Light Brown Apple Moth Controversy - History

History

Though the first Light Brown Apple Moth confirmed in California by DNA analysis was found in February 2007, scientists like James Carey, a professor of entomology at the University of California-Davis and associate editor on several journals, believes, based on his previous experience with the Gypsy Moth program, that the Light Brown Apple Moth has likely lived in California for years and possibly decades (in part because it is so widespread, from Los Angeles to north of San Francisco). The debate over how long the moth has been in the state has not yet been resolved. Questions about the rationale for the timing of the spray program suggest that it appears be more closely related to agricultural quarantines from Mexico and Canada than other factors.

Additionally, since the moths appear unlikely to survive in typical conditions of much of the agricultural areas of the state of California, such as in the extremely high temperatures of the Central Valley, some question the level of crop damage possible. One paper states:

"Hot, dry conditions may reduce populations significantly, and it is unknown whether the insect will be able to establish in locations such as the Central Valley and inland deserts of California. . . . In California, light brown apple moth has been detected on agricultural lands mostly in production and retail nurseries located near urban areas."

Following the confirmation of the presence of the moth in California by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the California Department of Food and Agriculture issued a State Interior Quarantine order restricting intrastate shipment of plant material from counties where LBAM had been found. APHIS later issued a Federal Domestic Quarantine order on May 2, 2007, with restrictions on interstate shipment of plant material. CDFA officials, together with the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, initiated what they described as an emergency eradication program, including domestic and international quarantines and inspection programs. Although a pesticide cannot be legally used if it has not been registered by EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs in accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the EPA has the ability to approve emergency exemptions (under Section 18 of FIFRA) for unregistered uses of pesticides for limited time periods if the EPA determines that emergency conditions exist and the request meets EPA safety requirements. The EPA granted a quarantine exemption request from the USDA which stated:

The Applicant proposes the use of a new chemical which has not been registered by EPA. Due to the unique nature of this emergency situation, in which the time to review the conditions of this situation was short, it was not possible to issue a solicitation for public comment, in accordance with 40 CFR 166.24, prior to the Agency’s decision to grant these exemptions.

In late 2007, the moth eradication program involving (aerial spraying) of a product containing E. postvittana attractant sex pheromones as its active ingredient, among other substances not yet revealed to the public, over sixty square miles near the Pacific coast between Monterey and Santa Cruz was begun. The EPA authorized the aerial spraying of the pheromone spray every 30 days until 2010.

On September 24, 2007 the group 'Helping Our Peninsula's Environment' (HOPE), opponents of the spraying and concerned over the potential impacts to humans and the environment, filed suit to halt the spraying program because the California Dept of Food and Agriculture claimed it was exempt from California's Environmental Quality Act which required analysis of the environmental impacts of the use.

A few weeks later in October HOPE obtained a court injunction that postponed the pheromone spraying for two weeks. The injunction was lifted a week later, the group said, because it was impossible to prove that "inert" ingredients cause harm when the manufacturer and the government agencies refused to disclose the names and concentrations of the ingredients.

The Monterey County Weekly, in October 2007, reported that according to CDFA spokesman Jay Van Rein, the first two aerial applications over the Monterey Peninsula cost $3.7 million, with $3.1 million of that used to buy the spray products. The November 2007 application was described as costing $2.7 million.