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--- Welcome to stopthespray.net, a website and archive documenting the movement to stop the Light Brown Apple Moth eradication program. This site is currently undergoing restoration and hosted gratis by Cruzio, Santa Cruz' independent family-owned ISP. ---
Latest developments:
Office of the City Attorney : News Release 2012-01-03
Apple Moth Lawsuit Opening Brief: State's Analysis Gives License to Spray Pesticides Indefinitely
without Studying Health Effects Read more
USDA shuts Moss Landing, ends LBAM irradiation
USDA closes Moss Landing station: Office was the headquarters for light brown apple moth research
Santa Cruz Sentinel 01/09/2012
* Final EIR shows little change to the pesticide program, including aerial and ground sprays, twist ties, mass releases of wasps and irradiated male moths.
* Large populated areas of Marin, Sonoma, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties are potential aerial spray zones.
* The pesticide product SPLAT (containing permethrin) can not be used because of cancer risk.
* LBAM pheromone pesticides are prohibited to be used at schools.
Tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to stop the LBAM program now!
phone: 202-720-3631 or email agsec@usda.gov
Tell Senator Barbara Boxer the LBAM program must stop now!
phone: (415) 403-0100
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Scientific study: LBAM only minor pest
 view press release, January 12, 2010
Earth Justice Challenges State Applying Apple Moth Treatments Before EIR is Done
view press release, December 10, 2009
National Academy of Sciences panel: USDA report on reclassification lacks "sound science"
Scientific review finds flaws in USDA apple moth research, Santa Cruz Sentinel, September 14, 2009
Monterey to send state letter opposing moth eradication, Monterey Herald, September 16, 2009
view NAS press release
Open letter to California legislators questions veracity of CDFA
Press release August 21, 2009
view open letter
Draft Environmental Impact Report on LBAM eradication program released, public comment period until September 28, 2009
Download the Draft EIR
more info on the Draft EIR and hearings
Whitewashing the Moth?
East Bay Express, September 9, 2009
USDA’s Scare Tactics about Invasive Species Distort the Truth
California Progress Report, September 1, 2009
Scientists: Save the moth
Capital Press, August 27, 2009
Bug experts: Calif. moth eradication effort wasted
SF Chronicle (AP), August 25, 2009
Berry Damage: Moth or Myth?
Santa Cruz Weekly, July 24, 2009
Wasting millions combating the apple moth,
Press Democrat Opinion, July 5, 2009
EPA Pulls 2 LBAM Pesticides; More In Pipeline
SF Chronicle, May 12, 2009.
December 4, 2008: Doctor uncovers alarming health concerns in tests for Light Brown Apple Moth pesticides.
November 25, 2008: Federal law suit filed to block LBAM spray program.
November 4, 2008: state agencies release two studies on the aerial spraying for LBAM in 2007.
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STATEWIDE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT VICTORIOUS IN STOPPING THE SPRAY
On June 19, 2008, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) backs-off plans to aerially spray pesticides over millions of people.
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History of the Light Brown Apple Moth program:
In fall 2007, despite great public outcry, high-profile lawsuits and municipal resolutions against the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) eradication campaign for the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), Monterey and Santa Cruz counties were subjected to multiple nighttime strafings by low-flying aircraft dispersing a pesticide spray that poses a severe respiratory hazard, and contains ingredients with established carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reproductive toxicity.
Through a trumped up emergency exemption, CDFA was able to bypass lawful restrictions and prepare an Environmental Impact Report months after the spraying! To maintain trade advantages over key exports, monthly spraying was to become the way of life for millions of people on the Central Coast until the total eradication of the moth –deemed impossible by experts.
After the first sprayings, hundreds of people got sick, including several cases of children with first-time asthma attacks, one 11-month old boy almost died. After the spraying in Santa Cruz, a thick yellow foam spoiled rivers and beaches, rain run-off fed the worst red tide in decades, deaths of pets, sea otters and thousands of water fowl were reported –all dismissed by State agencies.
When this callous spraying campaign was scheduled to resume and expand into the larger San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 2008, public protest swell. With grassroots groups mushrooming, law makers and scientists speaking out and more law suits on the horizon, CDFA announced a change of plans that would no longer include aerial spraying for LBAM over populated areas on June 19, 2008. Ground treatments however, as well as aerial spraying of "agricultural" and "forested" areas are still to go forward. No specifics regarding these plans have been released to date.
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PUBLIC FORUM: The Light Brown Apple
Moth (LBAM)– Is it a threat to California?
Experts speak and citizens ask tough questions at the May 28, 2009 Sonoma LBAM Forum, with panelists:
James Carey, entomologist, UC-Davis; Dan Harder, Botanist, UC-Santa Cruz; Caroline Cox, research director, Center for Environmental Health; Mike De Lay, coordinator, Coalition of California Cities to Stop the Spray; Chris Mittelstaedt, Founder & CEO, The FruitGuys; Cathy Neville, agricultural commissioner, Sonoma county.
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