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Apr 10, 2008 5:03 pm US/Pacific
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Apple Moth Spraying May Affect Calif. Economy
SOQUEL (AP) ―
As state officials prepare planes to spray the San Francisco Bay area with pesticides to fight an invasive moth, politicians are starting to worry not only about the endeavor's potential impacts on human health, but on local commerce.
State environmental health experts announced Thursday that illnesses reported by hundreds of residents after a first round of spraying on the Central Coast couldn't conclusively be tied to the pest eradication efforts.
Still, public uncertainty alone could be enough to slow summer tourism, drive residents to leave town and cause real estate agents to initiate conversations with their clients about whether they want to buy property in the proposed spray zone, local government officials say.
"If there's spray residue on the grass, are people going to feel safe going to Golden Gate Park?" said Mark Westlund, a spokesman for San Francisco's Department of the Environment. "Tourism is what keeps this city floating, and if people are worried about coming here because they could get sprayed on, that could have an impact."
Last fall, California agriculture authorities invoked emergency powers to send up planes that dropped a fine chemical mist on Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, where the light brown apple moth population was quickly multiplying.
The campaign was meant to safeguard valuable crops and to address the existing woes of infested plant nurseries in Soquel and neighboring towns, which were losing millions of dollars from a quarantine temporarily grounding their plants.
After the first round of spraying, however, at least 450 people reported feeling symptoms ranging from itchy eyes to trouble breathing.
Despite the state's repeated assurances that their complaints can't be firmly linked to the spray—a low dose of an organic, synthetic pheromone mixture—residents and politicians farther north are getting nervous.
In Marin County, real estate agents are considering amending their disclosure forms to tell future home buyers about the aerial sprays scheduled in the Bay Area this summer and advising them to consult a doctor for more information before closing a deal, said Levi Swift, president of the Marin Association of Realtors.
Though analysts say the spray is unlikely to have any lasting effects on properties in the spray zone or on the real estate market, attorneys said it was wise to notify buyers to ward off potential lawsuits.
"If my real estate agent had knowledge of the spraying activity and didn't tell me, I could certainly sue for misrepresentation," said real estate attorney Lewis Feldman, a senior partner with Goodwin Procter in Los Angeles. "The fact that the government says something isn't harmful doesn't prevent people from filing suit."
In Santa Cruz, Mayor Ryan Coonerty said he was hoping local businesses wouldn't take a hit if a rush of people left town or if tourists stayed away in June, when Santa Cruz is scheduled for a second aerial treatment.
Sunita Chethik, who lived in Santa Cruz for 30 years, said pheromone droplets drifted into her bedroom during the first round of spraying in November, causing her immune system to collapse. She recently moved to Santa Fe, N.M. to avoid more exposure, and activists with the California Alliance to Stop the Spray report dozens more people are considering similar relocations.
"The plane was making a pass, and it came in through an open window and landed directly on us. It smelled like Raid," said Chethik, who says she gave up her job as a teacher rather than risk worsening a pre-existing case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. "They're poisoning people, and the only choice they're giving us is to leave."
So far, the moth has had the most palpable effect on those who can't leave: farmers in counties where crops are quarantined to keep the infestation from spreading.
The Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau estimates wholesale and retail nurseries lost about $2.8 million in forgone sales and investments toward fighting off the moth from April to December 2007.
Chris Pavlos manages a nursery in Soquel, just south of Santa Cruz, where seven larvae were found rolled into tiny, sleeping bag-like sacs nestled in individual plant leaves.
The moths didn't defoliate or visibly damage any of the plants. But the discovery triggered a two-day shut down of the nursery, which caused a $50,000 loss in sales.
He's spent an equal amount hiring an in-house crew of moth hunters, who scour Soquel Nursery Growers' 14 acres looking for larvae and treating shrubs with insecticides.
"It's very difficult to get any real rest when they're inspecting you every two weeks," said Pavlos, as he walked through rows of flowering bougainvillea on a recent afternoon. "Even so, we're just not seeing the kind of damages to plants they keep talking about."
According to the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, the Australian insect threatens more than 2,000 varieties of California plants and crops and could destroy up to $560 million worth of fruits and vegetables in a single year.
If moths spread into the fertile San Joaquin Valley, authorities warn many of the state's fruit and vegetable crops could have a hard time finding markets abroad.
"We've been fortunate that Canada and Mexico are the only countries that have imposed apple moth restrictions on us so far," said Larry Hawkins, a spokesman for the USDA. "That doesn't mean there won't be other countries restricting produce later."
Spraying is only set to occur in areas that can't be treated through other ground-based strategies. Still, state Secretary of Food and Agriculture A. G. Kawamura says the effort is necessary not only to protect the agriculture industry, but to save landmarks like Golden Gate Park, home to many species the USDA considers host plants.
"One side says it's a voracious pest and the other side says it isn't," said Ken Corbishley, the agriculture commissioner in Santa Cruz County. "The one thing that is true is that local folks are being impacted."
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)