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California's Pesticide Spray Program: Warfare against Vocal Americans?

By Kathryn Smith  Posted by Kathryn Smith (about the submitter)       (Page 1 of 3 pages)   4 comments

Kathryn Smith
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Either you are with us or you are against us” said Bush famously after the September 11th events occurred. He has lived out those words in deed and in truth.

Let’s refresh our memory, in order to underscore the motives for the latest news of the plan to spray an entire 200+ mile urban area, from the air, with poisonous pesticides never before tested on people.

When the Anthrax scare was making headliners all over the country, in fact it was Democrats in public office---those against Bush’s agenda---- who were served with anthrax letters. Twelve people nation-wide were sickened and only five died. Yet we were all told we’d better quake in our boots. It was a mass epidemic! Washington DC residents were even instructed to seal their windows with plastic sheaths.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006:

"Anthrax is a naturally occurring bacteria and only rarely infects humans. However, the anthrax used in the attacks had been finely milled to make it more easily inhaled, thus increasing its lethality and suggesting a high degree of scientific competence by the perpetrator."

Who would have this advanced technology to breed a deadly germ to this refined a degree? Who would target Democrats in public office, namely Daschle and Leahy, both of whom were voicing concerns about the Patriot Act?

Small wonder then, that the FBI investigation of the Anthrax matter has gone stale. The Chronicle report continues:

"No matter what anybody says, if it is five years out and we are not even seeing any smoke from the investigation, then I would say definitely that this case is cold right now," said Christopher Hamilton, a former FBI counterterrorism official who worked on the anthrax investigation and is now a counterterrorism expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a nonpartisan think tank.

"This thing is just sitting out there with nothing happening."

And yet in the same article, it is stated that the FBI considers the matter a "high priority" and that together with the US Postal Service, together they " have conducted 9,142 interviews, issued over 6,000 subpoenas and executed 67 search warrants in the investigation". Still no real leads. In fact, one scientist who was targeted has claimed his innocence and is suing the government for the false investigation.

With as many interviews as above, and with the anthrax being highly developed by refined scientific techniques, wouldn't one think that the leads to the perpetrator would be narrowed? Talk about literally beating around the Bush!

Well, jumping from one roller coaster ride to the next---dysfunctional people really keep you in an uproar, don‘t they?---- first we have the 9-11 attacks by *four* hijacked planes without *one* single fighter jet being deployed. “Interesting”. Then, according to the ACLU's website fact sheets about the Patriot Act, we get the Anthrax scares at the very moment that the Patriot Act was being pushed down Congress's throats. This happened within less than two weeks of the fatal 9-11 attacks, as if anthrax was needed to scare Congress into submission after being shell-shocked by so heinous an emergency “coincidentally” staged on the date of 9-11, the emergency phone number. Next thing we hear about bird flu. Yikes Mikes! And now, drum roll, sound the trumpets aloud, the town crier calleth!….it’s that deadly moth in California.

Apparently, this new-found "emergency" is enough to merit the *aerial* spraying of the entire 200+ mile San Francisco Bay Area over a five-year period, repeatedly every one to three months, using a pesticide which has never been tested on people and which also has resulted in hundreds of reports of severe illness and even the near-death of one child.

Natural News.com reports:

“On January 24th, 2008, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Chuck Conner announced the availability of $74.5 million in emergency funding to combat the light brown apple moth (LBAM) infestation in California (1). President Bush's recent budget proposal sent to Congress sets aside $330 Million to eradicate plant pests, like the Light Brown Apple Moth….

"This application is not a one time event, but will continue every 1-3 months for as long as five years. The pesticide to be sprayed is not designed to harm the light brown apple moth's who it is designed for, but merely to confuse its mating habits. While harmless to moths, the pesticide has been documented to harm humans... In late 2007, there were 643 documented health complaints from the aerial spray program conducted in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. Keep in mind that this documentation is a mere fraction of the real health effects, as no legitimate effort was made to inform even doctors on how to recognize pesticide poisoning.

"Many doctors also refused to report suspected pesticide poisoning as required by law, and in order for a report to get officially filed, many times the patient had to insist upon it. These health injuries are not being honored in any way, because if they are honored, this sick chemical spray will be seen for what it is. It is a poison to many humans and likely to many other animals as well….Side effects range from vomiting and flu like systems, to male and female reproductive cycle disruption. One child nearly died from the exposure, and some people have developed asthma from being exposed to this chemical concoction.”
Is this one more manufactured "emergency" by the Bush Administration? The report continues:
"To see this insanity clearly, let's examine the moth population. In San Francisco County, 3,501 moths total have been trapped and killed over an eight month period. The entire city of San Francisco, whose population is 744,041, is in the proposed spray boundaries... In Alameda County, 431 months have been found in the past 8 months out of 2,327 traps. The moth population in Alameda County is thus sparse at best. Just look out your window. Imagine how many insects are in the tree, the yard, or the local park. I have seen more than 431 ants crawl into my kitchen on a rainy day. So in a giant area of 141 square miles, and the tens or hundreds of millions of insects in that zone, to try to eradicate a few hundred moths by just spraying chemicals everywhere is both ludicrous and unsafe.""I must inform you that through a freedom of information request, a local newspaper has learned that the CDFA has hired media spin doctor extraordinaire Porter Novelli at the tune of almost $500,000 tax payer dollars to convince the public that it is okay for the state to dump chemicals all over them, their gardens, their pets, and their neighbors."
Quite rightfully, the author points out that if studied, the chemicals would be falsely proven to be safe. The fact is that:
"Once sprayed, these microscopic balls can easily enter deep into the mouth, eyes, skin and lungs. Even after 90 days and several rains, some people in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties are still experiencing symptoms of spray poisoning. When they leave the counties, their symptoms many times abate."

The author also points out that the Government figures of moth-related crops damage continually changes. No matter how high or low those figures and continually changing estimates, the plan is to spray cities, not crop fields. From the air. Above the cities. With spray molecules which will cling to everything. Has this ever once been done before, on American soil?

Let us please ask: How many aerial pesticide sprayings are necessary to kill off an "emergency" moth? Is it necessary to spray for moths over a city where moths never colonize in the first place? Why spray over an entire, largely-populated residential area of the country? Ordinarily, one would think that to spray for agricultural pests, one would spray the agricultural fields. And not, mind you, from the air, and certainly not over an entire urban area with millions of people (the proposed boundaries go more than 200 miles past San Francisco, so the “millions of people‘ includes the surrounding areas of the city).

Could this be a form of biological warfare against Americans?

"There are many who believe that this spray is not directed at the moth population which the government says is the goal of the spray, but rather that it is directed at humans. There is a growing body of evidence to support this claim, considering that the moth itself does not cause any crop damage. It is similar to the government deciding that we must eradicate all the ants, because ants cause millions of dollars of damage. Like ants, the light brown apple moth is a harmless pest.

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This quote summarizes the nature of my concerns and the content of personal experiences which stir my activism: "Necessity is the plea for every infringement on human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves". --Paul (more...)
 
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