To think that this form of chemical warfare--spraying a 250 mile radius of urban areas with pesticides from the air--is confined to California alone, may be a very dangerous cognitive distortion. Please write your newspaper editors, the California Secretary of Agriculture and Gov. Schwartzenegger. Please ask your physicians to respond to the false claims that 3,000 medical cases have no connection to the spraying program. Thx.

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Dear Opednews editors:
The letter emailed below by the California Secretary of Food and Agriculture is a public message. Therefore, it bears no special permission to reprint it. Further, it is a message which the public must see, as a matter of social obligation. Public health is at stake here. Thank you for printing this.

Dear readers:

Please reconsider any assumption that this aerial pesticide spraying program is a matter of concern only to Californians. If it is scheduled to be done here in California, then they will do it anywhere else they wish. That's the truth. Especially if there is no consequence to those who are perpetrating it, endangering life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the process.

Please ask your physicians to come on board with public arguments rebutting the false claims below, that there is no proven connection between the aerial pesticide spraying program and more than 3,000 medical claims filed since that spraying took place. None of the patients/victims had such symptoms prior to that aerial pesticide spraying. One child almost died.

Of course, medical opinions will vary according to bias and the school of thought in which they are trained. That should be kept in mind, before you ask any physician to go public with this urgent matter. Please be very selective when asking for public medical opinions. Thank you.

 To the violation of the 4th amendment, the bill permitting this spraying of a 250-mile radius of urban areas grants il-"legal" permission for sprayings to occur on private properties without owners' consent. This must be stopped, and exposed as a criminal matter. Lawsuits should be filed left and right.

Please help. Please forward this letter (below) as widely as possible. Ask for public outcry and any strategies you believe to be effective. Thank you for helping to rescue us medically endangered Californians!

From: "LBAM" <LBAM@cdfa.ca.gov>
To:

Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:47 AM
Subject: Re: No LBAM Spraying Without Environmental Impact Reports

 Dear ,

Thank you for writing about the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) project.
 I value hearing your thoughts on the project’s impact on California.

California must work to combat the LBAM because of the complex threat it
poses to our diverse range of agricultural and natural plant life.  This
 invasive pest attacks more than 250 crops and 2,000 plants and threatens
 the native and endangered species that depend on them.  If it becomes
established statewide, the LBAM has the potential to cause billions of
dollars of damage annually and cost the state numerous jobs.  California
has a duty to prevent the spread of the LBAM before it crosses borders
 into other states, agricultural regions and environments.

 The LBAM is an invasive pest – not native to California – with few
natural enemies here to reduce its expanding population.  To combat this
growing threat, we have proposed an integrated pest-management approach
 utilizing aerial and ground application of a moth pheromone.

However, misinformation about the LBAM and our program continues to
spread and cause unwarranted fear – despite constant and open dialogue
 for more than a year with citizens and local officials.  There has been
 no shortage of grossly exaggerated and completely unsubstantiated claims
 – such as the pheromone product’s being untested and the treatments
causing red tide (red tide is a naturally occurring marine algal bloom).
Fortunately, the actual facts and due diligence have proven these
 claims false.

 Pheromones are simply chemical signals that resemble a scent.  Pheromone
treatments have been used in the United States and around the world in
 agricultural and urban areas (including residential areas of Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin) for more than a decade without
incident.  As recently as last year, more than 3 million acres in the
United States were aerially treated with moth pheromones to disrupt the
 mating of the harmful gypsy moths.

 For years, environmentalists have urged farmers to develop alternatives
to conventional, toxic, “kill-on-contact” pesticides; pheromones are the
 alternative.  These pheromones do not even harm the moths; they merely
mimic a signal “scent” naturally emitted by the female moth, thereby
distracting the males so they cannot locate a mate and reproduce.

 Recently, the claim that residents became sick from past treatments has
 held the public’s attention and has been the subject of demonstrations.
Public health officials with three state departments thoroughly reviewed
 health claims submitted during and after the aerial pheromone treatments
 last year in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties and could find no link
 between the claims and the treatments.  As the Governor recently said in
Monterey, the spraying is safe, and “there is nothing that says
otherwise.”

 I also hear a number of misleading and inaccurate references to describe
 the pheromone, including: hormone, carcinogen, mutagen, endocrine
disruptor and other inaccurate descriptions.  These unsupported claims
overlook the fact that the federal Environmental Protection Agency, our
state's Department of Pesticide Regulation and numerous health agencies
have thoroughly reviewed and unanimously approved these products and
their classification as pheromones.  In fact, the pheromone products we have used in this program are approved for treating organic crops; they
 are safe enough that the law states you don’t even have to wait or wash
them off after a treatment before you eat the produce.

However, to thoroughly ensure everyone’s safety, the aerial spraying has
been postponed while we complete what’s known as “six-pack” toxicology
tests in addition to the normal extensive tests on the pheromone
products.  These tests thoroughly test toxicity for eye, inhalation,
respiratory and other potential irritants.  I am confident that these
additional tests will reassure Californians that we are taking the safest, most health-conscious and most progressivour state of this very
real threat to our agriculture, environment and
economy.  I implore everyone to rely on sound science and to shut the
door on false information.  For more information about the LBAM project,
 please visit our website at www.cdfa.ca.gov or call the LBAM hotline at
1-800-491-1899.

As a public official, I am sworn to protect the public, the environment
and the ecosystems that make California such a uniquely productive and
sustainable resource.  I take that responsibility seriously, and I vow
to pursue only the safest, most environmentally friendly means
available.

 Again, thank you for writing.

Sincerely,

 A.G. Kawamura, Secretary
 California Department of Food and Agriculture

Authors Bio:
This quote summarizes the nature of my concerns and the content of personal experiences which stir my activism:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement on human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves". --Paul Revere, House of Commons