Resident Writes: Attend Wednesday Meeting On Vector Spraying, Plus 10 Things WE ALL NEED TO DO in Santa Clara County

Dear Editor:

Vector Control District, Santa Clara County, is hosting a meeting to hear residents’ and taxpayers’ thoughts on plans to continue spraying all of us with pesticides (for possibly infected West Nile female mosquitoes), as well as “nuisance” mosquitoes (hence this Tuesday’s helicopter spraying of the Southern end of the Bay up through Palo Alto).

(Notice details here: Public Meeting On Vector Control Set In Campbell.)

BUT...the law states that V.C.D. HAS to complete an Environmental Impact Report.

An EIR is necessary when any group is going to change (or HAS CHANGED) the environment. Up through fall, 2014, Vector Control was gathering public input on an E.I.R. They’d been gathering information for this Impact Report since 2012.

Suddenly, with lawsuits being brought against them; citations for violations; fish & other aquatic life dying in Los Gatos & Campbell; bees dying; people having skin, respiratory, eye reactions to the many months of spraying...they STOPPED this Impact Report. What they’re now doing is holding a public meeting to gather feedback for an “Evaluation Report.”

This is NOT an Environmental Impact Report, which is what they have been drafting for the past 2-1/2 years.

It is still important that we email, write, phone comments to V.C.D. AND our Board of Supervisors (whom we elect & who are the ones who agree to Vector’s purchase of pesticides, helicopter use, & huge budgets for ads about monster-mosquitoes) and, if possible, show up for this Wednesday’s meeting.

Our tax dollars are being spent on the purchase of chemical pesticides...AND V.C.D. has a budget of well over $7 million dollars but we do not get to vote yes or no to this.

The County is not pro-actively going after the thousands of people who are suffering from the spraying. They wait til they go to a hospital. Guess what? There is no antidote if you or your pet reacts to the pesticides.

NO ANTIDOTE to the pesticides.

All a doctor, clinic, veterinary clinic, or hospital can do is stabilize you (or your pet) & treat the symptoms. The manufacturer’s safety data sheet on these pesticides state that they are designed to kill, even at low doses. A low dose does not mean it is a safe dose. The M.S.D.S sent to vets, zoos, wildlife centers is not the same as the one the general public sees. It is more cautionary.

In studies these pesticides were shown to kill living creatures 1/3 of an inch, or smaller...but the County sprays one or two times a week, month after month...& these chemicals have cumulative damage.

There are over 96 percent UNDISCLOSED ingredients in the pesticide they’re spraying, night after night, in this closed Valley. Where are these chemicals going?

Into our soil & water supply. Into our homes as the chemicals drift in the air, roll along on vehicle tires, cling to pets’ paws, walk on into our homes & offices on our shoes...where they are not going to readily dissipate.
Late night drive-through windows? Nothing to stop the chemicals from drifting on in to the fries, cooking burgers, & the people serving us.
Organic & regular markets? What we eat is being delivered while the spraying is occurring. Nothing to stop the chemicals from drifting on in or on the people working hard to get our food ready for us.Organic and community gardens? Once they’re sprayed with V.C.D.’s pesticides, they are no longer organic.

*There is no reporting system in place if you or a beloved pet reacts to the pesticides.*There is no antidote for eye, skin, respiratory, neurological reactions...and chemical reactions are usually long-range & cumulative.*There is no reimbursement if you or a pet does react. We discovered this the hardest & saddest way.*V.C.D. will not test you or your pets for possible chemical reactions; they will not help you find medical solutions or reimburse you...even if you or your pet dies.

University of Oregon does studies on these pesticides: windows & doors need to be shut when there is spraying; children’s & pets toys, water & food bowls need to be brought indoors (of course, don’t leave the pets outside); laundry hanging outside needs to be brought in; shoes need to be brought inside.

But what about the population who do not have central air?

They have to endure the heat when the County sprays. The rest of the world relies on night-time air to cool residences down (& most spraying occurs May through October when our Valley’s at its hottest). It also means someone taking pro-active measures to keep themselves, their family, their pets safe by staying indoors & using central-air during the hottest months of the year, incurs higher bills.

What can we do?

1. Show up at this final public comment meeting.

2. Email, write, & phone the people who represent us: our County Board of Supervisors; our Mayors. Insist that these chemicals be PROVEN to be safe for ALL of Us (with independent studies, not from agencies who benefit).Ask for a moratorium on all future spraying until natural mosquito eaters are fostered & encouraged to return to our Valley AND UNTIL antidotes to the chemical spraying for humans (& pets) is available & cost-free.
*V.C.D. distributed free packets of Deet in former public meetings, as well as in Mountain View. Why not distribute free antidotes to chemicals, as well?

3. Question WHY? Why is V.C. going after female mosquitoes who “may” be infected & who have been shown to only infect a handful of our residents...when we have a population in this County of over 1.8 million people who are not affected?

4. Ask that V.C.D. subsidize plants that encourage natural mosquito predators to return.

That $7 million dollar budget would go a long way in giving each resident a hummingbird-attracting plant or tree (the ones I know of are extremely drought resistant & gorgeous); as well as finding ways to attract dragonflies, frogs, birds, etc. that EAT mosquitoes. If they continue to refuse to help us do this (out of our parcel taxes & their budget which is supposed to include prevention measures) then ask organizations & garden centers to offer discounts on pesticide-free plants.

5. Check the statistics not the scare tactics: only very few people will become ill from a W.N. carrying mosquito. Many people carry this virus & are never made ill from it. There is absolutely no epidemic or infestation.
But blanketing possible carcinogens & 80, 96% undisclosed chemical ingredients on our Valley’s air, soil, water, plants, & living creatures...IS NOT HEALTHY.

6. Check the Material Safety Data Sheet (M.S.D.S.) for the pesticides being sprayed on all of us. Far scarier than a statistically-rare infection of W.N. virus turning fatal.

It’s unconscionable that we are ALL being exposed to unnecessary chemicals, year after year, summer after summer when they are not effective & when we could have that money used to restore our eco-system to a healthier one that would naturally resist invasive female mosquitoes.

How is it that we can assume that we can create such an imbalance in our entire eco-system & have no dire consequences?And are we to have more & more money taken out of our taxes & budgeted to Vector Control, as the years go by...because insects WILL become more resistant; natural habitats are being destroyed & contaminated by these chemical pesticides; & our human population is seeing more & more negative health effects of polluted air, soil, water quality?

7. Consider that it is not going to just be pesticide spraying this February, May, June, July, August, September, October...It will continue year after year & our County’s residents, pets, bees, birds, aquatic life, plants, soil, water & our entire eco-system will continue to suffer.

Insects become more resistant...but humans rarely do.

8. Remember that we are not just any County: we are Silicon Valley. Surely someone in our urban, sophisticated, & highly-educated population can find a way to reduce the female mosquito population of W.N. virus-carrying mosquitoes? Surely someone can find ways to achieve a higher level of environmental & ecological health for all of us & for future generations? Surely someone can come up with antidotes if our Board of Supervisors & V.C.D. continue to turn to pesticides rather than healthier alternatives?

*Half of all deaths in our County are due to cancer & heart disease, with chronic respiratory diseases, influenza, & pneumonia among the top causes of death (in 2010 1 out of every 2 Californians born today will develop cancer in their lifetime; Amer. Cancer Society).*Changes in cancer incidence & mortality rates, along with the diseases mentioned above, can indicate changes in exposure to risk factors.

It is OUR environment: it is one we CAN Change back to a healthier one; it is one we MUST stop destroying & one we must support.

9. Tell our elected officials we want to OPT-OUT of spraying & pesticide “fogging.”

10. Tell our elected officials that we want a “non-program” (sounds silly but we CAN require a “non-program” of chemical pesticide spraying).

10. Say “NO” when V.C.D. says they are going to spray your street, neighborhood, school yards, playgrounds.

11. Remind our elected officials that the BURDEN OF PROOF of safety for us, for our children, our pets, our eco-system (that supports & sustains life in our County) is theirs.

Signed, Resident M. Mori

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