CONTACT:
San Franciscans Concerned About the Spray
Kelly McMenimen — 415-673-6783

SAN FRANCISCO TOWN HALL ON APPLE MOTH AERIAL SPRAY – GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE WALK ANNOUNCED, SPEAKER PELOSI WEIGHS IN

Expert Panel Says Aerial Spraying of Pesticides over San Francisco

Not Safe, Not Effective, Not Necessary

San Francisco — A panel of scientists and other experts talked to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 300 people at a Town Hall meeting Thursday night about the state’s plan to spray pesticides from airplanes over San Francisco and other Bay Area cities starting August 17.

Among the announcements at last night’s Town Hall were a Golden Gate Bridge Walk against the Spray that will take place May 31 and reading of a letter from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asking about both short and long-term heath effects of the aerial spray, including the effects of the pesticide’s “inert” ingredients and the likelihood that the aerial spraying will eradicate the light brown apple moth from California. San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi underscored that the Supervisors have directed the City Attorney to pursue legal action against the spray.

The expert panel described the state’s plans to spray the Bay Area and Central Coast with pesticides monthly for the next 3 to 5 years or longer, the adverse health effects reported after spraying in Monterey and Santa Cruz last fall and the risks of the pesticides, and why the moth isn’t the agricultural emergency the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) claims it is.

“The pesticides being sprayed on densely populated cities have not been tested for their short- or long-term health effects on human beings. That’s because it’s against the law to experiment on human beings,” says panelist Mike Lynberg, Monterey spray victim who collected over 800 complaints of adverse health reactions after an initial spray in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

“San Franciscans have a right to determine what happens to their own bodies. The state is not being transparent in their effort to force this program on the people of California,” said John Russo, Monterey county farmer and founder of Stop the Spray.ORG.

“To use blanket aerial spraying of populated areas as the first strategy for addressing a pest that has done no damage to crops is simply poor pest management,” said panelist Nan Wishner, Chair of the City of Albany Integrated Pest Management Task Force.

Event organizer Kelly McMenimen told the crowd that the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary’s office had contacted her yesterday afternoon asking to make an hour-long presentation at the event. In response, the event organizers invited the Secretary to participate in the question and answer period and to make a presentation of equal length to those of the other panelists as long as the other panelists agreed cede time to allow for the CDFA to present. The Secretary declined. The Secretary’s office later issued a press statement saying the event organizers had “refused CDFA’s requests for Secretary Kawamura to make a presentation.”

“That is absurd,” McMenimen said. “We were doing everything we could to welcome them into our evening in response to their last-minute request as well to respect the other panelists who had prepared well in advance to participate.” McMenimen added, “CDFA has made numerous and lengthy presentations at public meetings all over the Bay Area at which balanced views were not presented. While we welcomed CDFA’s inquiry about joining our panel, we also wanted to be sure the public had an opportunity at this event to hear the solid, independent science that differs from the unsubstantiated information CDFA has been presenting.”

The Town Hall meeting was put on by a coalition of concerned San Francisco residents and elected officials who wanted to inform the public about the planned pesticide sprayings and what can be done in response. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi presented the resolution he put forward opposing the spray, which was passed unanimously by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on GIVE DATE. State Senator Carole Migden talked about their efforts to block the spray plans with state legislation. Other panelists included UC Entomologist Dr. James Carey who said that eradication won’t work and that the moth has likely been in the state for decades based on the range over which it has spread and Stacia Lansman M.D. who described the potential health impacts of the spray in the Bay Area, which she called “unacceptable human experimentation.”

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