Governor Schwarzenegger and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, in an effort to eradicate the light brown apple moth, presently plan to begin the aerial spraying of numerous chemicals on the people, including mothers and children, of Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Larkspur, Tiburon, Sausalito, and Belvedere, and millions of other San Francisco Bay Area and Monterey Bay Area residents in August 2008.

This aerial spraying program will spray the people with these chemicals every 30-90 days, for 3 to 10 years, and is scheduled to take place despite the fact that they have absolutely no knowledge of the immediate and long term health effects of spraying these numerous chemicals upon actual human beings.

The numerous chemicals in the aerial spray include:

(E)-11 tetradecen-l-yl acetate,
(E, E)-9,11 tetradecadien-1-yl acetate,
1,2-benzisothiazol-3-one,
2-hydroxy-4-n-octyloxybenzophenone,
Butylated hydroxytoluene,
Sodium phosphate,
Polyvinyl alcohol
Tricaprylyl methyl ammonium chloride,
Ammonium phosphate,
Cross linked polyurea polymer.

A number of these chemicals in the spray are known to be toxic to lungs, blood, liver and the central nervous system, and may cause adverse reproductive effects and birth defects. In addition, these chemicals will be packaged in microscopic plastic capsules designed to slowly release the chemicals into the air over the course of 30-90 days. The size of the microscopic plastic capsules are small enough to penetrate the deep tissues of the lungs and airways, making newborns, children and the elderly particularly vulnerable to the ingestion of these chemicals into their lungs and bloodstreams.

In the Fall of 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger and his Department of Food and Agriculture aerially sprayed these time-release, microscopic plastic capsules containing numerous hazardous chemicals on the people, including mothers and children, of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. In the wake of that spraying, hundreds and hundreds of people reported immediate, adverse health effects including first-time asthma attacks, skin rashes, flu-like symptoms, fatigue, tightness of the chest, and muscle aches. Several children experienced their first asthma attacks directly following the spraying, and at least one child was hospitalized.

The long term health consequences of aerially spraying the people of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties with these time-release, microscopic plastic capsules containing numerous hazardous chemicals remains wholly unknown.

Experts have testified that the wide geographic range over which the light brown apple moth has now been found in California indicates that it has been established, undetected in this state for decades. During this time the light brown apple moth has caused absolutely no physical crop damage in California. There is simply no proof that the light brown apple moth presents an emergency of any kind.

Mothers of Marin Against the Spray opposes the aerial spraying of Marin and the rest of the state of California to eradicate the light brown apple moth. Mothers of Marin Against the Spray calls upon Governor Schwarzenegger and the California Department of Food and Agriculture to immediately halt all plans and efforts to aerially spray Marin and the rest of the state.

Mothers of Marin Against the Spray further calls upon the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to downgrade the current USDA classification of the light brown apple moth as a quarantineable pest, such that the USDA removes the quarantine of areas where the light brown apple moth has been found in California, and no longer considers the presence of the light brown apple moth in California an emergency.