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Residents Object to Apple Moth Spray10-15-07 | News

Residents Object to Apple Moth Spray




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In September, pilots hired by the California Department of Food and Agriculture blanketed a 69-square-mile area of the Central Coast with tiny droplets of a synthetic pheremone mixture aimed at disrupting the apple moth?EUR??,,????'???s mating cycle.


A Fresno judge temporarily blocked the state of California from continuing to aerially spray pesticides in efforts to curb the destructive apple moth in Monterey County. The block came days before the aerial sprays were scheduled to resume, due to long-term health concerns about certain chemicals in the pesticides, and was lobbied for by environmental groups.

In September, pilots hired by the California Department of Food and Agriculture blanketed a 69-square-mile area of the Central Coast with tiny droplets of a synthetic pheremone mixture aimed at disrupting the apple moth?EUR??,,????'???s mating cycle.

Though the pheremone was considered harmless to humans, after several nights of the spraying, dozens of residents complained that they felt nauseous, couldn?EUR??,,????'???t breathe and experienced shooting stomach pains.

On the other hand, agriculture officials said that if left unchecked, the pest could cause hundreds of million of dollars in losses.

Judge O?EUR??,,????'???Farrell wrote that ?EUR??,,????'??Neither side has had an adequate opportunity to submit reliable scientific evidence on that issue and consequently the court is not in a position to rule in a vacuum of information.?EUR??,,????'??

The apple moth, native to Australia, has infested 11 California counties from north San Francisco to Los Angeles and feeds on over 250 plant species.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune

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