Light Brown Apple Moth Controversy - Adverse Health Reports

Adverse Health Reports

After the spraying in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in the Fall of 2007, over 600 complaints of adverse health effects were reported . The California Department of Food and Agriculture received 330 reports of complaints such as eye irritation, difficulty breathing, rashes, headaches, and muscle aches, among others. A local environmental group also reported that they received more than 300 complaints.

On April 8, 2008, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a report on the complaints of adverse health effects that stated that they did not have enough data to conclude whether or not a link exists between illness complaints and the 2007 pesticide spraying in Santa Cruz and Monterey. Although the press release describing the report explicitly claimed that no link was found, the report actually concluded that "It is not possible to determine whether or not there is a link between any of the reported symptoms and the aerial spraying," and later stated that was because, "more than 90 percent of the 463 symptom reports do not contain adequate information for us to determine whether or not there is a link between the reported symptoms and the spray applications." Earlier news stories by the Santa Cruz Sentinel and the San Jose Mercury News based on the press release, were removed and replaced with corrected news stories.

In response to the OEHHA report, on April 11, 2008, Assemblymember John Laird stated in a press release:

"I’m disappointed that what should have been a very serious scientific effort started long ago, became an exercise where just 10% of the reported cases were analyzed and the findings have been used effectively as spin for the CDFA. To say that there is no information to indicate a link between the spraying and health effects is not the same as saying there is no link between spraying and health effects. The state did not reach out to a single doctor for the report. At a minimum, the reports associated with doctors should have been retrieved and given full analysis, including speaking with the reporting physicians."

The CDFA argues that only very small amounts of the spray were used and so should not have resulted in adverse health effects.

Dr. Lawrence Rose, a former Senior Public Medical Officer for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 28 years and part of the UCSF Occupational/Environmental Medicine Department, in a report titled, 'Marin Pesticide Spraying Health Hazard Alert,' described the actions of state officials as "far beyond irresponsible, and in fact criminal negligence would be a more appropriate label for the lack of public health follow-up."

On April 16, a report on the dangers of the microcapsules was sent as a letter to Dr. Robert Leavitt of the environmental advisory task force, by Dr. Dennis Knepp, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and Dr. Jeff Haferman, also an engineer, explaining that the spray was shown to include capsules with diameters less than or equal to 10 micrometers in diameter (termed PM10) which, in sufficient concentration, is a known health hazard regardless of the content of the particulates.