This page contains two other "crop-dusting" stories.  But where are the crops?  New York City's Mayor Rudolph Giuliani pushed the mass-spraying of dangerous chemicals to kill mosquitoes carrying the "dangerous" West Nile Virus when children and adults were sprayed in the Borough of Staten Island!  And now in New Zealand, people fear for their health if aerial spraying is pursued against the painted apple moth -- a species in which the females cannot fly.  The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of New Zealand states that "any spraying that may happen in the western suburbs will be limited and safe."  One has to wonder if the officials in New Zealand are imitating New York City's Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. 

Staten Island Advance
August 31, 2000

Bug Bombers Stray And Spray

Hundreds of moms, dads and kids run for cover as helicopters douse ball fields, golf course and a residential area with pesticide.

by Frank WilliamsAdvance Staff Writer

Helicopters that city officials said would only spray over "unpopulated areas" instead spewed their pesticide cloud over surprised and frightened Islanders yesterday. Hundreds of children playing on football and baseball fields in Travis had to dodge the mist. 

"Our policy in general has been to use helicopters in mainly nonresidential areas not accessible to all-terrain vehicles," said city Health Department spokeswoman Sandra Mullin last night. "If this incident reflects a veering away from the designed route, that's something we want to look into." 

"We certainly apologize to any individuals over whom the helicopters may have flown and put in the way of the Anvil we were spraying." 

The city has said that helicopter spraying takes place during daylight hours so pilots can avoid populated or environmentally sensitive areas. How they failed to recognize a golf course, youth ball fields and the residential area near High Rock Park -- all areas where people claimed choppers doused them last night -- remains unclear. 

As parents became aware of the mist falling from a low-flying chopper over the three fields of the Staten Island Boys' Football League at the corner of South and Travis avenues, kids were quickly hustled into cars -- shoulder pads and all -- and suddenly found themselves going home. A practice was canceled soon after the helicopter arrived at 6:45 p.m. 

The fields are near the South Avenue industrial corridor, one of several "remote" areas on the Island's West Shore targeted by the city for aerial spraying from 6:30 to 9 last night. More aerial spraying was scheduled this morning from 5 to 6:30. Trucks were also out all over the Island, spraying between 10 last night and 5 this morning. 

A scrimmage game went on, but was delayed until the spraying was over. During a time-out, dozens of children huddled for cover under the concessions stand's awning. 

"The helicopter flew by four times. I think the borough president needs to get a call," said Kathleen Collins of West Brighton, who was watching her 8-year-old son, Michael, play. She said she sat in her car, cradling her 1-month-old daughter, Kayla, during the dousing. "This is a field full of children -- and many of them aren't even playing." 

The parents criticized the city's vague plan to spray "unpopulated" areas from the air.

"Unpopulated? You can't get more populated than a field full of kids having fun," said Joe Yacca of Great Kills, who was also watching Michael, his nephew. 

"I got spray on me and I'm annoyed," said Carol Aponte of Travis, who was with her sons, Jonathan, 8, and Steven, 10. "We had no idea. It was supposed to be only unpopulated areas." 

The football league's officials said they did not know their field would be sprayed by helicopter last night. 

"We would never have had practice if we knew about the spraying. We thought they were only spraying unpopulated areas, but we're populated," said Sandy Scott, treasurer of the league. "We received no notice at all." 

It was unclear last night who in city government, if anyone, is responsible for notifying specific youth leagues or public recreation areas -- like city-owned LaTourette Golf Course, where complaints from pesticide-covered golfers were heard -- that they are in or near a spray zone. 

"We have in many instances been working with the borough presidents' offices to identify leagues to notify them," said Ms. Mullin, when contacted by the Advance early last evening. "We may not have reached every league but we certainly have attempted to do it. This could be a situation that we may not have been aware of." 

But Borough President Guy V. Molinari said the Health Department "never asked us to notify anyone." He said the notion of contacting every league is "outrageous." 

"We just don't have the resources and staff to do this," said the borough president. "All we can do is take information from the Health Department and relay it to the public."

When contacted later in the evening and told of Molinari's comments, Ms. Mullin said, "We've been working with all elected officials through announcements in the media in an attempt to get the word out. The borough president's office has been very helpful this way." 

Eleanor Conforti, chairwoman of the District 31 Community School Board, was at the Mid-Island Babe Ruth League's Travis baseball fields and was hit with spray, along with two teams and two full bleachers. 

"I'm appalled at this. I'm just so upset because all these kids are here," said Ms. Conforti. "This is a crowded field and you're telling me this is uninhabited?" 

Lou Pinheiro, 43, of Bay Terrace, and Robert Trimarchi, 35, of Westerleigh, were sprayed on the fourth hole of LaTourette Golf Course near Forest Hill Road. 

"There were at least 100 people out there and they were spraying right over us," said Pinheiro. "When everybody was leaving, they sprayed right over the parking lot."

"Those condominiums on Forest Hill Road were being sprayed too," said Trimarchi. "It's very irresponsible to be spraying people in the early evening." 

Kevin Calabrese, who lives in the last house before High Rock Park begins on Nevada Avenue, Egbertville, said his block was hit with spray. 

"I came back from the store at around 7 p.m. and they were spraying when I tried to get in my house," said Calabrese. "The same thing happened the last time they sprayed from helicopters."

Calabrese said when the spraying started people came running out of High Rock Park.

"I don't understand why the park wasn't closed -- especially since they were spraying," said Calabrese.

Copyright 2000 Staten Island Advance, Staten Island, NY

Aerial Spraying is Unpopular
http://www.nzoom.com

West Aucklanders say they fear for their health, if Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries officials push ahead with a bid for aerial spraying to get rid of the Australian painted apple moth.

However, the pint-sized pests are creating a major problem.

The apple moth was first found two years ago in Glendene, but has now spread all over Auckland's west, from Avondale to Titirangi.

According to Waitakere City Mayor, Bob Harvey, "this city refuses to take responsibility for what I think is a failure of biosecurity in this country and particularly this area"

As the female adult apple moths cannot fly, MAF believed they were not as big a threat as some other exotic pests.

Limited success for ground spraying

As a result, it relied on ground spraying to control the moth, however, with limited success.

Nevertheless, MAF remains committed to eradicating the pest and has ordered $5 million of pesticide.

It is waiting until next week, before it confirms its eradication plans.

But if an aerial assault is on the agenda, MAF can expect some stiff resistance from locals.

"If we get to a stage where we have to fly DC-10s over flying the Waitakere ranges, it'll just be an ecological tragedy of huge proportions," said local community group member, Kubi Witten-Hannah.

"We are absolutely against it (the spraying)," reiterated Harvey.

"We believe it's a little too late and this community is in an uproar really, about spraying. We simply do not want it"

Aerial spraying is a familiar option

The tension over the proposal to spray for the moth is a familiar story for Aucklanders.

In 1996, Auckland's eastern suburbs were sprayed with a pesticide in a bid to wipe out the white tussock moth.

MAF says any spraying that may happen in the western suburbs will be limited and safe.

copyright 2001 nzoom.com     Story published October 20, 2001

This next story is copied directly from Steve Tvedten's website at the following URL address: http://www.safe2use.com/ca-ipm/01-07-02b.htm.  Of course it is also one of the many messages sent to Mr. Helliker and a courtesy copy (cc) was sent to Ms. Christine Todd-Whitman, the former governor of the "toxic state" of New Jersey and who is now head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

Dear Mr. Helliker,  I thought you might find these articles interesting, they are found at: http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/military/featured/2001/monsanto.html 

"On the very first flyover by the cropduster, the U.S. Senator, the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, the Lieutenant Colonel of the Colombian National Police, and other Embassy and congressional staffers were fully doused -- drenched, in fact -- with the sticky, possibly dangerous (herbicide) Roundup.""Imagine what is happening when a high-level congressional delegation is not present," Farrell noted, pointing out that careful preparation had gone into the botched flyover. Wellstone left Colombia completely unconvinced by the Embassy."

"Last January, during a meeting with U.S. Embassy staff in Bogotá, the top officer at the State Department's Narcotics Affairs Section was emphatic and his tone threatening: "You cannot mention Monsanto!" he boomed, spit flying from his mouth. CorpWatch was a little taken aback, but also very amused: Monsanto is a major part of the Colombia story, and there is no way to ignore it."

"Dutch journalist Marjon Van Royen ... found something alarming: another additive called Cosmo-Flux 411 F was being added to increase Roundup's toxicity. The Roundup/Cosmo-Flux mixture has never been scientifically evaluated nor has the public, either in the U.S., or in Colombia, been informed of this practice."

Another piece of the puzzle is found at:  http://www.corpwatch.org/news/2001/0138.html 

"The chemical, based on the compound glyphosate, is manufactured by the US Monsanto Corporation using British ingredients, hexitan esters, supplied by ICI Specialty Chemicals, and liquid isoparafins manufactured by Exxon. It damages the human digestive system, the central nervous system, the lungs and the blood's red corpuscles. Another constituent causes cancer in animals and damage to the liver and kidneys of humans. The villagers' fears about the chemicals appear to be well founded. The World Health Organization has found that glyphosate is easily transmitted to humans through foods such as raspberries, lettuces, carrots and barley - with traces of the chemical found in crops sown a whole year after the soil had been dosed with it. Elsa Nivía, a Colombian agronomist who works with the Pesticide Action Network, ridicules the US government's claims that Roundup Ultra is safe and no more poisonous than aspirin or table salt. She has written that in the first two months of this year local authorities have reported 4,289 humans suffering skin or gastric disorders while 178,377 creatures were killed by the spraying including cattle, horses, pigs, dogs, ducks, hens and fish."

Well Mr. Helliker,  I thought that it was against the federal "law" to compare any of your "registered" POISONS with food products like aspirin or table salt and/or to state that even the labeled use of any "registered" POISON was "safe". Obviously the above drenching is not an incident of labeled use and if you have allowed another unknown toxin to be added to the POISON to increase the toxicity of the "registered" glyphosate then obviously this total POISON compound is not "registered/tested", and no one can honestly predict how "safe" or dangerous this type of misuse and/or the entire toxin is to people and the environment.  Once again we see that terrible attitude that "what we do not know will not hurt us"....wink, wink.  The known human and animal health price for two months of spraying is incredible.  Someday, "someone" may be indicted for war crimes.

Help elect me as your public advocate.  I will continue to fight for the way life should be in New York City because I am the only candidate who knows and cares about how good it can be!

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