Californians, speak out to stop aerial pesticide spraying

Stop the Aerial Spraying Plans! Our state agriculture department just announced plans for repeated aerial spraying of California cities with a pesticide that's never before been used over urban areas. Tell the governor to stop these plans.

It's never been tested for long-term toxicity, and never before been approved for use over populated areas. Most of its ingredients are classified as trade secrets, and when sprayed over Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, hundreds of people reported respiratory and other health problems.

So why in the world is the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) pressing forward with plans to spray Checkmate® over more California cities, including most of the Bay Area?

Tell Governor Schwarzenegger: Call off the aerial spraying plans.

The proposed spraying is part of an "emergency" effort to control the light brown apple moth, which poses a threat to California agriculture. But there are huge questions about how big a threat this moth actually poses, and whether or not blanketing urban areas with pesticides is really the right approach to controlling this threat.

Click here to take action and call for a moratorium on the aerial spraying plans.

Southern Californians should also be very concerned about this issue. Under the law as it is written today, the CDFA can get an emergency exemption from the EPA to spray a wide variety of chemicals over populated areas of our state. Legislation currently proposed by several Bay Area lawmakers would change these laws to prevent this type of situation in the future.

Take action today to stop the aerial spraying AND support legislation to reform spraying policies in the future.

After you take action, please pass word on to a few friends. We can stop these spraying plans if we speak out to the governor and legislature in sufficient numbers.

Thank you for working to build a better world.