Aerial Spraying Update

We spent the day over the hill breathing, to be a bit dramatic, fresh air. We spent the day like we normal ever don't - walking around from mall to mall - and we tired quickly. We didn't intend on spending our day like so but Dan sent me to Nordstrom to look for something and that led to walking from one end of the mall to the other. Oh we saw great stores, Juicy Couture, PB for Kids, J Crew, etc...and there was a sushi restaurant between Ivar's & McDonald's - gotta love that! What not to love is that excursion through the mall took 2 hours! Eeps!
Coming home we speculated, by the outrage displayed by SC residents at the City Council meetings, that we would find a bare downtown which is uncalled for on a friday night - but that's not what we found. We questioned where all the outraged people were! All the people who filled the City Council meetings and spoke past their allotted time, why were they out dining downtown, watching movies and milling about?
For us the issue is having Checkmate LBAM-F sprayed over us when it has not been tested as an aerial spray and has not been used over residential areas before not to mention the precautions given by the USDA (see 'Checkmate LBAM-F' link above.)
Tonight they complete the aerial spraying just north of us.

From the SC Sentinel:
November 9, 2007
"Spraying to continue Friday night"
Kurtis AlexanderSentinel staff writer

While neighbors exchanged tales about planes buzzing overhead and mothers wondered what precautions to take for their kids, aerial spraying for the apple moth is scheduled to resume Friday night.
State officials were reviewing the progress of their spraying efforts in Santa Cruz County and likely to announce Saturday that their work is done — at least for now.

“We got a lot done in Santa Cruz,” said Nancy Lungren, a spokesperson for the Department of Food and Agriculture, which is in the beginning stage of a three-year program to prevent spread of the light brown apple moth.
“Judging from our progress, Friday will likely be the last night,” she said Friday.
After fog grounded planes and delayed spraying efforts most of the week, state officials took advantage of better weather to apply a much-discussed pesticide over coastal areas between Santa Cruz and Aptos including parts of Scotts Valley on Thursday, and prepared to spray less populated inland areas and parts of Monterey County on Friday.
But not to the pleasure of all. If it wasn’t concern about the pesticide’s safety, which has sparked at least three lawsuits and dozens of protests, it was the hum of three planes flying from 8 p.m. into the early morning hours Thursday that had residents a little rattled.
“It felt like World War II or something,” said Hilary Hultzen, who is staying in a truck trailer outside her brother’s home on Santa Cruz’s Westside.
“We’re all a little freaked out,” she said.
Farther south, Soquel resident Akin Babatola said he was restless, too, because planes were flying over his home every 15 minutes, or so it seemed.
“My wife said just put on your headset and go back to sleep,” he added.
The white, two-engine planes made runs from the Salinas airport to Santa Cruz County, spraying at heights of 500 feet and above and avoiding release of the pesticide over the ocean and other waterways, according to state officials. The spray coming out of the planes’ nozzles was not likely visible from the ground and although it could leave watery traces when it hits the earth, would not be recognizable, according to state officials.
State officials reported 663 calls Thursday night to its safety hotline and several concerns reported.
“Not all were hate calls,” said Lungren. “They were more about wanting information, but we got plenty of hate calls.”
Some callers reported feeling ill, echoing the charges of nearly 200 residents in Monterey County who complained of upset stomach and respiratory problems after spraying there in September. The number of sickness reports and their severity was not immediately available.
The state believes aerial application of the pesticide CheckMate LBAM-F, which acts as a pheromone and seeks to disrupt the male moth’s mating behavior, is necessary to prevent the moth’s spread and limit potential damage to California’s agricultural industry. The moth is known for its voracious appetite, most notably in its native Australia.
The spraying program began in the moth’s southern-most stronghold, on the Monterey Peninsula, and after Santa Cruz County, the plan is to move on to the Berkeley and San Francisco areas, as soon as February or March. State officials expect to spray the pesticide periodically over the next three years.
The pesticide, made by Bend, Ore-based Suterra LLC, is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and has the endorsement of several independent chemists. But because its use has been limited to sparsely populated ares, both residents and researchers have raised concerns about its potential long-term effects on humans.
Santa Cruz resident Lily Hudson said she kept her three children, 2, 5, and 7, home from school and in the house Friday for fear that pesticide residue could make them sick.
“I don’t like that it’s a new scientific thing, and it’s being tested on my kids,” she said from her Westside home.
Santa Cruz County Superintendent Alan Pagano said schools across the county were taking measures Friday to limit possible exposure. Teachers said playgrounds and other public areas were being hosed off before school and students were being advised to wash their hands after play periods.
While state officials have long dismissed concerns about spraying, the county of Santa Cruz, in concert with the city, and a nonprofit environmental group in Carmel have filed suits against the state, claiming the pesticide’s potential health effects have not been adequately studied. Three county women filed a similar suit, alleging additionally that their civil rights had been violated and that they had not received due process.
Judges in all three suits opted not to immediately halt spraying but will hear the cases in coming months.
“People are so upset, and I don’t blame them,” said Santa Cruz Mayor Emily Reilly, who says the city will continue to its legal fight against the state. “To someone like myself who is committed to protecting health and safety, this is shameful.”