"A TALE OF CONTAMINATION"
www.eugeneweekly.com/2009/04...ers.html


I moved to Eugene about a year ago. I used to live in Santa Cruz, Calif., in a beautiful condo 10 minutes from the beach. Every night I would listen to the sea lions barking and give thanks for the incredibly clean ocean air. I owned my own lucrative business.

About a year ago, the California Department of Agriculture (CDA) decided to use a pesticide called Checkmate to fumigate the entire Monterey Bay area to "eradicate" the light brown apple moth. This included the city of Santa Cruz. Six hundred people became ill; my friends had the "flu" for months; I lost the ability to walk, speak and sleep. I lost every stitch of clothing, my home and my business, as it had all been contaminated with what I was assured over and over again by the CDA was a harmless mixture of moth pheromone and other inactive ingredients.

After an emergency move to Eugene. I thought I had made it to safety until I was informed a few weeks ago that the Oregon Department of Agriculture is planning a similar spray with Btk on April 28. I don't have the resources to move again this time. I don't know that my health can take another hit, as I have been slowly recovering over this past year. I don't know that I believed the ODA representative Barry Bai when he assured me over and over how safe Btk was when I spoke to him over the phone. I don't want to continue being a lab rat for the ODA.

If anyone out there feels the same, please contact the ODA and ask them to wait on the plan to spray until we can be positive of our safety or there is a safety net in place in case we become ill after the spray, i.e. medical care, chemical clean-up, lost wages compensation, etc. Also contact www.oregontoxics.org or www.pesticide.org to see how we can come together to take care of the situation to the benefit of everyone.

Anne Forster, Eugene"


Links related to the California spraying.

Pilots mistakenly spray homes.
www.ksbw.com/news/14501028/detail.html

A baby almost dies.
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi

It disrupts women's reproductive systems.
www.veganreader.com/2008/05/...s-health/