A Big Price For A Little Bug
Elliott Singer, News Editor

Monterey County has a big problem from a little bug.  About half the size of a dime, the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) is going to cost 15 million dollars this year and an unknown amount in the years to come.
In response, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has authorized a spraying of two products, CheckMate OLR-F and CheckMate LBAM-F over an area encompassing Pacific Grove, Monterey, Salinas, Marina and CSU Monterey Bay.  The sprayings will occur 30 days apart with OLR being sprayed first.
The CheckMate products are not insecticides but pheromones, the same sort of chemicals that insects disseminate to attract a mate.  The theory being if an area is saturated with the pheromone, the male moth’s will not be able to find a mate and thusly will not produce offspring and the problem will disappear within a couple of moth generations.
About 2 million dollars will be spent on the actual spraying; the rest of the money will go to monitoring the LBAM population.  The funding came from an emergency clause in the United States Department of Agriculture because there was no knowledge of the bug before March. 
Beginning next year, money will be allotted to the treatment of LBAM out of the Calif. budget based on the need for reapplication.
LBAM-F is specifically for the LBAM and affects no other animal, where the OLR-F is for Omnivorous Leaf Rollers, which will still affects the LBAM as well as Leaf Rollers.  Omnivorous Leaf Rollers are also a nonnative species and are a threat to agricultural crops. 
The Australian bug feeds on over 250 different crops and could cost Monterey County over 200 million dollars in lost revenue, according to the Calif. Department of Food and Agriculture. 
Canada and Mexico have already begun restricting imports of Central Coast produce due to the threat of contamination from the LBAM, and China has begun the process that usually precludes a trade restriction.
 “I am not at all concerned about the human health effects of the two chemicals they plan to spray,” said Dr. Henry Kibak, Associate Professor of Biology at CSUMB.
 “[Pheromones are] far less dangerous than what comes out of the tailpipe of most cars, or what you inhale every time you put gas in your car,” he continued.
There has been a huge public outpouring of disapproval for the plans to spray, which has pushed the original start date planned for Sept. 5, back to Sept. 9, 10 and 11. The community’s anger is not that homes are going to be sprayed, but rather the speed and lack of public participation and information that has defined this controversy.
Residents voiced concerns about pets, children, asthmatics and anything that would be exposed to a spraying. 
“We much prefer to see these types of chemicals used instead of one chemical chlorphyrifos” that would normally be used said Stephenie Hendrickson of the Pesticide Action Network, based in San Francisco.
There was a protest rallying sponsored by Humans Against Spraying Monterey Area Terrain that happened near El Estero and Del Monte Sept. 6. 
Future demonstrations will be planned because the group claims that there is a lack of scientific research on humans.
According to Jay Van Rein, spokesperson for the CDFA, the products have been in use for over a decade in both New Zealand and Australia, the moth’s home. 
He also mentioned that pheromone treatment has been used on the East Coast, mostly for Gypsy Moth, but since this bug was first discovered in Calif. in March, there is no way to know exactly what it will do here. Van Rein said “this is the stuff that Rachel Carson would dream of.”
For protest Information contact Barbara Bass Evans 372-8323.