Watching the small-minded men of the California Department of Food and Agriculture declare that they will ‘eradicate’ the light brown apple moth has been rather like watching a small boy take it into his head that he will move Africa 200 miles to the left. The Light Brown Apple Moth public health scandal has shone a bright light on the superfluousness and inappropriateness of the existence of an agency like the CDFA which makes its money by running around the state declaring emergencies trying to exterminate things it can’t exterminate.

Over the past 35 years, CDFA has made 247 failed attempts at eradication with 0 ’successes’. The bugs are still with us, and what has come to light is an amazing billion-dollar bureaucracy which keeps people employed pretending to do the un-doable. The LBAM fiasco is only the latest evidence of this agency’s well-funded, ill-founded business plan.

Why is eradication of insect species futile? Welcome to planet Earth.

Our planet is an insect planet. Over 95% of the species inhabiting this planet are insects. Over 95%! There are so many species, no human has ever been able to count them all, but entomologists estimate there may be as many as 10 million. I hate to break it to you, Secretary Kawamura, but you’re outnumbered.

And is it being outnumbered that drives the CDFA, the USDA and the Orkin Man to barrel forward, spraying poisons willy-nilly, hoping somehow to even up the odds? Can they not stand to think that this isn’t a human-centric world, but is, in fact, a domain of bugs? It’s a useless fight. And what would they win, if they could win?

A vacant earth, devoid of all life. Without the insects - the pre-eminent citizens of our globe - there would be nothing for any of us. How hard is it to understand that if 95% of earthling species are bug species, they must hold the majority of the honor for making our earth a green, abundant, diverse planet? You only need to watch one nature program about all of the work bugs do in the Amazon Rainforest to get it that they are essential to that gorgeous green canopy existing. Remove just one species, and the whole system might collapse.

We know about the interconnectedness of life. Poets, prophets, philosophers and scientists have all tried to depict the web of life in such a way that we would stop the senseless killing, that we would move beyond a state of perpetual, unobservant ignorance regarding the workings of the planet we inhabit. No one likes feeling powerless, but by refusing to give up control, by refusing to admit that we cannot control everything on the Earth, we are ruining our own habitat and creating problems where none existed before.

We have all grown very weary of listening to CDFA’s fear-mongering regarding the light brown apple moth which this agency has falsely depicted as a big threat. There is no big threat, and we need only return to the words echoed across the state by organic farmers who have shrugged their shoulders, saying, “a moth, so what?” In point of fact, independent scientists have pointed out that some of the species most responsible for keeping this insect at a decent population are, in fact, other insects. Just think of it, we’ve got 10 million species of bugs on our side, all of them working amongst themselves to ensure that no one species takes over. We can sit back. We don’t have to do anything but farm in a responsible way and there will be plenty of greenery for us and all the bugs to eat. Basically, we just need to get out of the way.

What we really don’t need, in our strivings for an educated view of our amazing world, is government-employed agencies like the CDFA tearing about the place declaring that the earth is really flat. These men are generations behind their neighbors in their understanding of our place in the world and it’s rather pathetic watching them try to keep their jobs by insisting they must kill things to protect us all. They’ve gotten so out of hand, they are now threatening to sicken and kill us with their poisons in order to…protect us all?

The merry-go-round logic here that never stops in a sensible place is just shameful and any other business being run this way would have been shut down long ago.

Yet, there is still a place for the CDFA, if they are willing to learn new skills. California’s chemical-dependent conventional farmers are in desperate need of help, education and training. They need aid in breaking the Monsanto stranglehold. The damage done to California soil needs to be addressed, if that’s even possible and conventional farmers need real assistance in turning their backs on a shameful history of producing poisonous food for human consumption. If CDFA could only become the CDOFA (the California Department of Organic Food and Agriculture) and make it their mission to put an end to the evil of conventional agriculture, there would be more than enough work for them to do and it would be work we’d all gladly fund.

But, if CDFA is going to stick to their dinosaur of a business model, insisting that 10 million species of bugs are bad and that we can and must control them, they have outlived their usefulness as an agency. The time has come to admit that insects are vital, that Earth is a glorious bug planet, and that we’re all in debt to the bugs for all they do to make life good for us. Anyone who isn’t prepared to admit this is on the wrong planet. I hear real estate is going real cheap on the moon.

I have had the pleasure of taking part in a number of interesting discussions over the past week regarding the future of the anti-LBAM spray movement in California. Friends, neighbors, scientists and politicians are discussing positions to take in the face of the California Department of Food and Agriculture continuing to insist that the light brown apple moth can and must be eradicated. During the past year, we have repeatedly heard from independent scientists that eradication is neither necessary nor possible for this basically harmless insect, and yet CDFA continues to march forward like an army of zombies, armed with their chemical weapons, declaring that they can and will cover California with pesticides, toxic lab substances and genetically engineered insects.

Because, for me, the heart of the issue has always been a human rights one, the resounding question posed is: Who Has The Right To Poison Me?

In a nation where poisoning humans and wildlife is illegal, I am left with a simple equation regarding CDFA’s past and present intentions towards the people and animals of California.

How can we get California to recognize and admit that civilization has now learned that pesticides harm and kill lifeforms and are poisonous? How can we get California to profess that anyone caught in the act of spraying, splatting or dusting pesticides is, in fact, poisoning his neighbors?

I believe if we want to reform our beloved but toxic state, pesticide = poison is the basic equation we need to be teaching from kindergarten upwards with zero tolerance for any man who poisons citizens.

I Take It Personally

My husband and I are finally on the verge of escaping a situation in which our neighbor, an alcohol grower, has subjected us to bi-monthly poisoning, 9 months a year, for all of the years we’ve lived here.

My husband, a non-smoking, healthy, young man has suffered severe lung problems including pneumonia, bronchitis and recurrent pleurisy. At one point, his doctor thought he had cancer because of a mass found in his lung. It turned out to be a patch of pneumonia that was slow in clearing up, but for several months, I lived in an agony of fear that my young and dear husband was going to die of lung cancer. Our medical bills were so high, we are still trying to pay them off.

As for myself, also a young person but one in poor health with several auto-immune illnesses, I have been repeatedly sickened and even hospitalized following my neighbor, the poisoner’s, spraying of his vineyard and my home. This has increased our medical debt.

We have been driven from our home, night after night, and have had to pay for hotel rooms too many times to count over the past few years. We have been unable to work on spray days, losing money we badly needed. We have suffered severe loss of health and income.

Our pleas to our neighbor, the poisoner, fell on deaf ears. We were laughed at, yelled at, sneered at and told we were crazy. When my husband called the winery in question to ask that they begin notifying us of their spray dates because his wife (me) was being sickened by the spraying, the manager scoffed, “what, is she allergic to air?”

Obviously, you know and I know that alcohol growers are not spraying their fields with air, but this is the reception with which we met as we lost our health, drained our bank account and fled into the night to escape being poisoned.

So I take it personally. And we have no recourse because California’s laws protect the alcohol grower, the poisoner, and not us. I take it very personally that CDFA is now taking the same line across California, asserting they will fill our habitat with poison, calling it anything but poison.

Pesticide is poison and the aerial spraying, ground spraying, twist ties, telephone pole splats and traps in CDFA’s arsenal are all poisonous. California needs to rethink the equation, rethink the very basic question: is it legal to poison people?

The answer to this question is found in our already-existing laws. So, the work is simply to get California to designate pesticides as poisons and pesticide users as poisoners. The law will then know how to deal with them.

But, of course, it won’t be easy. Please take a look at this map I’ve spent hours creating over the past year. This is Highway 12 which runs between Santa Rosa and Napa in the famous ‘Wine Country’ of Northern California. People think this is a romantic place to live, but it’s actually a toxic hazard zone. The blue spaces on the map encompass the vineyards all along HWY 12. You can zoom in and out on the map to see how the alcohol industry has used up every last inch of available space for their industry. Though a couple of vintners are trying to grow organically amidst this ugly, conventional sprawl, it’s really impossible to grow anything organic along HWY 12 because of the unending, chronic dumping of pesticides up and down the highway for miles and miles.

View Larger Map

And people live here. Thousands and thousands of them. And all of them are being poisoned.

Looking For A Fight?
I have sensed that most of us have emerged from CDFA’s recent announcement regarding not spraying over urban areas knowing we are still in a battle. No one feels settled. No one is satisfied with the idea that while CDFA may not fly their planes right over the TransAmerica building, they may be spraying Golden Gate Park, Mount Tamalpais, Rodeo Lagoon or other ‘non-urban’, neighboring areas.

We know that air moves and that we’ll be breathing in what’s in the air, no matter where it is sprayed. With China’s pollution hitting the West Coast and DDT melting out of the polar ice caps, 21st century people know that our air and water is recycled again and again through our lungs and bodies and that toxins in one place mean toxins everywhere.

If you’re sick and tired of being made ill by toxic pollution and the threat of further toxins, I believe your fight is clear here. I believe it comes down to the simple, blue equation I started with and the work ahead is in changing the mentality of Californians to match the modern understanding of pesticides as poisons. CDFA may be the worst students in the class and it may take a long time to get them to learn this lesson, but the rest of us are already protected by a constitution that guards our safety and a set of state and national laws that punish poisoners. We just need to connect dots A and B. I think this is our fight.

As we’re all beginning to look for some perspective on our situation, with some days going by since the CDFA announced that they will not conduct further aerial spraying over urban areas, people are starting to share not only their opinions, but also their feelings. Some of my Central Coast neighbors to the south have become my friends during the long months of this public health crisis, and these good people are now having to cope with their experiences of being immorally exposed to biochemicals. Those with whom I’ve spoken are experiencing so many emotions right now, and among those emotions is trauma.

It is for them, and for all Californians who are now coping with symptoms of trauma as a result of CDFAs actions, that I am writing this article.

What is Abuse?
Abuse is an intentional violation of mental or physical health in which the victim is powerless to protect himself from harm. Whether we experience abuse as a child or an adult, the basic scenario is the same: a person takes power into their hands to hurt us and we suffer from their immoral choice.

In general, the most traumatic abuse occurs when the abuser is someone we care about or is an authority figure in our life. While it would be very upsetting to have a crazy stranger run up and punch us in the face or steal our wallet, far more disturbing to most people is when a parent, spouse, family member or friend is the abuser. It is also extremely traumatic when the abuser is a teacher, a boss, a minister or government agency - these are authority figures who are supposed to be deeply interested in our well-being, and when they misuse their positions of power, they are acting in an abusive manner.

Why is Abuse Traumatic?
As humans, we come into this world helpless and dependent, and in a good situation, we quickly come to trust that our parents will respect our rights and needs so that we can survive and grow. We carry this wonderful sense of safety and trust with us until our first encounters with misguided people who are willing to abuse us for some gain of their own.

It is my strongly held belief that an encounter with abuse breaks something inside of us. When a child, a woman or man is abused, a line is crossed that should never be crossed. Our trust is broken, and it is my considered opinion that, even with the best therapy, that breakage can never be fully repaired. It’s a case of not being able to go back to before the abuse happened, a case of having learned something about life that we can never fully forget.

Physical injury and psychological suffering are grievous hurts while they are taking place, but I have come to believe that the most traumatic aspect of abuse for many sentient people lies in the fact that we have encountered something so ugly and frightening about our own species. When a relative or authority figure abuses us they teach us that it is possible for human beings to do these things.

I think this is the heart of trauma. Abusers force us to look at the ugliest possibilities of mankind, and if we are moral creatures, we hate what we see there.

I think it is this repugnance and fear that causes denial to be so often inextricably linked with abuse. “Daddy, Mommy, Grandma, Husband, Pastor Bob, Mrs. Jones, Governor Johnson couldn’t really be bad people,” we want to say, because we don’t want to face that someone we have trusted could really intend to harm us. In fact, it is a well documented phenomenon that victims of abuse often resort to blaming themselves rather than placing the blame where it belongs on their abuser. There is an evident desire in us not to face the bad in our own kind.

Why do we do this? Why bend over backward to deny, ignore or excuse abuse, even to the point of blaming ourselves for having been victimized? I have two thoughts on this.

1) We are attempting to avoid the trauma of admitting that our trust was broken.

2) We are attempting to avoid the trauma of recognizing that all people, even ourselves, are capable of harmful actions.

It is frightening to know that people can be evil, because it means that we, too, could be this way. It makes our world feel less secure, less controllable. Many of us, understandably, cling hard to the belief that all people are basically good. It is incredibly traumatic when, holding fast to this belief, someone comes along and proves us wrong, showing us that people can go to the dark side and become abusers. It’s something no one would want to see and something we feel abhorrence over recognizing the potential for in our own selves. And, yet, I believe that it is only in recognizing this scary potential that we can truly take the power of choice into our own hands. Only in knowing that we are capable of both good and evil actions do we realize we have an intelligent choice to act for good. Ethical people make this choice every day, in countless ways.

Why the Victimizer is Really the Victim
It’s horrible to be abused. The consequences of a single act of physical or psychological trespass can last a lifetime. And yet, which of us would trade places with an abuser? Which of us would rather do the harming than be harmed? Which of us would like to shoulder the responsibility and guilt of harming another living being…or thousands of living beings?

A moment ago, I wrote that many of us hold fast to the belief that all people are basically good. Without a doubt, all people are born perfectly guiltless, innocent and full of the potential for wonderful good. But then things happen to people as they grow. Experiences in their lives coarsen, harden and derange people, and this is a truth we can’t deny. How often have we heard a criminal testify that he or she was horrifically abused as a child? Terrible things have to happen to transform an unblemished infant into a sociopath. If a grown man is incapable of recognizing the worth and rights of his fellow beings, it may be because his own were never validated somewhere along the way. Something was broken in him, or never trained to grow in a healthy, humane way.

I’m not going to excuse the religious leader who steals from his congregation, the husband who batters his wife or the government agent who poisons his neighbors, but I am ready to pity, deeply, these people. Something has gone terribly wrong with them on the path of life, and by becoming abusers, they have gone down a dreadfully wrong road, for whatever reason. I wouldn’t trade places with them for any price. It is, in fact, with tremendous gratefulness that I realize that I am capable of both good and evil and am able, with effort, to choose good to the best of my ability. Abusers fail to see that choice, or if they do see it, they are too weak to choose good. This is why I feel pity for them and why I call victimizers the true victims.

As much as the people of California condemn the abuse we have suffered at the hands of government, at least we are not the condemned, the guilty ones. So many of us have wondered how the politicians and agents were sleeping at night, knowing they were going to poison millions of innocent people. It’s nothing short of a human tragedy that anyone could be so lost to goodness, so overcome by temptation to act out harm, so utterly amoral.

Were We Abused?
In a word - yes. If you suffered physical or emotional damages from the actions of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, you were absolutely abused, and I want you to hear me validate this. The key to abuse, in my eyes, is intention. At this point in modern history, our species knows enough about pesticides to understand they are poisonous, and I am totally unwilling to excuse anyone working for the government or agricultural agencies as having somehow missed the day in school when they taught us that pesticides damage lifeforms. So, this choice to spray pesticides on people was made with the knowledge that harm would result. CDFA intended to benefit from an abusive action.

I have determined that this situation cannot be likened to accidentally stepping on a bug and killing it without meaning to. Such a scenario isn’t one of abuse because we caused harm unknowingly. Too much is now understood about pesticides to make any scenario including them an unknowing situation. Yes, we were abused by authority figures who knew we would be damaged and made the choice to damage us.

Apart from the damages actually suffered, I think it’s especially revealing to note just how many of our neighbors were in denial about what was happening. I was amazed by the comments I read on news articles over the months about LBAM spray. There was always, always some segment of the public loudly proclaiming that the frightened citizens were crazy and that our government would never harm us. I have learned that where this type of loud denial is present, abuse is often going on. The loudest ones are likely striving hardest to feel reassured, to feel safe, to feel that everything is really okay, even if that means ignoring their own danger.

The people of the Central Coast have lost the power of denial, in so many ways. When the CDFA stepped boldly into their lives and began poisoning their families, they lost the comfort of believing that our government is basically good. The world has become a much scarier place for all of them, having been forced to face that the United States government could harm its own people. The consequences of this recognition will be far reaching and generational. Something has been broken.

Living with Trauma
Feeling frightened, depressed, angry, hurt, overwhelmed, fatigued, conflicted, betrayed? If you’ve lived through the past year in California, it’s no wonder if you are now feeling these and other difficult emotions. It is very natural, in the face of what you’ve experienced, to feel this way. Abuse is traumatic. But we won’t let these feelings overcome us. Our first duty, in caring for ourselves and our dear ones, is to admit that we have experienced abuse. It’s an essential first step to say this to yourself and to your family. Once we know what we are dealing with, we can then take proactive steps to help ourselves, and I have some suggestions that I hope will be helpful to you in living with this trauma.

1) It is my personal belief that the best counter-action to abuse is the development of a strong spiritual life. Jesus taught that we would have the helper of a guiding and holy spirit - an advocate - in our sufferings and struggles. Gandhi taught that we are all children of God, beloved by our creator. The Buddha taught that suffering is part of life on Earth. Native American faiths are full of devotions to a just and all-knowing Great Spirit who is watching over us all of our days. For me, my faith in a divine and totally loving Creator lifts me out of this world and tells me that the hurts I suffer here are temporary. Nothing that any man chooses to do to me here on Earth can take me away from the incomprehensible love and care of my Creator. It gives me a perspective on this life that guarantees a happy ending, for lack of a better description. It enables me to view evil doers with compassion and mercy and the understanding that if they really valued the gift of life, they would never choose to act destructively. Coming to believe that the trust you put in your Creator is a trust that can never be broken can be incredibly healing after trust is broken by a human abuser.

2) Gifted humanitarians and psychologists have published scores of books on the subject of abuse. It may be helpful to you to go to the library or bookstore and obtain a selection of books on the subjects of child and spousal abuse. In reading these books, you can put the CDFA in the place of the abuser, and I believe the teachings and lessons will be accurate and valuable to you. I am not aware of any books that deal specifically with the trauma of governmental abuse, but the feelings experienced by the sufferer will be akin, and you may also find volumes on the subject of the post traumatic stress syndrome experienced by survivors of a war to be helpful. If you or a loved one is experiencing strong feelings of depression, anger or suicidal thoughts, I urge you to seek professional therapy. Even if your feelings are milder, talking out your emotions with a counselor could be very helpful to you.

3) Know that you are not alone. You are not only surrounded by neighbors who have shared your traumatic experience, but the people of history have stood in your shoes again and again. Government abuse of innocent people is, sadly, nothing new. Think about the historical tyranny of evil kings over the ‘peasant’ class, the British Empire’s cruel occupation of most of the East, the European occupation of the Americas and the subsequent genocide of the Native Peoples. I believe ethical people feel shattered by this kind of abuse because it is an encounter with evil and looking into the face of evil is terrifying. I think it is empowering to take a realist view of the fact that evil appears to have been around for as long as people have. Being wounded by evil doesn’t make you different, somehow woefully set apart from the rest of mankind. Rather, it makes you just like your ancestors who had to face battles like this in their lives, who had to fight for their lives, for the survival of their people, for their rights. Abuse has the power to alienate us from life and society if we fail to recognize that most of the people around us are also in a state of recovery from one abuse or another. Reach out for help and know that you will be understood by the right people.

4) When an act of physical abuse happens, the victim is often powerless to defend himself. The people of Monterey and Santa Cruz could not stop those planes once they took off, without resorting to violence themselves. And, because our government has become corrupt in an endeavor to protect corporate interests rather than constitutional rights or human health, we have faced an opponent that is capable of punishing us for simply trying to protect ourselves. I think many of us are living in fear of our government at this point, having witnessed what they are capable of. This fear might render us powerless.

Let us recognize that, in fact, we are not powerless. Our non-violent outrage has created progress. As of the past week’s announcement that urban cities will not be aerially sprayed, we are one step closer to demanding that the constitution be upheld. We are discovering that we can force amoral agencies to act in a manner that is respectful of our inalienable right to safety. The 2007 spraying happened so quickly, the innocent people had little time to mobilize, but that has now changed. We have used these past months to agitate, to protest, to work for the change we need to see. The powerlessness is over. Recognizing that you can work to protect yourself is an acknowledgment that you have some power to stop further abuse. Hold onto that realization.

5) There is a very disturbing element to the abuse of the Central Coast people and I believe it needs to be discussed here. It is my understanding that the biochemical assault has caused prolonged or permanent harm to some citizens. In a physical attack, a victim may suffer only bruises that go away, or they may be permanently maimed. I am inexpressibly troubled about the long term health effects of exposure to Checkmate. If you were exposed and your health has been permanently damaged, research is likely to be your most helpful ally. It may be difficult to find medical help. Many traditional doctors will refuse to recognize chemical injury. Such doctors will not be helpful to you. But, as we have seen, other doctors have willingly stepped forward to proclaim the harm of these chemicals, and you may need to seek help from them. Alternative medicine may also offer tremendous help to you in working to regain better health after your exposure. Herbs, diet, exercise and other resources may help you to heal. You will need to research this and reach out for help wherever you can find it.

In today’s toxic world, we are all being exposed to harmful substances, whether from cars, agriculture, manufacture or other sources. Pesticide injury is extremely common, and what you learn may prove very helpful not only to yourself but to others. As we all work to halt the use of pesticides in California, you can commit not only to finding help for your own injuries, but to helping others with theirs.

6) Lastly, I believe it will help you to make a conscious commitment not to become like your opponent. One of the greatest tragedies of abuse is that it becomes generational. The abused girl becomes the abusive mother. The assaulted village becomes the future attacker. This unhappy phenomenon works both ways. Once upon a time, a man who didn’t keep his word became a social outcast. He was viewed with contempt by society. But now, in America, so many men have broken their promises on so many fronts that we have become jaded and expect our politicians, advertisers, and business people to lie to us. The abuse of promise-breaking has been allowed to take root and fester. It’s epidemic in both private and public life in the 21st century and continues to be passed on from generation to generation. Conversely, corporal punishment was once the norm of the American public school system. Rods, canes and paddles adorned the walls of the principal’s office. If an educator strikes a child now, he goes to jail. Our society has become intolerant of the abuse of children, and this change for the better will be passed on to future generations.

There is a terrible urge in all of us to strike back when we are injured. A potential response to the aerial assault of California would be a physical war against the government…a descent into unforgivable violence. On a more individual level, the experience of having our worth so disregarded that someone poisoned us might make us so angry we might strike out against our family and friends, using our bad experience as an excuse to be abusive to others.

Let’s make a better choice. I believe it will help you to intellectually choose not to pass on the abuse you have experienced. Rather, let this experience of suffering nourish your compassion for all who are suffering. The flip side to abuse causing further violence is abuse creating incredibly kind, considerate and passive people who would never inflict their own wounds on another living being. Recognize the abuse, but choose not to repeat it.

In Conclusion
The United States of America is only a few centuries old. We are not so far removed from the concept of government by the people and for the people that we cannot get back to these values. In realizing that the president, the so-called environmental agencies and the state agencies are actually our employees, the possibility of firing them if they don’t abide by the law of the land becomes more real to us. Only the most insecure boss would let his own employees abuse him. In this case, we are the boss.

I realize it’s a lot more complicated than this, and that our government has gotten incredibly out of hand with its abuses of the power we give them. But I am making the decision to believe that we can change America’s values. As the polar ice cap melts and 1960’s DDT flows out of the water into Canada, we can point our finger at the corporations who created such a deadly substance and vow that these entities will no longer be permitted to endanger our bodies and our planet. I believe the time is coming when a re-ordering of our priorities will be required. A nibble on your lettuce or pesticides flowing out of the tap in your kitchen? Bird song or eerily weed-free lawns? Life or gasoline?
We’ve got decisions to make.

And the abuse we’ve suffered, seeing what greed and a bloodthirsty human impulse for control and power does to innocent people, can be a transforming experience for us. It can be the horrible moment in our past that decided us, once and for all, to give our allegiance to the light, not the dark, side. It can be the guiding spirit that lights our way through the struggle we all know we still have to face with CDFA and their continued, unacceptable fouling of our habitat. As we continue to demand justice, urging California to adopt new values and hear our story, our trauma can be our truth.

Let it not be forgotten that though the deadly specter of aerial spraying has now passed by the urban communities of California, thousands of innocent people were sprayed by the CDFA with toxic pesticides in the fall of 2007.

Let it not be forgotten that Monterey and Santa Cruz families were grievously sickened by this sudden assault, that an infant and a little girl nearly lost their lives, and that some of the victims are still sick nearly a year after the enforced aerial spraying.

Let it not be forgotten that the long term effects of their exposure to this pesticide remain unknown to all of us.

Let it not be forgotten that these innocent people suffered not only a chemical assault, but utter disruption of their normal daily lives and a constant and severe level of psychological distress. This time of distress will be remembered by all who experienced it, especially the little children who will grow up with the understanding that, sometimes, corrupt governments attack their own people.

Let it not be forgotten that countless wild animals, companion animals, and wild and endangered birds were damaged by this assault. It is likely that thousands of birds were killed by the aerial spraying of pesticides over their habitat. Residents continue to report that no hummingbirds have been seen in their neighborhood since the spraying began some 10 months ago. A count of fatalities in mammalian and aquatic animal families is unknown. It is unknown how many bees, butterflies and other insects were decimated by the spraying of pesticides on the Central Coast.

Let it not be forgotten that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, A.G. Kawamura, Steve Lyle and their allies conspired with the chemical manufacturer, Stewart Resnick, to aerially spray some 7 million United States citizens with untested biochemicals.

Let it not be forgotten that the people of California were lied to repeatedly by these men and the agencies they represent regarding the safety of spraying pesticides on human beings.

Let it not be forgotten that 2 superior courts found the CDFA to be in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act and ruled that they had declared a false emergency. They are guilty men.

Let it not be forgotten that Joan Denton and the staff of OEHHA utterly failed in their duty to protect the health of the people of California and their environment. The hundreds of reports of severe illness submitted to OEHHA were utterly disregarded, dehumanizing the families of the Central Coast and placing all of California in unforgettable danger. OEHHA is guilty of egregious negligence.

Let it not be forgotten that these same unqualified and uneducated agencies, having proven their untrustworthiness and incompetence, are now continuing to make policy in California, the goal of which is to continue to use toxic chemicals, poison and pesticides in their ludicrous pursuit of a harmless insect.

Let it not be forgotten that we have all learned that we cannot trust the USDA, CDFA, OEHHA and related agencies, nor can we trust Governor Schwarzenegger. Any statement they make, promise they give, assurance they promulgate needs to be viewed with the utmost critical suspicion. We have learned the hard way that we cannot trust these people or their agencies. We will never forget this.

Let it not be forgotten that, one by one, courageous US citizens stepped forward in defense of the people of California. In both professional and private capacities, thousands of individuals gave of their skills and time to fight off an aerial application of pesticides over human beings.

Let it not be forgotten that on June 19th, 2008, our powerful protest succeeded in halting CDFA’s plans to spray our families with pesticides. We have discovered our own power. We have only just begun to use it.

We, at Vegan Reader, will never forget the physical sufferings of the people of the Central Coast, nor the mental anguish suffered by all Californians under the threat of an aerial assault planned by our own government agencies. We hold the guilty parties morally responsible and accountable for the damage they have done to us all. We know that we can expect further lies, further threats of exposure to poisons both in the case of the light brown apple moth and other future species. And we know now that we must never let what happened to the families of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties happen again. Never again.

Let it never be forgotten that the LBAM Aerial Spraying of California was and will always be a human rights issue. We have the right to safety for ourselves, our families and our environment. No agency will ever be free to poison us for profits or any other motive. Let us continue to champion the just and enlightened cause of the rights of free people and their essential habitat.

We invite you to add your own statements of remembrance in the comments field below.

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Photo credit to Uckhet’s Flickr Photo Set

Communication Tips, Free of Charge

Secretary Kawamura:

You often say that your agency has done a poor job communicating with the public about the LBAM eradication program. Here are two tips from a communications professional, free of charge:

1. Listen to the people who disagree with you, especially when they have MD and PhD after their names, although others have valuable insights and ideas, too. You might actually learn something that will benefit everyone.

For example, has anyone on your staff gone to New Zealand to corroborate Harder’s and Rosendale’s findings, speaking to the same experts they spoke to, or did you simply dismiss their report out of hand, perhaps so you would not jeopardize $75 million a year from USDA, which I’m sure is helpful during times of budget cuts?

2. Tell the truth. You seem to think you are clever enough to deceive millions of people, and this has steadily eroded the public’s trust in you, the CDFA, and the Agriculture industry as a whole. Most people know spin and a lack of transparency from a mile away.

Taken together, your unwillingness to deeply consider different viewpoints and your misleading statements and half-truths, are the only two things you need to correct in order to have better communications. You don’t need to hire a PR agency for $500,000. You don’t need more staff. You don’t need a new communication strategy. You just need to have enough respect for people to listen and tell the truth. It’s really pretty simple – or apparently not.

If you’d like, you can start right now by admitting that the ridiculous spin you put on yesterday’s announcement – the “scientific breakthrough” – was not the true reason for changing your strategy. Congressman Sam Farr said as much in his press release, which I’ve attached.

Then, if you are man enough to take a second step, you can admit that the “no link” spin you continue to put on the hundreds of illnesses people suffered isn’t true either, and that it doesn’t even accurately reflect the conclusions of OEHHA’s report, which said the state couldn’t be certain.

Then, if you really care about the person you become, you can admit that there is strong reason to believe, with the new studies related to the microparticles in the Checkmate sprays, that the CDFA’s actions likely caused the hundreds if not thousands of illnesses, and apologize to the people you hurt, including the parents of the one-year-old boy you almost killed, and the nine-year-old Santa Cruz girl who barely survived (have you even read their parents’ reports?).

You will never have the public’s trust, and therefore never have effective communications, until you follow these simple guidelines.

Of course, you will likely ignore this message, too, or put an inaccurate spin on it.

Mike Lynberg

Printed with Mike’s permission

Dear Valued Readers,
If your shoulders are feeling strangely lighter on this historic evening in the state of California, it is because an imminent sentence of disease and death via aerial spraying has just been lifted from millions of us.

Take a seat and read this news!

I am not ashamed to say that my husband and I fell to our knees and thanked our Creator when the press release was finally issued. In this long, weary and psychologically devastating battle, we have achieved one small victory for the rights of humankind today. The State has heard the message that they will not be allowed to aerially spray pesticides over urban areas. I want to take a moment to shout my joy and celebrate with you over this momentous turning point in our struggle.

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Our efforts are making a difference. Our voices are not soundless. All of us are seeing that we are not powerless to protect our families from harm! We are not fighting without hope.

But, we are still fighting.

Now is not the moment to rest.

There is so much work for us to do.

The Work Ahead
My first questions after reading the news are these:

1) What constitutes an urban area and what constitutes agricultural/undeveloped land? Are the rural outskirts of a town classified as undeveloped? How many people have to live in a region for it to be classified as developed? This is going to become the most important question now.

2) Rep. Sam Farr went into and came out of his meetings with the Ag people calling the light brown apple moth a ‘threat’. We have got to work on getting this moth reclassified. We know it isn’t a threat. How can we make reclassification happen?

3) Twist ties, permethrin sludge on telephone poles and other ground based methods are extremely toxic and dangerous to us, wildlife, water, air, soil. These are unacceptable poisons. We refuse to be exposed to any of them. How will we now begin the fight against all of the CDFA’s ‘alternative’ toxic measures?

The long fight here is going to be over the classification of urban vs. undeveloped. Now that CDFA is saying they will only spray Ag. Lands, that looks to me like everyone in Sonoma County may be sprayed because of the monstrous alcohol industry here. Will Sonoma, rural Marin, rural Santa Cruz and rural Monterey now be aerially sprayed just as their urban neighbors are let off the hook?

We must not allow this to happen! No aerial spraying, no twist ties, no pesticides, chemicals or poisons are acceptable to us. The fight is far from over, and we need to recognize our new-found power and harness it to continue to fight these misguided and criminally dangerous agencies which continue to place zero importance on human and environmental health. We must keep fighting.

Today is a banner day for California. We have shown the strength of our arm, as an ancient prayer says. We must now use this strength to begin the real change California is desperately crying out for: the steady march away from the imperiling and deadly practices of conventional agriculture toward a just and healthy future for our people.

Readers -

Something is happening today. Please read this Mercury News article.

There is a press call set for 3:00 today after the meeting.

My husband and I are both feeling like something is going on right now. With the halt of the Twist Ties in Sonoma and Migden’s Moratorium passing on to the full senate, things are happening. I don’t know what to make of this reference to a ‘major scientific breakthrough’ and I am very concerned about Sam Farr urging ground treatments, but it’s too early to predict what this is all about.

I guess we’ll all know in a few hours. Hang in there!
Mim

Today, Carol Migden’s Moratorium Senate Resolution SRC 87 passed the Senate Ag Committee and will now move on to be heard by the full senate. The Resolution passed 4-0.

Read Coverage Here

Basically, this Resolution would halt the spraying until further testing is done. My thought is that it might buy us a little more time to ensure that whatever testing is done is not being done by CDFA’s allies.

I know everyone will be really glad to read this good news. Goodness knows, we need some, and we thank Carol Migden for her strong efforts to protect the innocent people of California from this aerial assault on our families.

UPDATE: MORE GOOD NEWS!

Twist ties halted in Sonoma County. Read All About It Here

Are you sitting down?

I hope you have a good, firm chair to sit in before you read what is undoubtedly the worst, most offensive article any news source has yet published on the LBAM public health crisis.

The honor of infamy goes to reporter Sarah Campbell of the Kenwood Press, and I warn you, reading the following news piece may cause your blood pressure to skyrocket dangerously high.

Here is the jaw-dropping Kenwood Press article

In addition to regurgitating the CDFA’s tired propaganda regarding the ‘threat’ of the light brown apple moth, Campbell gets wonderfully cute, summing up deadly chemicals being poured on human beings like this, “So, if you sense something’s a little different in the air this summer, don’t worry, it’s just the love.”

I would like this misguided reporter to have to stand up and read this article to the DeLay family, the Wilcox family, the Lynbergs, the Nagels and the hundreds of other Central Coast families who fell so terribly ill after being forced to inhale carcinogenic pesticides by the CDFA in 2007. I would like her to play it up for big laughs as Mrs. Wilcox turns quietly aside to give her little baby another dose of corticosteroids to keep him breathing.

And, I would like you, my valued readers, to join me in letting this news writer know what you think of her coverage after you’ve read the above piece.

Lies are one thing. They are easy to call ‘evil’ once you know what you’re hearing. But levity…in the face of 7 million people being force-fed deadly pesticides….I hardly know how to respond.

But I did try, and here is the letter I’ve just sent off to Ms. Campbell:

Dear Ms. Campbell,
I am writing in regards to your article on the subject of the light brown apple moth featured in this month’s edition of the Kenwood Press. I am running the web’s most active blog on this subject, and feel compelled to write to you personally, having read your coverage of this issue.

What you have done, Ms. Campbell, either due to a lack of information and research or for other reasons I can’t conceive of, is to tell the people of Sonoma County that if something is different in the air this summer, it’s love. In point of fact, if something is different in the air this summer it is toxic chemicals which will cause devastating harm to humans, wildlife, the watershed and soil.

To begin with, the substance the CDFA intends to spray is a registered pesticide, not an alternative to a pesticide as you have stated in your article. The 2 forms of Checkmate sprayed on the people of the Central Coast in 2007 are registered with the EPA as pesticides. The aerial pesticide consists of 3 extremely dangerous components: 1) the carcinogenic, mutagenic, endocrine disrupting ‘inert’ ingredients, 2) the synthetic insect pheromone mimics which a growing body of evidence suggests causes alarming sexual aggression in large mammals including human beings and 3) the plastic microcapsules, more than half of which will be smaller than the American Lung Association’s designation of PM10 - a size of particulate matter which lodges deep in the human lung from which it cannot be expelled and causes disease and death.

My blog is frequented by many members of the hundreds and hundreds of families who were sickened by the 2007 spraying. One man’s baby went into cardiac arrest, his eyes rolled back into his head and he was rushed to an emergency hospital while having respiratory failure. This formerly-healthy baby is now being kept breathing by means of corticosteroids. Local school attendance in the Monterey/Santa Cruz area was cut in half during the spraying due to illness. Many of my women readers experienced bizarre reproductive health effects including menopausal women over the age of 65 recommencing menstruation. Dogs, cats, rabbits and honeybees died. The local people woke up to a world devoid of bird song after the enforced aerial spraying and over 600 sea birds washed up dead on the beaches. Imagine, no bird song. Some regions have seen no hummingbirds since the spraying last fall in their gardens. My readers and their friends and family were victims of an illegal and unconstitutional aerial assault. Some of them are still sick with respiratory problems, 10 months later.

One by one, UC scientists and independent physicians (not employed by the USDA or CDFA) have stepped forward to explain that exposure to the aerial spray will cause catastrophic damage to infants, children, expectant mothers, elders and any resident who is in poor health. The CDFA is planning to chronically expose 7 million people to a registered pesticide encapsulated in PM10 particulate matter. This will be happening 8 hours a night, up to 5 nights a month, 9 months out of the year for 5-10 years. And, because the pesticide is designed to break down over a 30-90 day period each time it is sprayed, the air and our bodies will never be free of it. We will be eating, drinking and breathing this toxic, carcinogenic pollution for the next decade. I’m hoping that at this point, you are starting to see how inappropriate your remarks about love being in the air seem to me and to anyone who is having their life turned upside down by this aerial assault on the public health.

In regards to the twist ties, again, your article strives to portray these materials as safe and necessary. In point of fact, over 30% of the chemicals in the twist ties are being kept a secret from the public, so there is no way for you or anyone else in Sonoma to know what you are being exposed to. What we know do know about the twist ties is this:

1) 33.48% of the ingredients in the twist ties are secret. They do not have to be disclosed to the public because of laws which protect trade secrets rather than public health.

2) The product is being listed as harmful if absorbed through skin and dangerous to the eyes. People exposed to the product are instructed to contact a poison control center and go to a doctor.

3) You are supposed to bring the container for the toxic twist ties with you to the doctor. You will not have the container if you are poisoned by LBAM twist ties.

4) Because 33.48% of the ingredients on the twist ties are secret, your doctor will have no idea what you were poisoned by.

5) The Material Safety Data Sheet created by the manufacturer says that this poison must not be applied to water or areas where water surface is present. In other words, you must not put it near creeks, ponds, coasts, reservoirs, rivers, or any other type of watershed. The sheet says do not contaminate water when disposing of this product. From this, we understand that Isomate-LBAM PLUS twist ties contaminate water.

6) This is an unregistered product that has been approved for use in California only. It has not gone through the normal battery of tests required of registered products.

The region which CDFA intends to blanket with these toxic materials not only includes schools and parks, but also thousands of people. Children will be surrounded by these dangerous poisons and will undoubtedly be touching them as they play in and around trees and bushes. Pets and wildlife are also going to be at risk of chemical damage from these twist ties. These are not harmless products, as you have portrayed them, and I cannot understate the disservice you have done to your community by falsely informing people of the safety of registered pesticides and toxic substances.

As for the light brown apple moth, your article is strangely silent on the fact that this moth has done and is expected to do zero damage to California’s agriculture and environment. You are totally incorrect in stating that California has no natural predators of this harmless bug. Birds, bats and bugs eat the light brown apple moth…I hope you will agree with me that Sonoma County has a tremendous amount of birds, bats and bugs. But, if we kill them off with pesticides we will be removing the very predators that do keep leafrollers in a good balance. As was discovered by a team of scientists who visited New Zealand to research the LBAM, so long as organophosphate pesticides aren’t being used and killing off the birds, bats and bugs, LBAM is no problem. Even CDFA admits it has done zero damage in California, despite the fact that it has been here from as little as 7 and as many as 50 years.

I urge you, Ms. Campbell, to do further research on this issue which is without question the most egregious California has faced in modern times. Do you really support a government that subjects its citizens to aerial spraying of pesticide on human beings without their consent? Do you really want to live in a country where this can happen?

31 cities have now passed strong resolutions vehemently opposing the bombardment of their communities with aerial pesticides. Mayors, senators, representatives, major media, independent medical experts and UC scientists are demanding that these misguided agencies uphold the California Constitution which protects our right to safety. We cannot be safe when we are being chronically exposed to deadly chemicals.

CDFA has now been found guilty by 2 superior courts of violating the California Environmental Quality Act in declaring their completely unfounded emergency. It was this phony declaration that enabled them to spray our neighbors on the Central Coast who then fell horribly ill. CDFA has been found guilty…they are lawbreakers, not people you should trust. To put it bluntly, they are liars.

Why would they lie to us? CDFA stands to receive billions of dollars in federal funding over the next decade if they are not stopped from spraying us. In order to keep the money coming in, they are totally willing to spray me, my family, you, your family, with carcinogenic pesticide.

What you have done, Ms. Campbell, is to reprint their totally unscientific hogwash about the ‘threat’ of this negligible bug that needs to be reclassified as a harmless insect. At best, the LBAM issue is a trade issue, as you will quickly discover with a bit of research. At worst, this is the most blatant human experiment to be undertaken by our government in its total history.

I am writing to you out of horrified concern, having read what you have just written for our community to read. I implore you to run corrections at the least of the misstatements you have authored regarding the chemicals being an alternative to pesticides, being safe, and the LBAM having no predators here. I urge you to correct the gross misstatement that Oakland, Marin, San Francisco and other cities have ‘elected’ to be aerially sprayed. To the contrary, all of the local governments are demanding that the spraying be halted, but are being told the pesticide will be enforced on them. We have been told ‘there is no vote’. We are being told we have no choice. I urge you correct what you wrote. And, I am praying you will do more than this. I am praying you will sit down with your editors and start truly researching what is happening here, and that you will print a truthful article in next month’s Kenwood Press.

When you are in the media, you are responsible for printing the facts…all of the facts. How will you feel if, when the twist ties go up, your neighborhood falls ill, children are being rushed to the ER, and you’ve got people asking you why you made light of what is, in fact, a terribly dangerous substance? How will the Kenwood Press staff feel when the planes start flying over the Bay Area and the vast population begins to fall ill, as happened on the Central Coast last year, and you have to face that you have covered this issue with a tongue-in-cheek reference to ‘love being in the air’?

Unfortunately, it is death that’s in the air for our most vulnerable and precious populations…children, mothers, elders, the infirm. Nothing to laugh about, I am sure you will agree, once you start learning more about this matter.

I do understand, CDFA has employed some first-class liars. Their statements seem so plausible if you don’t understand how they operate. Anyone can be duped if they don’t take the time to find out what is actually going on here in California. But, I am so hoping that this letter will be the start of your own research. What is happening is going to affect you and everyone you care for who lives here, Ms. Campbell.

Allow me to suggest that you visit the following sites to read articles and watch video documentation of the truth about the most severe public health crisis our state has ever faced.

Here is a YouTube page featuring numerous interviews both with families who were sickened by the 2007 spraying and with scientists:
http://youtube.com/user/eon3

These are the most active websites regarding this issue:
http://www.lbamspray.com
http://www.dontspraycalifornia.org
http://www.stopthespray.org
http://www.cassonline.org
http://www.veganreader.com
http://www.dontspray.com

Over the past months, my family has been devoting all of our free time to trying to educate our communities about what happened to Central Coast families in 2007. I have spoken with countless, honest individuals who were sickened by CDFA’s illegal spraying. I don’t want this to happen to our Bay Area, and am so hoping that when you learn more about this, you will feel the need that we do to work to protect our families from this unnecessary, unconstitutional violation of our basic human rights.

Sincerely,
& etc.

I think you’ll agree with me that the Central Coast families and the Bay Area families who are set to be sprayed have already got enough to deal with without being snickered at by totally uninformed and unworthy news people. Can this woman have done more than 5 minutes of research on this subject prior to firing up Microsoft Word? I hope you will take a moment to set her straight and let her know this is no joking matter:

Contact:
Sarah Campbell
sarah@kenwoodpress.com

EAST BAY COMMUNITY TOWN HALL TO STOP THE SPRAY

Monday, June 23, 2008
7:00 pm -9:00 pm

Location: Lakeside Park Garden Center at Lake Merritt
666 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland, CA. 94610

Directions: http://www.oaklandnet.com/parks/rental_facilities/gardencenter_directions.asp

Sponsored by Stop the Spray- East Bay and Pesticide Watch

Learn about the latest legal and legislative strategies to protect our communities from the spraying program for Light Brown Apple Moth. Hear the most up-to-date science and health information. Get involved!

Speakers will include:

John Russo - Oakland City Attorney ~ providing the most current information on legal strategies to stop the spray in the Bay Area

Douglas MacLean, Communications Director, Assemblyman Sandré Swanson ~ reporting on legislative strategies to stop the spray

Daniel Harder, Ph.D., Executive Director, Arboretum, UC Santa Cruz, ~ providing scientific evidence the moth is not a threat

Lawrence Rose, MD, MPH, former senior Public Medical Officer for Cal-OSHA and part of the UCSF Occupational/Environmental Medicine Department ~ discussing toxicity of the spray and health effects