Jun 20, 2008 7:32 pm US/Pacific
Moth Spraying Critics Celebrate State's Decision
SACRAMENTO (CBS 5) ―
The state of California has abruptly abandoned plans to spray pesticides over the Bay Area to attack the light brown apple moth. It comes after months of opposition from the public, and from scientists.
"At this point we will not be aerially spraying with moth pheromone in urban areas in the infestation zone," said Agriculture Department Spokesperson Steve Lyle, who announced suddenly the state is dropping plans to spray pheromone pesticides of the Bay Area.
The program began last year in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, as the state launched its plan to eradicate the Light Brown Apple Moth. The state planned to begin spraying over 7 million people in the Bay Area in August; something Agriculture A.G. Kawamura claimed had to begin immediately.
"If we were to wait a year, even 6, 7, 8 months we might lose that window," Kawamura said.
But CBS 5 Investigates discovered the pheromone pesticide had never undergone long-term testing, and wasn't even registered by the U.S. EPA for use anywhere other than California.
And an emergency exemption for the pesticide bypassed all federal and state EPA processes.
What's more, numerous scientists, such as Professor James Carey of UC Davis told CBS 5 Investigates the eradication program would not work.
But in a dramatic about face, and notwithstanding its earlier spraying of Monterey and Santa Cruz, the state said it won't spray Bay Area cities after all.
"We still have tremendous confidence in aerial pheromone spraying and we will be using it as a tool, just not in urban areas," Lyle said.
CBS 5 Investigates asked Lyle if he believed the Department of Agriculture made any missteps of any sort.
"Absolutely not," Lyle said.
Instead, the state said that new scientific advances allow them to counteract the existing moth population with sterile moths.
"We're fortunate that we had a scientific breakthrough that allowed us to come to this point much sooner than we thought," Lyle said.
CBS 5 Investigates asked what the breakthrough was. "I'll have to research that for you," Lyle responded.
"I think they saw the writing on the wall," Professor Carey said. "They called off the aerial spraying, that was the right thing to do, in a moral sense, in a risk sense, but also in the sense of the step in the right direction for the future. Simply spraying over an urban area cannot be a strategy ever considered again."
State officials said it will do aerial spraying over heavily forested areas and agricultural land. They will use other methods on the ground in some areas. But many activists who opposed the spraying say the state's recent move is a victory.
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