It’s official: State of CA is going to spray you with pesticide. Act now to stop it.
Here’s a great video about it:
This is real and it’s happening unless we do something about it.
What is the problem?
A species of non-native moth called the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) has been discovered in California. The moth is potentially harmful to all sort of fruit crops, so people in the agricultural business are afraid the moth is going to damage their business big time citing potentially losses of up to 640 million dollars a per year.
However
“Though the first Light Brown Apple Moth confirmed in California by DNA analysis was found in February 2007, scientists like James Carey, a professor of entomology at the University of California-Davis and associate editor on several journals, believes, based on his previous experience with the Gypsy Moth program, that the Light Brown Apple Moth has likely lived in California for years and possibly decades (in part because it is so widespread, from Los Angeles to north of San Francisco).[1][2] The debate over how long the moth has been in the state has not yet been resolved. Questions about the rationale for the timing of the spray program suggest that it appears be more closely related to agricultural quarantines from Mexico and Canada than other factors.” Source here
In fact there haven’t been any reported damages from the LBAM. Nothing. Zero dollars. Read the enlightening Myth vs Fact sheet by the Hope organization.
So what did they do?
They lobbied the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and obtained an “emergency exemption from registration” from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that allows the USDA to bypass all state rules, such as the production of a state-required environmental impact report, and use the pesticide in aerial sprays over California cities. Because of that exemption, the spraying program isn’t subject to state approval, according to representatives of the state Department of Pesticide Regulation.
The pesticide maker has also been a generous political donor to Gov. Schwarzenegger, having given nearly 150,000$ as reported by another SF Chronicle article.
The efficacy of the plan is highly dubious and the adverse health effects real. Read what Richard Fagerlund a pest management specialist has to say about it here.
We who are part of the Web 2.0 community and know so much about viral marketing, this is the time to put it to good use. Let’s show them what we can do by harnessing our knowledge of Web 2.0 technologies and using them to inform public opinion and stop the spraying.
It is absolutely preposterous and morally repugnant to let this outrageous plan to go on. Remember, they are not just going to spray you once, the EPA has authorized the aerial spraying of the Checkmate pesticide every 30 days until 2010.
Act now. Sign the petition. Blog about it. Send it to your friends. Digg and Reddit it too.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke.
