WiserEarth Help Desk

On August 1, 2008, the CDFA plans to aerial spray the San Francisco Bay Area with a time-released pesticide against the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). (View warning label for CheckMate-F, a close predecessor to Checkmate OLF-F, which has been sprayed over Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.)

San Francisco, East Bay, Marin, and other residential areas will be sprayed every 30-90 days for 2-10 years. The CDFA has been given permission and funding through Homeland Security to spray the pesticide on private property without consent by owners.

The USDA and CDFA are promoting Checkmate as a harmless pheromone. But not only is it a synthetic pheromone, it includes a long list of "inert" ingredients that are toxic to humans and animals. The pesticide is enclosed in time-released plastic microcapsules, small enough to be inhaled and become lodged in the lungs. During the August and November sprayings further South, the CDFA advised everyone to stay indoors during the spray, and to hose down all play and eating areas the next morning.

Many scientists, including entomologists from UC Davis, have been speaking out about the spray and insist that it is neither necessary nor effective.