You mention the disappearance of birds, who are vital to any natural habitat and growing of plants, yet everyone seems to want to immediately defend and only point, in reply to your original article, the effects they have had on humans, and have ignored the other problems this brand has created.

In my humble opinion, Nature is it’s own best pesticide. If these farms grew more variety, they wouldn’t need these alternative ways of reducing the bug population.

Btw. I got onto your article, as I was researching the hypocritical endeavours of the owner of Suterra, Lynda Resnick, who claims to be doing her bit for the environment and health research, despite being the owner of a bottled water company (Fiji Water), the Suterra pesticides company and POM Wonderful (plus a handful of other supposed ecological farms in CA). She would be more beneficial to peoples health, and to the World environment if she stopped running her businesses altogether!

Edo

It’s good that you are researching this, and before you make up your mind that this chemical is safe, please spend some time on this page:

http://dontspraycalifornia.org/lbam.html#IMPACTONHEALTH

Scroll down to the 2 images of a woman holding a plastic bag containing the twist ties and read about adverse health reactions people have experienced after coming into contact with these toxic twist ties. Further instances of adverse reactions have been reported in Yahoo! Groups but the discussion is one that requires a login. I believe these reports and you can discern whether you believe them or not after you read them.

Finally, it’s important to point out that even the Material Safety Data sheet for the twist ties lists them as an irritant to the eyes and ‘harmful if absorbed through skin’. So, unlike the natural substance that has been produced by moths since moths first came into existence, the chemical on these ties is not natural and not safe.

Good luck with your further research.
Mim

Lures used in insect traps emit only the amount of pheromone that a single female insect of that species emits. If they emit any more, the males do not fly into those traps because the level of pheromone seems abnormal for them. They also can’t have any foreign or intert smells coming from them because that would also not seem normal for male insects, and they would not fly into that trap. So essentially, a insect trap lure is an artificial female. So explain to me how you would get rash and skin irritations from a lure, and not get rash and skin irritations from sitting in your back yard at night, with moths flying around, all of which are emitting pheromones.

There have also been some very concerning European studies done of the effects of synthetic insect pheromones on animals in Africa. Rage and previously undocumented violent behavior were the effects documented in elephants. Like so many things, effects like these may go long unnoticed in the general population, and first show up in children, the elderly and the immuno-compromised. In my opinion, a just society protects these elements of their culture first…not last.

I appreciated you coming to share what you’ve heard about synthetic pheromones and hope you will continue to research this. We will be doing the same.

Mim

When there are health problems associated, they’re often from what the pheromones were mixed with for spraying. Pheromones are highly concentrated, and generally there’s not much in a mix that’s sprayed. They’re “pesticides” because federal law defines anything that can prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate any pest as a pesticide. Not every pesticide is a poison. Silver, the same silver as is in jewelry, is used in some countertops to reduce bacterial growth. When used for that purpose, silver is considered as a pesticide.

For example, the description of a watershed “horrifically fouled with a yellow, foaming substance” sounds like a description of a spray adjuvant–intended to help spread the material and get it to stick to foliage–rather than the pheromone itself.

For those of you who’ve been researching the spraying in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, did you find a list of everything in the mix that was sprayed? Look at the other ingredients and see what their health effects might be.

Thank you for taking the time to share your views on this subject as well as your experience in working with synthetic pheromones.

The product created by Suterra and used in 2007 by the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture as part of the LBAM program is, in fact, a registered pesticide … not an alternative to pesticide. One of its ingredients is a synthetic pheromone, combined with other so-called ‘inert’ ingredients. Unfortunately, far from being non-toxic, Suterra’s LBAM pesticide caused hundreds of families to fall seriously ill in California in 2007 and nearly killed 2 small children, as well as killing hundreds of sea birds, pets and honey bees.

The simple and complex effects of synthetic pheromones on life-forms other than moths are simply not understood, and have never been researched. The spraying of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in 2007 was an illegal human experiment and the results were prolonged illness and fatality amongst human and animal subjects.

Suterra markets their pheromones as ‘alternatives’ to pesticides, when, in fact, Suterra is well aware of the fact that their products are legally registered pesticides.

I appreciate that you’ve taken the time to share your own understanding of these substances, Chris, but it’s very important to us that we respond with further information about these pesticides which are, in fact, incredibly dangerous.

The compound that was used has a physical characteristic similar to wax. I have personally spent quite a bit of time around pheromones used by Suterra. In fact I have purified and synthesized some of these compounds. I can say that pheromones in general are not particularly hazardous. Some even have a generally pleasant odor. These compounds confuse the insects and make it hard to find a mate. Perhaps the best analogy would be perfume for insects. Because it confuses the insects by preventing them from finding mates it is considered to be an insecticide. The effect of Suterra’s pheromone is highly specific for the insect of interest (there are a wide diversity in insect pheromones) unlike a toxic agent which will kill all insects.

Consider that the pheromones used by Suterra are chemically identical to the compounds excreted by the insect. Certainly there is a lot more of these compounds released into the environment however the chemical involved here is not toxic as judged by extensive experimentation. The synthetic compound is characterized for purity (Usually 98+% pure), and any impurities must also be characterized as not toxic.

The compound used by suterra to control LBAM is a much better alternatives to toxic insecticides.

I suggest you also further research Suterra’s products which are classified by the EPA as pesticides, and unlike the natural product created by insects as a biological process, are, in fact, laboratory chemicals with the ability to devastate animal and insect health.

I am very, very concerned that you have been led to believe that Suterra is a hero in the organics field. As an organic farmer, I can assure you that they are not seen that way by people in the organics community. Rather, they are on par with feared and despised corporations such as Monsanto, and are not worthy of praise in the field of organics.

I sincerely urge you to continue your own research regarding Suterra and their products, particularly if your live in or near Bend, Oregon. Your health is at stake.

If anything the city of Bend should be applauding Suterra’s efforts to help create more healthy and organic crops, instead of having to eat an apple stuffed with pesticides. Perhaps there should be more ACTUAL facts, with real textual back-ups on your ideas of what the people of California claimed to experience after the spraying of the pheromones, before you make any assumptions of anything you have never personally witnessed yourself.