The Ojai Post

As I read all these Gypsy Moth articles, both here and in the Ojai Valley News, and watch the videos and listen to radio interviews, going back about two months now (not sure how long) I can't help but wonder if it would have done any good to have had a Community Forum with all the people speaking out so passionately, present.

I hope that as we all get more educated on this issue that those with opposing views can still continue to work together for the greater good.

Indeed a community forum is a great idea. I know CDFA tried to hold a meeting, but nobody went. I was too busy that night. But, I was wholly in favor of the treatment, and didn't have another ax to grind.

A Community Forum sounds like a good idea...and maybe we'll have the chance to hold one soon: Light Brown Apple Moth has been found in Ventura County, and that could be the next one up for treatment.

Tottaly different type of pest, totally different type of material. But google that and you'll see what hysteria and mayhem it's caused upstate. Will we be prepared when they want to use the pheremone here?

Without a doubt, the narcissistic paranoid conspiracy theorists will again shout "Inerts, inerts - the inerts are going to kill us!!!!"

What good is a community forum when you have people attending that cannot be reasoned with, incapable of presenting a cogent idea, making concessions, evaluating *relative* risks, making agreements, and moving forward?

Perhaps a community forum won't sway those who don't have the ability to participate in discourse and dialogue. But, perhaps at the very least, a Community Forum would be great for the rest of the reasonably rational folks around here - one hopes we're still in the majority...

But who would facilitate and moderate it? Better start interviewing now!

Thank you Steve for this brief article. I completely agree with you. By the way, when is Carmen's art opening? Is that tonight or tomorrow? Thanks

Thank you, Steve!

I thought this was particularly compelling:

"Its ironic that people who want to end chemical pesticide use may inadvertently provoke an even more toxic response instead."

I think this is at the heart of my frustration about this. I know that the folks who've been outspoken about their concerns about this spraying sincerely consider themselves environmentally committed (at least those I know are).

What's gotten me jumping up and down in a snit (along with the confusion about what constitutes opinion and what constitutes science) is the irony in this disconnect.

Getting hysterical about a naturally occurring bacillus that's been used for almost 50 years without major health implications to eradicate one of the most noxious, nonnative, invasive pests ever to hit the US makes no sense to me what so ever.

And it makes even less sense when you realize that the next steps are a hell of a lot more scary. This is by far the lesser of evils!

Best,
Leigh

PS: Tyler, thanks for putting this all together on a page!

Thank you, Leigh, you expressed much of what I also feel, though I say this with trepidation as I can see this situation from various perspectives. If the powers-that-be came to spray in my neck of the woods it would probably take someone of the caliber of Steve Sprinkel and the other the organic growers who have spoken out, to convince me...what people sometimes forget (my self included) is that nature is not always cooperative in man's favor. It is a fact of life that people at the mercy of nature sometimes starve to death.

Steve S wrote: >>

Steve this is the first I have heard about this method working, great news. There is information out there that these (moths) are some how unique ...whatever; they all become caterpillars to me and I know chickens can help in are controlling moth larvae on the ground.

As for a forum ...Pesticide Free Ojai Valley meets weekly on Monday nights, tonight at Vicki's Treasure Store (Main @ Bryant 7PM). It is an open forum for everyone with concerns and solutions about these poisons we seem to need??? The meetings take place in business supported venues which are safe and respectful. That said, if you come by, leave any sloth manifest as name calling at the door.

We as a people have been divided by CDFA, in a designed manner consistent with Monsanto's approach to business. They know as well as anyone the effects of these spray's on people with immune issues or mental fears. They have been doing this a long time. The marketing team understands how "healthy people" will demand those being effected GET OVER IT, for the future! Like BOMB IRAQ NOW for the future, Bail Out big corporations Now for the future. Some how: if you want to stop and look around you are not a patriot ...it is not that big a stretch, given the single bullet theories of our collective experience (OR? I AM just an observer).

We may live in a cancer cluster! Read it and weep real estate sales folks, parents and politicos). We do have huge amounts of toxin in some of our drinking water (acetone, chloroform, methylethyl ketone and others). People thinking they have a bronchitis are finding lung cancer ...this is about a collective consciousness, we are one is not a soap label its a reality!!! Every species has a say, every consciousness has an awareness and every action has a reaction. May we all react in Love.
Hodges

Dr Berhoft really disappoints!

Inerts are called inert because they are IN FACT, less toxic than the active ingredients. While pesticide manufacturers are not required to divulge inert ingredients on the label, they are certainly required to provide this information to the EPA as part of the approval process. EPA evaluates the additional ingredients in a pesticide for their toxicity and bases their approval, the re-entry and pre-harvest interval on known behavior of these materials in the environment and in organisms.

That Dr. Bernhoft would insinuate that there might be DDT in Dipel is really sloppy, and adds fuel to an already hysterical mob. Is this one of those ploys by docs to keep their patients mentally/emotionally impaired thereby requiring their services in perpetuity? His credibility in my estimation has hit rock-bottom.

People are really reacting to a 'trigger' word: pesticide:
Don't forget, soap bubbles, beer, coffee, organic garlic juice....all of these would also be registered as pesticides if anyone wanted to ask the EPA to approve them for sale and use intended to kill pests.

Not sure where you've been getting informed these days, canibefrank, but the EPA has zero credibility. For all intensive purposes, the EPA is basically a dubious department of the sociopathic Monsanto corpse-the-nation at best. Are you that naive that you actually believe the EPA's rubber stamp? And here you thought you were standing on solid ground when in fact you are living in the Love Canal...

what source do you recommend over the EPA?