Pesky moth attacks Monterey!!
I wrote last May about a moth that hitched a ride from Australia and subsequently threatened a whole slough of California agricultural crops, including grapevines. As a result, state and federal authorities embarked on a Fall campaign of aerial pheromone spraying in a repeated attempt to thwart the spread of the light brown apple moth.
The larvae of the Light Brown Apple Moth attack numerous horticultural crops in Australia, New Zealand, and now California. It is known to feed on 123 species belonging to 55 different plant families, and attacks nearly all types of fruit crops, ornamentals, vegetables, and greenhouse crops.
Naturally, a lot of people got sick, and exhibited such symptoms as skin, eye, and respiratory irritation. The San Jose Mercury News reported late last week that as many as 300 people in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties:
“complained of feeling short of breath and experiencing sharp stomach pains after the first application of a pheromone spray called CheckMate.”
While CheckMate has been widely used on crops, this was the first time this organophosphate pesticide had been used in heavily-populated areas.
You gotta wonder why. Right?
Spraying efforts were halted in October due to court injunction, but the issue is still -ahem- up in the air. According to the Mercury, an advisory group is working with the state of California and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is expected to announce plans for a pest-eradication campaign later this month. Whatever that means.
Choosing to be the idealist for a moment, I hope to presume that this advisory group will include members (or at least sympathizers) of the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), which advocates sterile moth release and biological controls to combat the infestation of this pesky pest. It’s the only real sensible solution.
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January 13th, 2008 22:22
Hey Russ,
Sounds like the sterile release is an improvement on the poison approach since we have seen since the 1950s that poison is just not a good idea.