Shooting the
Sharpshooter
Spraying
Pesticides
on
California
by Selene
Anema, RN
 |
Many people live in San Luis Obispo County because it is a great place to breathe. For some sensitive people, clean air is essential for health. But we now have the threat that neighborhoods could be sprayed with pesticides to control infestations of the glassy winged sharpshooter (abbreviated GWSS).
San Luis Obispo is not yet considered an infested county of this vector. But if you look at the distribution map of infested counties, you’ll see that we are surrounded. Fresno, Santa Barbara, Kern, and Tulare Counties are all battling the GWSS (http://plant.cdfa.ca.gov/gwss). And bugs don’t blink at county lines. While SLO County Department of Agriculture, following the emergency state mandates, has launched an intensive surveillance system to intercept these insect hitchhikers, it appears to be only a matter of time before we have our own resident populations. Scientists concur that the glassy-winged sharpshooter will probably become a permanent part of various habitats throughout Northern and Central California.
Plants are not killed by the GWSS but by a bacteria it may carry, which causes Pierce’s disease. 36 million state and federal dollars have been granted for controlling the GWSS and millions more are being poured into research at the University of California facilities to discover a cure for Pierce’s disease. One example of a treatment being studied to control Pierce’s disease is the use of the broad-spectrum antibiotic tetracycline applied to crops. What would be the environmental consequences of this?
Of greater immediate concern is the current "treatment" of areas infested with the GWSS. "Treatment" means pesticide applied with backpack sprayers. In the last month, over 1,000 residential properties in Fresno, Tulare, and Sacramento Counties have been sprayed with the pesticide carbaryl (Sevin). A second spray comes two weeks later. The World Health Organization classified carbaryl as "moderately hazardous." Carbaryl disrupts the nerve enzyme cholinesterase in insects and animals. Like all pesticides, it is not selective in its targets. Honeybees and other beneficial insects are killed. Adverse effects may occur in humans such as impairment of the immune and nervous systems. New data supports the contention that carbaryl is a human carcinogen. This pesticide can subsist in clay soil for more than 56 days. (http://www.pan-uk.org/actives/carbaryl.htm)
If we assume the worst case scenario, that SLO County will eventually have an infestation of GWSS’s, will residents have the right to refuse pesticide spraying on the property where they live? While agricultural commissioners have stated that the right to refuse pesticide spraying is being honored, it is contingent on specific circumstances. In infested counties, concerned individuals and organic farmers were not on property that was heavily infested. "So far we’ve been lucky," said agricultural commissioner Richard Greek.
What does the law say on these matters? The California Food and Agriculture Code gives the agricultural commissioner authority to control damaging pests found to be a "public nuisance" by whatever means necessary. This includes aerial spraying of pesticides. In fact, Lorsban/Dursban (chlorpyrifos) was sprayed by helicopter last March in Temecula Valley to control the GWSS. (Lorsban is designated as one of the most hazardous pesticides to human and environmental health by the Natural Resources Defense Council.) The codes require a minimum notification of 24 hours to residents. They also remove the state and county from liability of any civil actions that may result as long as the codes are followed.
Fortunately, our local Department of Agriculture is not deaf to people concerned with the impact of pesticides on their health. Linda McElver, a local pesticide activist and concerned parent, has prompted the County Department of Agriculture to begin development of a Pesticide Sensitivity Registry. As planned, "The purpose of the Registry is to offer pesticide sensitive individuals a way to alert us about special health-related conditions they have that may be adversely affected by pesticide applications in their neighborhoods. With this information we will be able to do site-by-site evaluations of potential treatment areas and create individualized, extra protective measures and provide these individuals notification prior to pesticide use." Those with health problems such as suppressed immunity, chemical sensitivities, asthma, or cancer, and pregnant women, concerned parents and organic farmers should register by calling the GWSS hotline at 781-1117. You can also join the Registry and keep abreast of pesticide issues by calling Linda McElver at 547-1568 ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Pesticides are being used as a strategy to buy time. More needs to be learned about the effectiveness of large scale poisoning to control the GWSS. In the long view, will it really make an impact on the incidence of Pierce’s disease so feared by agriculture? Intensive, chemically-oriented monoculture does not foster a balanced ecosystem. On an organic farm, beneficial insects control less desirable pests.
Shepherd Bliss, an organic farmer outside Sebastopol, wrote in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, "If it were not this insect, nature would send another.... The ravenous farming practices of wine over-planters created the problem, setting such an abundant table, not the innocent sharpshooter. The sharpshooter is not my enemy....The wine industry has too much power in Washington, Sacramento, and Santa Rosa. If it were another industry, spraying would be dismissed as hazardous with multiple negative unintended consequences. The risks of spraying in terms of public relations, organic agriculture, health, politics, and the environment will be far greater than any economic benefit."
The dangers of widespread pesticide spraying are increasingly challenged nationwide. Environmental activists are suing New York City to stop aerial spraying of malathion used to control mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus. The discharge of pesticides, without an Environmental Impact Statement or provisions for the risk to people with compromised immune systems or asthma, has violated the law.
Governor Davis said, "We are making every effort to meet the challenge of protecting California’s agricultural community" from the threat of Pierce’s disease. More needs to be factored into the equation than just the protection of grapes. What about protection of people and wildlife? Let’s tell Governor Davis that we want funding for research into natural controls. And we don’t want pesticides raining down on our communities.
Governor Grey Davis can be reached at: 1st Floor, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814. Telephone: (916) 445-2841 Fax: (916) 445-4633.
Selene Anema, RN
