ALERT! Speak Out Against Pesticide Spraying in Sac 1/12

This is mostly my personal opinions and interpretations of what was said at the meeting. Anyone else can post their version or anything else that needs to be added to the discussion..

The agenda of the meeting was for the community and the Sac/Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District to discuss their concerns about aerial insecticide spraying for the purpose of reducing mosquito populations and reducing transmission of West Nile virus..

The first speaker (name forgotten) was a researcher who provided data and obvious personal bias in favor of pesticide spraying. My personal opinion is that his support of adulticide spraying is based on overreliance on statistical data and ignorance of basic ecology. However, he is the scientific expert and i am the country bumpkin so his views were largely unchallenged. To his credit he also recommends mosquitofish as an alternative biocontrol approach to pesticide spraying..

The next speaker, Steve, was from a resident review panel and recommends greater participation and education by/of the public in mosquito control and pesticde exposure. He also asked for greater awareness and information disclosure of the unknown and inert ingredients and known human health risks of pesticide exposure..

The questions from the audience expressed concern about the half-life of pesticides post-spraying, an organic farmer mentioned post-spray testing revealed pyrethrin pesticide contamination of residue found on leaf tests despite the buffer zone status his farm recieved. In other words, a buffer zone that should be a no-spray zone is in reality effected by pesticide drift from the nearly ever constant wind of the Sac valley. The risks of pesticide exposure to children was also discussed, and whether the unknown risks of West Nile virus actually are greater than the known risks of pesticide exposure to children..

The rudeness and disregard of certain Vector District members was apparent by their comments, claiming we shouldn't be complaining about mosquito pesticide spraying when there are so many other sources of pesticides out there. Sort of like saying, "You're already swimming in a toxic soup, mind if i add a few more toxins to make certain your children develop cancer by the time they're thrityfive?"

After responding to their rudeness with more rudeness, i left the building early. Of course i couldn't voice my opinions in complete detail so i came off sounding like a moron, something these official meetings chock full of guvmint boreocrats and corporate provacatuers brings out of me. Here's an attempt to add my two cents in for what it's worth..

The Sacramento Valley was/is wetlands ecosystem and inhabited by indigenous peoples who were able to coexist in these wetlands for approx. 10,000 years before the waves of recent post-Columbus immigration altered the landscape to what it is now. In this process we also altered the conditions and flow of the wetlands themselves, probably with the combo of infill for suburban sprawl and eutrophication from industrial agriculture fertilizer runoff reducing the wetlands flow, flood preventions and increasing stagnation, thus providing excess mosquito habitats..

Spraying pesticides whether for mosquitos or for industrial agriculture also effects the beneficial predator insects (dragonflies), birds and frogs that frequently consume large amounts of mosquitos. The process is a combination of bioaccumulation of toxins in benificial predators and the shorter life cycle of mosquitos can adapt and evolve a resistance to pesticides faster and more successfully than their larger predators. This is what i tried to say to the first pro-pesticide speaker who deliberitley confused my question to make me look like i was insane. Since i get easily nervous in public, his ploy worked..

What it comes down to is this current industrial society attempts to tame and control natural ecosystems to no avail. The mosquitos that survived last years spraying will become resistant to that pesticide and require a more toxic pesticde next year. Unfortunatley humans don't evovle the same rapid resistance to toxins as our insect buddies, we bioaccumulate. Eventually an new virus will evolve and more panic will ensue, thus requiring more spraying of toxic pesticdes. The West Nile debate also ignores the fact that many times more people die of cancer from exposure to numerous toxins including pesticides than West Nile. Ask the epidemiologist what actually killed our loved ones who died of cancer, and 101 toxins may pop up on the list, each likely to lead to cancer. Spray for mosquitos w/ pesticdes again this summer and now you have 102, or 1002, or whatever number of additional carcinogens in the ecosystem..

My theory is this pesticde treadmill craze will continue so long as politicians accept bribes from chemical pesticde manufacturing corporations and bilk taxpayers into supporting these pesticide aerial spray programs. Another strange theory is the remarkable coincidence of the pesticide spraying last year to the 60 year anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima/Nagasaki, almost to the exact date..

Of course i'm a paranoid wingnut so don't take that last comment seriously, the US government wouldn't really be trying to give large amounts of people cancer, now would they??

Names of pesticde manufacturing corporations and their supporters would be greatly appreciated by this author..

Some voices not heard at meeting, though also effected by pesticide spraying of wetlands, tule reeds, etc..;

California Indian Basketweavers Association;

http://www.ciba.org/