ACTION ALERT: Stop The Spraying!

UPDATE!!! "Judge orders halt to spraying"

Dear Fellow Bay Area Residents,

You may have heard about a government program that's about to start literally in our own backyards. Nancy Skinner (East Bay Regional Park District Board Member) sends out this alarming information:

The route map for the aerial pesticide to fight the light brown apple moth has been finalized. A number of communities around here are on the map.

The planes are scheduled to spray Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, Albany, El Cerrito, Kensington and Richmond every 30 to 90 days beginning this summer. I'm not sure about the effect of prevailing winds on other East Bay towns.

Schools and parents are worried because the EPA has not yet approved the use of this pesticide over populated areas.

It's not too late for us to delay the flights. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is now the one person who can order the pilots to stand down until it has been demonstrated that the aerial spraying to control the apple moth won't harm our environment or make people sick.

We can and should ask for an interim moratorium until a full environmental review is completed and we can be assured that the chemical is safe - click this link

On Wednesday, the East Bay Regional Park District Board approved a resolution to request a moratorium. Nancy Skinner, currently on the park district board, is circulating a short petition that will go to the Governor. He is the one to reach.














Here's the text of the petition:

Governor Schwarzenegger,

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is scheduled this summer to begin spraying pesticide "Check-Mate" from planes flying over Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Kensington, Albany and Richmond every 30 to 90 days. The pesticide, which has not been approved by the EPA for spraying in populated areas, will fall on our neighborhoods and with the prevailing wind, may drift into other East Bay communities.

You are the one person who can ask the pilots to delay the spraying until it can be demonstrated that the chemical program is safe. Please take the precaution of completing the full environmental review process so we can rest assured that no one is in harm's way. Thank you for your consideration.

Join me in signing the petition HERE!

And then tell everyone you know. Better to be safe than sorry.