JennyL

Santa Cruz was sprayed aerially with the pesticide Checkmate on November 9. This happened despite 200 reports of illness when it was done in Monterey County in September and October.
Here's a timetable of events:
11/8-9 Santa Cruz county sprayed with pesticide. Many residents report illness.
11/10 Rain washes pesticide into bay.
11/14 red tide, sick and dead birds from "mystery spill" in the Bay
11/16 1000 people exposed to "mystery virus" in Santa Cruz hotel

Here's a comment from a Santa Cruz hotel worker regarding the illness:

I work at the front desk of a hotel. A bunch of guests staying there
got sick the morning after the first night of spraying. They had no
idea about the spray, and my boss told me not to say a word to them.
Seven different rooms checked out with some pretty good illnesses, but
each family only had some members sick and not others. The spray
definetely got them sick. The interesting thing is that some get sick
and others are just fine. There is some kind of sensitivity to it, and
in this comment section, the idiots that aren't sensitive keep denying
those people who are. I wasn't allowed to tell any of the guests that
others in the hotel got sick too and I couldn't tell them about the
spray or I would have lost my job, by my idiot boss. I feel bad now. I
should have told them. Sorry about that."

(found here
http://www.santacru zsentinel. com/story. php?sid=50646& storySection= Local&fromSearch =true&searchTerm s=

All the locals got a notice from the CDFA telling them to close their windows and stay in after 8 pm. If I was on vacation, I would certainly want to know I was about to be sprayed with a pesticide and should take cover. Shouldn't the hotels have told their guests?

FYI, this spraying is schedule to take place monthly from March- November through 2010 in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and possibly other Bay area counties. Plan your travel accordingly.

glimmer2

Hey JennyL, I didn't get sick but I do know a few people that did. I wasn't all too worried about the spray until I read a Chronicle piece about how toxic Checkmate's inert ingredients are.
The appearence of the disgusting Red Tide is too much. I read that Checkmate is HIGHLY toxic to zooplanykton, you know the little guys that make Red Tide. Seems as though we were lied to.
All this and the oil spill have me questioning few things myself.

enzian

What is the purpose of this spray? What is it supposed to do?

glimmer2

We had an invasion, although I never saw one, of the 'light brown apple moth'. Because of these little guys it was declared an agricultural emergency. This stuff was never used near humans before. It had previously been used on farms in Australia, but no where near people and far from the ocean.
It wasn't supposed to sprayed near the ocean but I live less than 1/4 mile from the ocean and my home was buzzed by the planes at least 20 times. My friend who lives right on the cliff of the beach was sprayed too. We had many meetings in our county to voice our concerns to no avail.

Nora_S

The "mystery virus" is not such a mystery. It is one of the GI illnesses, passed around by a restaurant worker not washing his/her hands.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/sto...ocal&sid=50770

It happens a lot. In this case, the offending restaurant has been closed for cleaning.

glimmer2

The virus isn't a mystery. Just plane ol' bad handwashing. The spray however has some question still lurking around it.

christycruz

Toxic ingredients? Compared to what? I bet the last bbq you ate at was more dangerous.

I read that Chronicle article, and I was embarrassed for the writer. While he's a scientist, he's definitely no etox or chemist. His understanding of MSDS info was naive. Urea in the lab comes in the form of DUST. Yes, dust will irritate eyes, respiratory system. Also, the concentration in the lab (what the MSDS are really for) is many times greater than the application from the spraying. Ever read the MSDS on Fluoride? Do you use toothpaste?

And we get red tide quite often--what makes anyone think this had anything to do with it? The Ocean Science faculty at UCSC aren't blaming the spraying.

I'm pretty skeptical, but the arguments on the anti-spraying side have been alarmist without any real effort to understand the information they are reading.

Correlation is not causation.

And what does the oil spill have to do with it? Or Norovirus outbreaks?

jankn

If you aren't worried about visiting the Central Coast, including Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties in 2008, maybe you need to be. The aerial spraying of untested pesticides every month has been done without an EIR and citizen teams who are compiling and studying CDFA claims find much information to be contradictory with a pattern of omissions and disinformation. (See lbamspray.com.) Be informed before you visit. I have to leave my home. People are relocating and leaving their towns because of adverse effects. Want to buy a house here? Realtors will have to disclose this aerial blanketing of the city and county with pesticides. Want to visit and have a night out on the town? - Be in your motel with the windows closed before 8 p.m. The planes fly 400 ft. overhead from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. about 4 nights of every month with the pesticide time-released to last for 30 days. Remember malathion - it degraded into malathoxin - 60 times more carcinogenic - and people tracked it into their homes. What will you breathe, absorb through your skin and take home with you?

character

What a bunch of horseshit promoted by OP and jankn. Losers.

jtrandolph

<BIG SIGH>

I am old and remember Rachel Carson. This is nonsense and so non-scientific I cannot believe it.

Has anyone checked out the supposed sickness reported by a hotel employee? Does anybody remember that a hotel had food poisoning around this time and the kitchen was shut down for sanitation purposes?

200 illnesses in Monterey County in September and October? WOW. What is the evidence that these illnesses were caused by the spraying? Seems to me that 200 illnesses in two months makes Monterey County one of the healthiest in the land.

Grow up everybody and get an education. Sheesh.

"The Sky is Falling, the Sky is Falling". Save your sermonizing for the REAL threats.

Pildredge

This story has every indication of good old mass hysteria and alot of activists with an otherwise slow dance card.