CDFA has now released their Draft EIR and is giving public notice of their plans for pursuing the LBAM. These unacceptable and utterly evil plans include use of the following poisons, all of which CDFA is ludicrously claiming will cause no harm to California:

3) Mating Disruption with LBAM-specific pheromones (using twist ties, ground application, aerial application), (4) Male Moth Attractant using the pheromone plus permethrin, and (5) Organically Approved Insecticides, Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (Btk) and Spinosad, applied from the ground.

What Do Pheromones Do?
Veterans in this conflict with the CDFA are already well aware that the pheromones being used in CDFA’s assault on California are not natural substances but laboratory chemicals. Hundreds of families in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties fell severely ill in 2007 when they were aerially sprayed with CDFAs pheromone pesticdes (see summary of human health damages), beaches were littered with dead sea birds, domestic animals perished and honey bee populations were devastated.

CDFA’s planned use of further applications of pheromone pesticides across California by means of aerial spraying, telephone pole splats and twists ties endangers the health and lives of all humans and animals and must not be allowed.

What Does Permethrin Do?
From the Journal of Pesticide Reform:

The insecticide permethrin (in the synthetic pyrethroid family) is widely used on cotton, wheat, corn, alfalfa, and other crops. In addition, over 100 million applications are made annually in and around U.S. homes.

Permethrin, like all synthetic pyrethroids, is a neurotoxin. Symptoms include tremors, incoordination, elevated body temperature, increased aggressive behavior, and disruption of learning. Laboratory tests suggest that permethrin is more acutely toxic to children than to adults.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified permethrin as a carcinogen because it causes lung tumors in female mice and liver tumors in mice of both sexes. Permethrin inhibits the activity of the immune system in laboratory tests, and also binds to the receptors for a male sex hormone. It causes chromosome aberrations in human and hamster cells.

Permethrin is toxic to honey bees and other beneficial insects, fish, aquatic insects, crayfish, and shrimp. For many species, concentrations of less than one part per billion are lethal. Permethrin causes deformities and other developmental problems in tadpoles, and reduces the number of oxygen-carrying cells in the blood of birds.

CDFA says permethrin will not harm us, but the truth is that it will cause bizarre neurological symptoms of tremor and aggressiveness, and raised body temperatures (incidentally, a symptom of nearly all autoimmune diseases) and will kill our vanishing honeybees, fish and other creatures. Permethrin is very dangerous to all of us and is classified as a carcinogen. CDFA must not be allowed to put permethrin into California’s environment.

What Does Btk Do?
NCAP has a good toxicology sheet which explains some of the dangers of Btk exposure. In addition to being deadly to all kinds of cherished butterflies, moths and insects, Btk is a bacteria that survives and reproduces in the human intestinal system and has been linked with gastrointestinal disease. If you know anyone with Crohn’s disease, IBS, IBD or Ulcerative Colitis, please take the time to learn about this link between Btk exposure and gastrointestinal illness. The fact that Btk has been approved for organic use is not the result of proven safety. Rather, it is a tragedy of the corruption of the organic community and organic standards. I’m an organic farmer and I would never, never spray Btk on my fields. I consider it to be highly toxic to all life forms and so do the countless citizens of Auckland, New Zealand who were horrifically sickened after being sprayed with Btk. To learn more about this, visit The People’s Inquiry website.

CDFA claims exposure to Btk won’t harm anything, but science refutes this. CDFA must not be allowed to expose California to this dangerous toxin.

What Does Spinosad Do?
Spinosad is another toxin that has been mistakenly approved for organic use because of corruption and a totally irresponsible lack of research. What little research has been done has shown that spinosad is not only toxic to all kinds of insects and fish, but that it is totally deadly to the world’s disappearing oyster populations. If it is toxic to these little creatures, it is also toxic to us and it is criminal to introduce this little-understood poison into our environment.

CDFA claims exposure to Spinosd won’t harm anything, but the small amount of research available on this chemical refutes this. CDFA must not be allowed to fill California with Spinosad.

I urge every Californian to pursue an immediate education about all of the weapons in CDFA’s arsenal of deadly toxins and I give my highest recommendation to read Don’t Spray California’s incredibly thorough data sheet for each of these chemical substances. In my opinion, this is the best document on the web about the poisons to which CDFA intends to expose us. CDFA’s planned actions must not be tolerated and we will continue to fight their arrogance and their abuse of the defenseless and innocent.