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State leaders do not have sufficient data to conclude whether a link exists between illness complaints and last fall’s aerial pesticide spraying, according to a health report issued Thursday.
Still, the report suggested that county residents who have respiratory problems or are sensitive to chemicals receive notice before the next round of spraying, scheduled for June, should they want to avoid exposure.
“As a public health protective agency, it’s prudent to provide information to those individuals” so they can take steps to protect themselves,” said Joan Denton, director of the California Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment.
Hundreds of Santa Cruz and Monterey county residents have reported breathing problems, allergic reactions and a metallic taste last year after the state employed airplanes to spray parts of both counties with a pheromone to fight the invasive light brown apple moth. CheckMate LBAM-F was developed to confuse male moths and prevent them from mating.
More than 460 health complaints were filed after the spraying, but state leaders have taken into account less than 46 of those when preparing Tuesday’s report. The rest did not contain sufficient information to be included, the report said.
That angers Santa Cruz residents like Emily Levy, who said she was in her 40s and has lived in Santa Cruz for almost 10 years. She moved out of the area during the spraying, but noticed increased fatigue right after she returned.
“It’s illegal and immoral to experiment on people, and if you’re going to conduct an experiment of this magnitude, you want to look at the results of the experiment,” said Levy, a member of California Alliance to Stop the Spray.
Levy was also frustrated that state health leaders did not interview Central Coast residents or doctors concerning their health complaints.
Denton said the state would take better initiative in reaching out to residents after the next Santa Cruz County spraying in June, but a plan to do that has not been approved.
A number of San Francisco Bay Area counties are in line to be sprayed this summer as well.
