes and skin, impaired respiratory function, discolored urine, vomiting, and menstrual irregularities.
• Doctors were neither warned to expect an epidemic of chemical exposure, nor were they trained to treat these conditions. While some patients have attempted to officially register their illnesses, the majority of doctors are not trained to assist them with the process and at least one patient was told he would need to contact a lawyer before being seen by a doctor.
• Photographs have been taken by Central Californians of the sickening surfactant foam that covered the rivers of the region after the spraying.
• Along this region’s celebrated coastline, the largest red tide in recent history occurred and an uncounted number of sick and dead birds were found on the beaches.
• The CDFA intends to resume aerial spraying of the residents of the Santa Cruz/Monterey area in June of 2008.
• The CDFA intends to begin aerial spraying San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Marin, and much of the greater Bay Area starting in August 2008.
• Human beings will be sprayed as often as every 30 days for an unlimited number of years. Due to the time-releasing composition of the spray, there will never again be a time when the air or environment is free of the spray for as many years as the spraying continues. There will be no safe water or clean air.
• The spray is encapsulated in plastic microcapsules, which degrade over time into particulate matter, which is being likened to the substances employed in biochemical warfare.
• These particles are lodging in the noses and mouths of human beings and animals, where they then enter deeply into the lungs and remain forever.
• The CDFA has just awarded a $500,000 contract to Porter Novelli, a notorious PR firm with a long history of protecting the interests of chemical corporations. Their job will be to engineer media spins and the wide distribution of dangerous propaganda in order to quell public fear and outrage.
• The city officials of Santa Cruz and Monterey attempted to halt the spraying of the local people to no avail.
• City officials of Marin, Berkeley, and Oakland have voted unanimously against the spraying of the people of the Bay Area, and are calling the surrounding cities to join them in their opposition of this illegal abuse.
• The CDFA has broken two U.S. laws by the aerial spraying of Central California. The first law prohibits performing human testing on various demographics of the public. The second law prohibits pilots from flying airplanes at low altitudes over urban areas. The CDFA is guilty of illegal activity and intends to continue breaking these laws, which were put in place to protect us from abuse.

Why is the CDFA spraying human beings in California?

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) joined forces to declare California in a state of emergency when a small brown insect called the light brown apple moth (LBAM) was discovered in the state. Despite the fact that elsewhere in the world, this moth is not seen as a truly invasive agricultural threat, despite the fact that scientists are stating that LBAM has been in California for as long as 30 years, despite the fact that zero crop damage has been done by this tiny leaf-roller moth, government officials have embarked on this brash and illegal plan for eradicating the light brown apple moth.

By declaring California to be in a state of emergency, these government officials and organizations were able to bypass the normal protocol of conducting research and creating an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prior to taking action. The substance that was sprayed on the human beings, wildlife, pets, and ecosystem of Central California had never before been tested on anyone or anything. Yet, this declaration of emergency enabled the CDFA to immediately begin aerial spraying.

In Australia, where the light brown apple moth is a native insect, $1,000,000 worth of crop damage is reported to result annually from the presence of the insect. Nonsensically, Australia has spent some $13,000,000 every year for more than a decade in an attempt to eradicate the moth. Rather than simply compensating farmers for what is a very small collective loss of crops, the Australian government has continued to carry out an absurdly expensive and unreasonable eradication program and the moth continues to live.

The fact is, the CDFA’s own scientists admit that aerial spraying not only has no hope of ever eradicating the LBAM, but that it also will put an end to the effectiveness of eradicating the moth via targeted, pheromone-laced sticky traps. According to the latest reports, sticky traps have now killed off 99% of the known LBAMs in California. Yet, government agencies are determined to go after that remaining 1% with the extreme, invasive, and never-before-tested action of aerial spraying? It makes no sense.

What is really going on here?

The short answer is money. As you might have feared, money and special interests are at the bottom of the abuse being enacted on the people of California.

This is what we know:

• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been financially supported by the Checkmate spray manufacturer, Suterra, LLC. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, Suterra owner Stuart Resnick has given some $150,000 to the Governor’s campaign as well as donating to numerous other politicians.
• One of the Governor’s official acts was to appoint A.G. Kawamura as the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. Prior to being appointed to the Food and Agriculture Department, which is responsible for protecting the environment and public safety, A.G. Kawamura worked as the Chairman of the Western Growers Association. The Western Growers Association is notorious for its opposition to any agricultural or environmental laws designed to protect the health of farm workers, agricultural communities, and the ecosystem. It is despicable that a man with a known history of contempt for the protection of peoples and lands would be put at the top of the Food and Agricultural Department, which is meant to keep us safe. It must be noted that A.G. Kawamura is also a financial supporter of Governor Schwarzenegger. He has contributed $21,200 to the Governor’s campaign.
• As dedicated reporters and private citizens continue to dig deeper into the truth surrounding Governor Schwarzenegger’s political and corporate alliances and financial supporters, further damning evidence is found that begins to paint a clear picture as to why this elected official will go down in history as the California governor who permitted biochemical experimentation on human beings. The special interests of Governor Schwarzenegger’s financial supporters are being protected rather than the health of the people of California, whom the Governor was elected to serve.
• Because of current international trade laws and a misclassification of the Light Brown Apple Moth as an agricultural menace, California’s corporate international traders would face some restrictions about what they could ship out of the state. When this is understood, the money trail becomes a bit more clear. However, rather than the USDA taking the simple step of correctly reclassifying LBAM as a minor pest, and relieving corporations of their fear of losing money, the decision has been made to continue spraying any and all regions of California where LBAMs are found, causing catastrophic, irreversible damage to people, animals, water and soil.
• I have never been one to entertain conspiracy theories, but because of the evident lack of rational science and the abundant evidence of corruption, I feel that the testimony of the medical professionals of Central California deserves a place in this section of this article. The ingredients in the LBAM spray are not only known causes of breast cancer, but they apparently have two noteworthy effects on human reproductive systems. They have been shown to cause sterility in men and disruption of the female reproductive system. This is an extremely dark observation I almost hesitate to write down because of the implications of it, but I listened to a Santa Cruz woman suggest that CheckMate - the spray first used in Central California - may not only permanently impair the reproductive functions of moths, it may also damage these functions in human beings. I would like to say that our government would never be guilty of testing on human beings, but unfortunately, there are numerous documentations of them doing so. I would much prefer to think what is happening here is the victimization of the citizens of a capitalist system purely for profit, but I’m not prepared to give our government any credit at this point when it has shown such a flagrant disregard for U.S. laws and the rights of human beings.

In sum, we’ve got a corrupt governor being paid by chemical manufacturers and using their products to experiment on human beings while at the same time electing environmental and human rights offenders into positions of supreme power. We’ve got a government carrying out the wishes of special interest groups for profit. We’ve got a government that is not protecting its citizens and is willing to break laws to carry out its aims, doubtless confident in the belief that they will be exempt from criminal prosecution.

One Vegan’s Position on LBAM Spraying in California

As a vegan, I am finding myself outraged at every turn by what I am witnessing here in beautiful California. The epidemic sickness of the infants, growing children, men and women of Central California horrifies me. Santa Cruz and Monterey are known for a laid-back, tolerant atmosphere and the wise, logical protests and objections of the region’s doctors, professors, and scientists are truly heart-rending to listen to. It is with a sort of suspenseful agony that I have listened to their attempts to be heard and to reason with the robotic phalanx of unresponsive ‘official’ people. In my lifetime, I have never personally encountered a more inhuman disregard for human rights than the one I am experiencing right now in California.

Being human, we are, of course, incapable of translating the horror of the wildlife and domestic animals which call California home. Like us, every one of them is being force-fed particulate biochemicals. In the 18 years I have lived as a vegan, I have often felt so keenly the unspoken agony and suffering of animals who are without a human voice to protest abuses inflicted on them. It was this startling awareness of suffering that drove me to attempt to begin living a life which harmed no other to the best of my ability. Right now, I am seeing all of the victimized, panicked and abused people of California as I have always seen the animals. For the first time, many thousands of these people are experiencing the despair of having no voice.

Taking the vegan path quickly led me to electing to eat organic foods whenever possible. Conventional farmers are without respect for the dignity of the land and the plants and creatures that inhabit the land. By opting to support organic farmers, I hoped to support a kinder and more sustainable civilization which would put ecological and human health before chemically-derived profits. With the statewide spraying of California, there will be no more organic land, organic farms, or organic produce for us to eat. My entire way of life is being taken away from me, and I am being left with the knowledge that every breath I take, every sip of water I drink, every bite of food I eat will be laden with plastic and toxins.

Only a vegan would add what I am about to say. It is morally wrong to exterminate the light brown apple moth. It is an act of unpardonable violence against a living creature. Rather than enabling nature to find the correct balance between insects and plants, human beings are willfully choosing the poisoning of the Earth and all of its inhabitants. The power of nature to manage populations and protect ecosystems is unsurpassed. We need only step aside, desist from monoculture agribusiness practices which throw environments into imbalance, halt the destruction of fragile natural partnerships between insects, plants, and animals and nature will take care of us.

It is hard to find time to reflect on the fate of the moth, which is being used as the scapegoat for the immoral actions of a few corrupt men. In our panic, in our fear for our own lives, we may not be able to make much room for sorrow over the attempted extermination of these small creatures who flit through the nighttime breezes whilst we are asleep in our beds. Like my own way of life, the light brown apple moth’s is ending.

The negligent absurdity of it all is almost overwhelming. What we do to the moth, we do to ourselves. What Arnold Schwarzenegger, A.G. Kawamura, and their partners are doing to us, they are doing to themselves. Their air, their drinking water, the food they depend on for life, will be toxic and doubtless the results will be seen in the health of their loved ones just as it will be in ours.

What can you do?

Though history has taught us that our government is capable of committing atrocities against the registered will of the people, there is still a chance to triumph over this injustice. Rather than simply repeating information that is available on other websites, please allow me to provide you with some links for taking action.

This article at Natural News provides in-depth coverage of the LBAM aerial spraying and has a list of preventative bills you can support.

This is the most frequently updated anti-spray website covering news and events surrounding the aerial spraying in Central California. This is the most comprehensive website on the LBAM crisis that I have found.

This is an extremely important website detailing the health effects of LBAM spraying, as well as actions you can take.

This page features a collection of YouTube videos published by LBAMspray.com, documenting expert and civic opinion on the dangers of the spray. These videos are essential watching. Please try to make time to watch them to educate yourself.

This site has links to the Care2 Petition, a forum, and regularly updated news for the SF Bay Area LBAM aerial spraying disaster.

If you are running an LBAM spraying protest site, I invite you to leave a link in the comments portion of this post. I want to continue updating this resource.