With Contributions by Eliza Ross and Anouk Thomas

Who would think that this innocent-looking Light Brown Apple Moth could cause so much controversy. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, this immigrant from Australia is a menace to crops and needs to be eradicated immediately. While Californian's agree, it's the method used that has them yelling, 'STOP THE SPRAY'.

It all began in late 2006, when this little creature that usually resides in Australia and New Zealand was found in parts of Northern and Central California. By mid-2007, 5000 moths were captured in traps set near Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in Northern California.

In the fall 2007, the California Department of Agriculture declared a state of emergency to get rid of the moth, by using aerial spraying. By declaring an emergency, they were able to bypass checking if spraying wide areas with pesticides is safe for human beings. They also announced that that the spraying would happen every 30 days for nine months for an indefinite number of years.

The first batch of sprayings happened soon after the emergency was declared, without any input from the local people. Soon complaints of illnesses, ranging from high blood pressure to asthma attacks started to come in. Luckily, due to petitions from many counties, a judge has stopped any further spraying until the impact on human's is assessed. The Governer of California has declared a ban at least until mid-August 2008.

The worst part is that experts believe that this spraying will never completely eradicate the moth and that there are other better and more natural ways to do it.

However, like in every bad situation, something really good has come of this issue. Californians have united like never before and it's not just the adults. Kids as young as ten years old are getting involved in saving their environment - something that is really heartening.

Below is an article written by Eliza Ross and Anouk Thomas, two fourth-grade students from Mill Valley Elementary School, Edna Maguire. They felt so strongly, that their teacher Kimba Lackey encouraged them to do something about it. By writing and talking about the issue, the two young girls managed to get over a hundred petitions signed to ' Stop the Spray' - Way to go girls!

STOP THE SPRAY

By: Eliza Ross And Anouk Thomas

Did you hear that the state agriculture authorities might spray a pesticide all over Marin this summer to stop a crop - eating moth? They announced it on February 14 of this year. The chemicals in the pesticides are bad for the air as well as for people. The brown apple moth is threatening over 2,000 different kinds of plants. The spraying will apparently stop their mating cycle. We learned that they
would spray the pesticide every 60 days for 3 to 10 years. They will spray the pesticide by airplane. The light brown little apple moth is a species native to Australia. The spraying over Monterey and Santa Cruz last fall scared many people because of the chemicals in the pesticide. The state department of agriculture got many letters from people in Monterey and Santa Cruz saying that they felt sick after the spraying. They are still deciding whether or not to spray the pesticided because of all the protesting. You all can sign our petition we all ready have 100 signatures and you can make us have 100 more! For Updated information on this issue click on http://www.panna.org/resources/lbam

UPDATE ON STOP THE SPRAY - June 19th, 2008

State and Federal Officials just announced that the San Francisco and the surrounding urban areas will not be sprayed aerially to eradicate the apple brown moth. Instead agricultural officials will fight this menace by releasing sterile moths and othe ground methods.

Source: SFGate.com