Weapons of moth destruction
How the Bay Area maneuvered to beat back an impending pesticide assault.Apparently, we were supposed to think of the light brown apple moth (LBAM) as a terrorist with a 20-millimeter wingspan. After all, the Department of Homeland Security is charged with keeping foreign insects like the LBAM away from both traditional and organic farms (whose future in California is the subject of this month’s Front Burner). Because of the potential threat the moth poses—according to some estimates, it could do billions of dollars in damage to our crops—the state and federal governments planned a preemptive strike to eradicate every one of these winged creatures in the state. The weapon of choice was a nontraditional pesticide called Checkmate LBAM-F, which would have been sprayed over much of the Bay Area, as well as Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, every few months for the next few years.
Enter the Bay Area counterattack machine, which seized on the idea that dumping chemicals from the sky wasn’t one bit popular, especially when Checkmate’s producers happen to be some of Governor Schwarzenegger’s largest donors. Also, activists claimed the spraying method is still largely untested and that the handful of studies that have been done suggest the pesticide may have harmful health effects. Tens of thousands of citizens signed petitions opposing the spray. Scientists from the state’s top universities argued that the moth could be handled in organic-friendly ways. San Francisco’s mayor and local senators (Migden, Leno, Huffman, Laird) protested the plan, and the city’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously against spraying without further study. “We’re just not going to let this happen,” vowed supervisor Ross Mirkarimi at a Stop the Spray meeting in April. “Not in San Francisco, and not in the Bay Area.”
And it didn’t. In June, just months before the spraying was supposed to begin, the state decided on a less controversial way to keep the moth population from reproducing: releasing sterile moths into the environment. The government claims its change of heart was a scientific decision that had nothing to do with public opposition. Riiight. And that war in Iraq is going swell, too.
Enter the Bay Area counterattack machine, which seized on the idea that dumping chemicals from the sky wasn’t one bit popular, especially when Checkmate’s producers happen to be some of Governor Schwarzenegger’s largest donors. Also, activists claimed the spraying method is still largely untested and that the handful of studies that have been done suggest the pesticide may have harmful health effects. Tens of thousands of citizens signed petitions opposing the spray. Scientists from the state’s top universities argued that the moth could be handled in organic-friendly ways. San Francisco’s mayor and local senators (Migden, Leno, Huffman, Laird) protested the plan, and the city’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously against spraying without further study. “We’re just not going to let this happen,” vowed supervisor Ross Mirkarimi at a Stop the Spray meeting in April. “Not in San Francisco, and not in the Bay Area.”
And it didn’t. In June, just months before the spraying was supposed to begin, the state decided on a less controversial way to keep the moth population from reproducing: releasing sterile moths into the environment. The government claims its change of heart was a scientific decision that had nothing to do with public opposition. Riiight. And that war in Iraq is going swell, too.
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