A local nurseryman hopes the failure of an airborne approach to fighting the light brown apple moth won’t create fear and distrust when the next pest comes along.

“It’s a mixed bag,” Dave Cavanaugh said of the June 19 announcement by Secretary of Food and Agriculture A.G. Kawamura that the state had abandoned all plans to use airplanes to spray pheromones over urban areas infested by the light brown apple moth. “I think the reality that the pheromone applications were no longer going to be used over the urban areas, it really does keep agriculture from looking as if it’s pushing something on people that they don’t want. We’re relieved at that point. The part that we’re not real sure about is what will go on with some of the other scientific aspects about the light brown apple moth.”

Kawamura announced a different approach to fighting the light brown apple moth in urban areas.

“Since we discovered the light brown apple moth in California in early 2007, we have invested in the development of alternatives that would improve our eradication efforts,” he said. “That work is bearing fruit earlier than expected. We are fast-tracking an approach known as the sterile insect technique, in which large quantities of sterilized, infertile insects are released so that the wild population cannot reproduce.”

Cavanaugh, facilitator for a light brown apple moth task force and operator of Cavanaugh Color in Watsonville, a wholesale nursery that sells herbaceous perennials, said public perception that the state was crying wolf about the apple moth could hurt future efforts to control pests.

The next time that something really serious comes up, he said, the anti-spray position will be emboldened.

Opponents of the pheromone spray program already have signaled that they would fight any future efforts to spray pesticides, based on their success with halting the pheromone spray.

“A significant threat to ourselves and our environment has been eliminated,” said John Russo, founder of stopthespray.org. “This success is a major inspiration for us all to fight against other chemical trespasses and spray programs by the state and private industry.”

“We are happy to hear that the CDFA has decided to stop aerial spraying of biochemicals over urban areas,” Lori Cioffi, director of California Alliance to Stop the Spray, said in a press release. However, she added, “The CDFA has not wavered on their commitment to releasing poisons during the ground part of their treatment plan, so the fight is not over.”

The California Department of Food and Agriculture insisted that pheromones were not like traditional pesticides, but merely chemicals that mimic the natural scents of insects to disrupt mating.

Kawamura admitted that the pheromone application had sparked too much public backlash.

“I know there’s concern out there, and we want to be able to address that,” he said.

Cavanaugh said integrated pest management — which includes use of natural predators — is the approach he would like to take in his nursery.

“I’ve always believed that we’ve kept all of the pests that come into our businesses under control with integrated pest management; it’s the smartest, most scientifically controlled approach,” Cavanaugh said.

Ironically, the government’s prescription for nurseries where the light brown apple moth is detected in pheromone-baited traps runs counter to integrated pest management. Nursery operations can face quarantine regulations, which include mandated use of a pesticide, chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate that Cavanaugh said can wipe out beneficial predators and stymie an IPM approach. Chlorpyrifos is also regarded as a harsh agent, a chemical that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded posed a risk to children because of its potential effects on the nervous system and possibly brain development, according to press reports. This declaration led the EPA and manufacturers to agree to phase out use of chlorpyrifos for home and garden applications. It remains widely used in agriculture, however.

The CDFA is looking at chemicals safer than chlorpyrifos, Cavanaugh said, but for now, options are limited.

Whether sterile moths will contain the light brown apple moth and ease restrictions on nurseries remains to be seen, Cavanaugh said.

“If they can’t do those applications and they’re going to be depending on the sterile-moth technology, we’re not sure how that’s going to unfold on the growers,” he said.

Legislators vowed to stay involved in discussion of light brown apple moth eradication.

“I look forward to the opportunity to work with representatives of the CDFA to help them make sure the LBAM program is safe,” Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, said after the pheromone-spraying program was scrapped. “As the CDFA pursues ground-based strategies for its LBAM program, the cancellation of aerial spraying does not reduce the need for an open public process that is focused on sound science.”

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(Published in 6/24/08 edition)

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