AFTER TWO hours of testimony Thursday, a Monterey County judge delayed his decision over whether aerial spraying of a pheromone to eradicate the invasive light brown apple moth could be resumed on the Monterey Peninsula.

Last week, Superior Court Judge Robert O’Farrell issued a temporary restraining order halting the spraying after a lawsuit was filed by a local activist, David Dilworth, who represents a group called Helping Our Peninsula’s Environment.

While the judge did not rule immediately, at the end of Thursday’s hearing, O’Farrell indicated he would probably let the spraying resume.

“It appears to me, based on what I examined,” O’Farrell said, “that the petitioner has not shown successfully the likelihood of actual physical harm. However, having said that, there is a genuine fear in the community.”

More than 100 people reported they experienced health problems after the spraying, said Alexander Henson, attorney for Dilworth. He told O’Farrell Dilworth’s group wants to know exactly what’s in CheckMate OLR-F and CheckMate LBAM-F, the pheromone materials used in the spraying.

“We are under the assumption it’s not a safe product,” Henson said. “Because immediately after it’s applied to the population, hundreds of people became ill.”

The state wants to eliminate the moth because it contends the insect, which is native to Australia, could cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to local crops, trees and plants.

Pheromones were developed as an environmentally friendly substitute for traditional pesticides, officials said.

And William Jenkins, deputy attorney general representing the California Department of Food and Agriculture, indicated there would be health problems if the state didn’t spray the moth.

“It’s not like it’s the bug versus the people,” Jenkins said. “It will have an effect on the people and habitat.”

In the restraining order, O’Farrell listed the ingredient polymethylene polyphenyl isocyanate — a resin listed as hazardous by the National Institutes of Health — that may be present in CheckMate.

Jenkins said Thursday that test results of a random sample of CheckMate LBAM-F showed the presence of only three ingredients, including a common food preservative he said was “perfectly safe.”

More monitoring

O’Farrell sought more information from Jenkins about monitoring the spraying, which is done by at night by low-flying aircraft. A first round of spraying was conducted in early September. CDFA wanted to resume Oct. 9.

But so concerned was he about the monitoring issue, O’Farrell three times put the court in recess so Jenkins could find out more from state ag officials how they would make sure the spray was applied correctly, what was in the material being sprayed, and how it affected the health of humans.

“It would be nice to be more precise about that,” O’Farrell said. “It’s the elephant in the room, and it needs to be looked at as well.”

Henson said he has put in a request with the Environmental Protection Agency for results of the tests on the safety of the pheromone mixture. “Unfortunately, what has been submitted to this court is one study — just one,” he said. “And that study was done on mussels. I don’t know how reflective mussels are of the human condition, but I know those critters are pretty hardy.”

Henson also said his client still advocates the moth eradication, just not through aerial spraying.
“We are not here to defend the apple moth,” Henson said.