Pesticide Use, Dangers

I have been reading the articles regarding Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail with great interest because in 1997 my son was diagnosed with a rare immunological disorder that has been linked to exposure to malathion.

As we lived in the malathion spray zone while my son was in utero and an infant, I repeatedly contacted the ag commissioner’s office by phone to discuss spraying of Camarillo in 1995. After my third or fourth call was finally returned, I requested the dates of the spraying and asked for as much information as their office could provide.

I was told to fill out a “right to know” form, which was faxed to me. I then received back a faxed, handwritten list of the spraying dates, and was told, “This is all we have.”

My husband is a hazardous materials specialist with contacts nationwide. He contacted the Department of Food and Agriculture’s pest detection / emergency projects division in Van Nuys and was provided with a full report called the “Camarillo Medfly Eradication Project” with additional background on the chemicals used in the program.

I sent a copy of the report to Mr. McPhail. A staff person called my husband and told him our concerns were baseless because “your baby could lick a driveway covered with malathion and not be exposed to a harmful concentration of it.”

We then sent the ag commissioner a copy of a report by Dr. Kenneth Kizer (former director of the California Health and Human Services Department) titled “Health Risk Assessment of Aerial Application of Malathion-Bait,” which included the following: “The results of (animal) experiments with malathion have produced a variety of changes in immune function . . . the results of several studies are suggestive of an effect of malathion on the immune system.”

We never heard from the ag commissioner’s office again, but if anyone else would like to see the full report, I still have it.

If you are as frustrated as I have been in trying to find out what you may be unwittingly exposed to, and realize that our ag commissioner is not there to help you, there are people and groups that should hear from you. After you have contacted your political representatives, there are organizations such as the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides in Washington, D.C., and Pesticide Watch in San Francisco.

PEG H. MOORE

Camarillo

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Re “Pesticide Regulators Refuse to Recognize Health Hazard,” Ventura County Perspective, March 28.

According to writer Jonathan Kaplan, the people at CalPIRG (California Public Interest Research Group) and something called Californians for Pesticide Reform are hurt and upset because knowledgeable people at the state Department of Pesticide Regulation are tired of listening to them and like groups of hysterical people whine about the use of pesticides in California.

These agenda-driven pseudo-scientists get the research results they pay for and then strive, with great fanfare, to persuade someone, anyone, to believe them.

JAMES R. HOHIMER

Newbury Park