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June 12, 1998 Letters to the Editor Btk: A Dangerous Spray Dear Editor, Very soon, aerial spraying with Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis variety Kurstaki) will take place in many woodlands near you. Have you looked at the map of the areas that are going to be sprayed? We are assured that spraying will only take place in "remote areas", yet there are many spraying blocks and many people will be directly affected, through spray drift. (There are about 150,000 acres to be sprayed in the province, and we are told some 19 planes will be used.) You would not think there is a problem, if you read the mindless promotional information provided by the government on Btk spraying, which does not even have the semblance of objectivity. For example, we are not told that in BC, in April of this year, the Environmental Appeal Board ruled that there should be no aerial spraying in the Victoria area, because "there is a risk to the health of children, people of all ages who have allergies, asthma, and other respiratory ailments, people with immuno deficiencies, chemical hypersensitivities, and the elderly. It also poses an unreasonable adverse effect to the environment (non-target species)." We hear that Foray 48B was "safely sprayed in New Zealand", but not that some 278 people complained about effects of a Btk aerial spraying on their health, with 682 specific symptoms reported, as well as a high level of psychological stress. Spray proponents say that Btk does not affect non-target species. This is false. It affects ALL MOTH AND BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS, not just the tussock moth. Some examples are Monarch butterflies, tiger swallowtails, and cinnabar moths. And how about birds that feed on caterpillars? It will diminish the birds' food supply and that of their young. Spraying will affect the food chain, and the overall health of the forest and its inhabitants. Spraying is an unnatural attempt to deal with an unnatural, monoculture forestry. We hear that Btk is a naturally occurring bacterium. Not so. Foray 48B is a manufactured product. It can include contaminants from the production process, and it does include chemical "inerts". We are not allowed to know what these inerts are, because they are "trade secrets". Past inerts in Foray 48B I have information about from journal articles, have included sodium hydroxide (lye), sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, methyl paraben and potassium phosphate. The provincial entomologist has refused to give out the composition of the current formulation of Foray 48B. Are we supposed to once again just trust the "experts"? There has been no public discussion of the pros and cons of spraying with this insecticide, and no community involvement. Where is our right to informed consent? There is no justification for this dangerous, large-scale spraying program Helga Hoffmann, RN, BN
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