More than 100 people turned out for a town hall-style meeting in Corte Madera on Monday night to hear about plans to use airplanes to spray a pheromone-laced pesticide over Marin to eradicate the invasive light brown apple moth.

"Aerial spraying is the thermal nuclear option," said Nan Wishner, who is leading the anti-spray effort in the East Bay. She was one of eight panelists who spoke on the issue at forum organized by Marin anti-pesticide groups.

The spraying would not start until August because the state still needs to decide the proper formula for the spray, raising concerns among panelists that no one knows what will be dropped from the skies onto Marin.

"Spraying of an unknown chemical is probably my worst nightmare," said panelist Cory Reddish of Mill Valley, a naturopathic physician.

Marin has trapped enough moths - about 100 - that the state plans to put pheromone-coated twist ties on trees and tall bushes in San Rafael, mostly along the Point San Pedro peninsula in the eastern part of the city. That work is scheduled to begin Tuesday morning.

The number of moths trapped on the Tiburon Peninsula was so high that state officials concluded aerial spraying is necessary there and possibly over parts of

Sausalito. The spraying would be conducted in 30- to 90-day intervals and be dropped by planes flying between 500 and 800 feet.

"We don't want to be poisoned, and people don't want their children poisoned," said former Fairfax mayor Frank Egger, who moderated the event, which drew a standing room-only crowd at the Corte Madera Town Center's Community Room. "We intend to stop the madness. We will not let them do this to us."

Spraying over Monterey and Santa Cruz counties last fall stoked fierce opposition among residents worried that the chemicals could cause health problems.

The state Department of Food and Agriculture, which oversees the moth eradication project, has maintained the chemicals are safe and that the work is needed to prevent the moth from spreading and threatening millions of dollars in farm products.

But last fall, after planes doused cities, suburbs and rural areas in and around Santa Cruz with the pesticide, more than 500 people reported they felt sick, officials said.

In November, a judge denied Santa Cruz County's request to block the spraying, saying county attorneys didn't prove the pesticide was harmful.

The pheromone pesticide works by disrupting mating by mimicking the attractant mating scent emitted by female moths. It prevents male moths from finding females.

Several bills have been introduced in the state Legislature to halt the spraying plans and, on Tuesday, the county's Board of Supervisors will discuss a resolution on the issue, with the Fairfax Town Council doing the same Wednesday, Egger said. A march at the state Capitol is planned for Monday.

"We do not want to be guinea pigs for an unsafe and an untested procedure," said state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, who also represents Marin. "We have six months of noise to make before a plane takes off. They are not going to spray us."