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"We enjoy talking about gypsy moth and would like to answer your questions and hear your comments. The comment period on these proposed treatments begins Tuesday, January 25, 2011, and ends Friday, February 25, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. (EST). "
And here's some information from the Purdue University website:
Looks like they're an invasive species that DNR wants to exterminate due to the threat to native oak trees.
According to the map on the DNR website they have been a problem in Porter Co. for quite some time but Lake Co. is currently not under quarantine. Either way they look like they infest not just trees but houses as well. Gross.
How safe is the btk and do we really trust it? Some of the info I have dug up on it isn't all that wonderful. Of course my neighborhood (highland AND munster) is in the spray zone - great.
Foray 48B is not "certified organic" and does pose health risks. It is a water-based formulation of bacteria and chemicals. The "active ingredient" is Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner variation kurstaki (Btk). The spores of Btk, like mold spores, can trigger allergic responses and asthma in some people. The formulation also includes chemicals and human pathogens not disclosed by the manufacturer due to "trade secret" laws. Certain levels of human pathogens are allowed in the formula and should not be sprayed in communities at any level. Yet, the formula can be declared free of pathogens as long as testing indicates contamination is below certain levels.
The Department of Agriculture claims Foray 48B has a proven safety record with people and animals. The following are just some of the facts indicating that this product does not have a proven safety record:
Numerous studies indicate there are adverse effects on animals, including a study done last year by researchers in France who found that inhaling Btk spores can cause lung inflammation, internal bleeding and death in laboratory mice.
No allergy testing has been done on this product.
The current Material Safety Data Sheet for Foray 48B lists all health considerations regarding this product as Not Determined or Not Listed, including carcinogenicity, toxicity and effects on target organs.
There have been reports of serious and life-threatening reactions in the U.S and Canada. For example, the Ecological Health Alliance reports that the 1999 aerial spraying of Foray 48B in Victoria, B.C., resulted in adverse reactions in more than 70 individuals, including one anaphylactic reaction. A 1993 Washington State report on the health effects of one single Gypsy moth aerial spray program indicates that 279 patients or doctors reported illnesses believed to be related to Foray 48B exposure, six of them so severe that emergency medical care was required. Many other examples are documented.
Adverse reactions are underreported because doctors and patients are not made aware of the connection between the symptoms and the exposure to Foray 48B.
Cultures usually are not taken to determine if Btk is implicated, and even in cases where Btk has been cultured, it has been dismissed as a contaminant in the sample.
Adverse reactions reported by people living outside the spray zones have been dismissed as unrelated to the spray, even though some applications of Btk have drifted at least 20 kilometers.
Information available on the undisclosed "inert" ingredients in Foray 48B indicates they could cause health problems.
The manufacturer of Foray 48B has indicated that "It is possible that someone that already has developed an allergy to one of the components of Foray 48B or has asthma…could be affected by exposure to small quantities of Foray
Is the DNR ready to tell us the bad qualities. What can go wrong? If people become ill? How long do these spores remain dormant until they begin causing other problems? Wasn't there a mosquito spray deemed harmless by the government at some time, only to find it made dogs become ill and eventually humans too?
There is no other way?
Quote:
Unnaturally high levels of Btk spores in an ecosystems also present other dangers including mutation, adaptation and resistance. Btk toxins are harmful to mammalian species if they enter the bloodstream. In most cases the host’s pH balance prevent this from occurring. However, research exists of instances where Bt interaction and combination with other bacteria has resulted in the death of mice as well as severe infection and hospitalization of humans. As with any biological organism, the tendency to evolve and adapt to surrounding or changing circumstances is inherent. This tendency is increased significantly when levels of Bt spores naturally present are artificially increased by commercial spraying. Given the evidence, such spraying is foolish at best and an ecological and societal nightmare at worst. The respiratory, eye and skin irritants of Bt impact numerous species. Birds have been known to abandon nests in spraying areas or produce fewer surviving young. To date research has consisted largely of laboratory experiments upon animals. The full impacts of Bt to wildlife species has never been adequately assessed. So many species are disappearing incrementally ever closer toward extinction’s abyss, many rare Lepidoptera among them. It is an unfortunate anthropocentric world view which allows humans to comfortably rationalize numerous species as pests or parasites. It is a commodity-blinded mindset which calls natural cycles epidemics or catastrophic. Such viewpoints remain in denial, blind to our human population rises and the consequent damage inflicted by modern technological societies on the Earth.
As with nearly everything being sprayed by the CDFA, no meaningful studies have been done on the chronic effects of this substance on human beings. As with nearly everything else, the product has been marketed and accepted as ‘safe’ without proof.
In one of the few studies conducted, it was discovered that BT bacteria spores were present in the lungs and intestines of farm workers who had been applying BT – in other words, they were infected with this bacteria.
People absorb BT via breathing it into their lungs or eating food that has been contaminated with it
One of the main documented effects of BT on human beings is a severe diarrhea associated with food poisoning (remember, BT is almost indistinguishable from the bacteria which is notorious for causing food poisoning)
People exposed to BT are in danger of developing a disastrous bacterial infection which may literally destroy their autoimmune systems – giving them any of the many autoimmune diseases which are being slated as the scourge of modern man.
Worldwide Bans When Bt was sprayed in New Zealand in 1997, public health nurses noticed an increase in the number of premature births and miscarriages in the spray area. There were reports of as many as five miscarriages in one street alone. One of the women who miscarried is a registered nurse. She said she began wondering whether the spray was involved in her two miscarriages when four out of five friends who were pregnant about the same time and who lived in the spray area also miscarried.
Since the spraying began in New Zealand, an unusually high incidence of hypothyroidism in children has also been reported. The Ministry of Forestry in New Zealand has confirmed that the Bt spray harmed one in six households.
Any medical dictionary will confirm that Bt is a human pathogen. In fact, it can be fatal to people using anti-ulcer drugs. A few years ago, it was the cause of an outbreak of gastroenteritis in a chronic care facility in Ontario. According to a recent Medical Post article, French scientists called for a ban on Bt after finding that inhaled spores caused lung inflammation, internal bleeding and death in laboratory mice. It also destroyed tissue in the wounds of a French soldier in Bosnia and infected wounds in immunosuppressed mice.
In the Netherlands, scientists have discovered that Bt is capable of long-term survival in the environment. They found that Bt spores reproduced in both dead and living insects. Because Bt is so similar to Bacillus cereus (a bacteria that can cause food poisoning) and Bacillus anthracis (which can cause anthrax), Dutch authorities are calling for mandatory deoxyribonucleic acid testing before the release of this pesticide. Sweden has banned aerial spraying altogether.
Agent Orange. Safe. Ok to drink. No health problems. Remember that?
Quote:
“The water supply was contaminated early on – but the lies from the US Government as well as from Monsanto and Dow were told with such convincing and straight-faced language, the people of this country, as well as I and my fellow veterans believed it.”
“’Agent Orange is not harmful or deadly to human beings’, said the liars. ‘In fact, you can drink it and nothing would happen to you’, was stated time and time again by these greed filled and soul-less people.”
The effects may only show up in the kids some 10 years after exposure. Thyroid problems. Intestinal issues. What effect will it have on those already living with these horrific diseases? Can't there be a better way? Is the spraying really doing the trick?
Last edited by hellothereIN; 02-04-2011 at 05:40 PM..
No one really cares that areas of Highland, Schererville and Munster are going to be sprayed *not sure how many times the spraying will be done in this same area, it is usually three.
Done by an airplane flown at low altitudes. Not to be done near children. Hmmm. Oh well. Who cares?
The bacteria can be harmful to some - children, elderly those with asthma, and autoimmune disease and or allergies.
No long term studies on the effects of this "spray" have been done. Not sure what the inert ingredients are and no one can find out.
It is not like spray for mosquitoes that pose an actual health risk but those sprays will be done too, and now this.
Foray 48b is deadly. Patents held by its manufacturer(Valent Biosciences- patents include 6280721, 6270760, 6303382 and 5955367) show that the Btk is genetically modified by adding the deadly genotoxin chloramphenicol to the nutrient broth that forms the basis of Foray 48b. The patents also give an ingredient list.
Foray 48b was used in New Zealand in 1996/1997 and 2002/2004 on parts of the city of Auckland.
From the frst use thyroid problems were reported and birth defects. The second time the New Zealand government Ombudsman(report available online) estimated 3-4000 people were harmed.
While the Btk is nasty, it is the chloramphenicol that is the real killer.
Chloramphenicol causes horrific medical conditions including leukemia and symptoms of motor neurone disease. It can also cause the bodies production of vitamin D and pregnenolone to stop. It causes folic acid depletion which then causes problems with the thyroid, pituitary and prostate glands through a lack of PABA. It causes tinnitus and balance problems. It causes sensitivity to organic acids. It can cause instant death through anaphylactic reactions. It causes extreme sensitivity to benzene based chemicals.
Anyone with a pre-existing sensitivety to preservatives like 211 and 210 will be affected the worst.
It is thought that the genetic effects of chloramphenicol are heritable very much like the effects of Agent Orange. This is really scary, who knows how many generations will be born mutated.
The 2,4-D and 2,45,-T in Agent Orange affect the bodies ability to process benzoic acids. This means the body can't process folic acid and salicylates.
Folic acid is normally conjugated in the bone marrow and used in the formation of normal white blood cells. Chloramphenicol gets into the bone marrow and stops this process hence the immature white blood cells containing high levels of folic acid that characterise CLL. I think Agent Orange works the same way.
Thank you for that post asgardnz. The information you supplied is very frightening. I went thru some neighborhoods with the maps that our DNR posted on its site. The areas to be sprayed are quite large. There of course, will be TWO aerial sprayings of this insecticide, within a weeks time. How sad for us.
I have contacted as many schools as I could just to let them know. I have read that the spray can very well stay in the air for up to 7 hours to be inhaled or to fall on skin, eyes, etc. We have our neighborhoods sprayed enough in the summer for mosquitoes. But the moth does NOT pose a health threat.
I spoke to a Stephen Nicholson, Forestry Manager, North America of Valent who refused to send me the list of inert ingredients as I may try making my own Foray. After our conversation about FORAY, I became even more concerned, but what more can I do?
Hi, further to my last post. This ingredient list is from US patent 6303382:
Compositions
The integrant Bacillus thuringiensis strains and/or spores of the invention, can be formulated into a pesticidal composition(s), that is for example, a suspension, a dispersion, an aqueous emulsion, a dusting powder, a dispersible powder, an emulsifiable concentrate, an aerosol or micro or macroencapulated granules or any other formulation that gives controlled release of Bacillus thuringiensis. Such compositions may be obtained by the addition of a surface active agent, e.g., a dispersing agent, emulsifying agent or wetting agent, or an inert carrier or other component to facilitate handling and application for particular target pests.
Suitable surface-active agents include anionic compounds such as a carboxylate, for example, a metal carboxylate of a long chain fatty acid; a N-acylsarcosinate; mono or di-esters of phosphoric acid with fatty alcohol ethoxylates or salts of such esters; fatty alcohol sulphates such as sodium dodecyl sulphate, sodium octadecyl sulphate or sodium cetyl sulphate; ethoxylated fatty alcohol sulphates; ethoxylated alkylphenol sulphates; lignin sulphonates; petroleum sulphonates; alkyl aryl sulphonates such as alkyl-benzene sulphonates or lower alkylnaphthalene sulphonates, e.g., butyl-naphthalene sulphonate; salts or sulphonated naphthalene-formaldehyde condensates or salts of polyacrylic acid; salts of sulphonated phenol-formaldehyde condensates; or more complex sulphonates such as the amide sulphonates, e.g., the sulphonated condensation product of oleic acid and N-methyl taurine or the dialkyl sulphosuccinates, e.g., the sodium sulphonate or dioctyl succinate. Non-ionic agents include condensation products of fatty acid esters, fatty alcohols, fatty acid amides or fatty-alkyl- or alkenyl-substituted phenols with ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide, fatty esters of polyhydric alcohol ethers, e.g., sorbitan fatty acid esters, condensation products of such esters with ethylene oxide, e.g., polyoxyethylene sorbitar fatty acid esters, block copolymers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, acetylenic glycols such as 2,4,7,9-tetraethyl-5-decyn-4,7-diol, or ethoxylated acetylenic glycols. Examples of a cationic surface-active agent include, for instance, an aliphatic mono-, di-, or polyamine as an acetate, naphthenate or oleate; an oxygen-containing amine such as an amine oxide of polyoxyethylene alkylamine; an amide-linked amine prepared by the condensation of a carboxylic acid with a di- or polyamine; or a quaternary ammonium salt.
Examples of inert materials include inorganic minerals such as phyllosilicates, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates; organic materials such as sugar, starches, or cyclodextrins;
or botanical materials such as powdered corncobs, rice hulls, walnut shells, cornmeal, pelleted grains, and cellulosic fibers
As for chloremphenicol used to genetically modify the main ingredient, the New Zealand government told parliament that they had contacted the manufacturer and that Foray 48b contained no genetically modified ingredients. Here is the question asked in parliament about it.
Thursday, 10 Oct 2002 | Oral Question
Tags: Biosecurity, Genetic Engineering, Health
IAN EWEN-STREET (Green) to the Minister for Biosecurity: What is his response to the reported statement by Ian Gear, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Project Director of the painted apple moth eradication programme in Auckland, to the Waitakere City Council on Monday 6 October that he could not assure councillors that the spray Foray 48B was free of genetically engineered ingredients?
Hon. MARIAN HOBBS (Associate Minister for Biosecurity), on behalf of the Minister for Biosecurity: Mr Gear was taken by surprise by that question, hence his response. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has now consulted the spray's manufacturer, which has advised that it does not knowingly use ingredients containing genetically modified (GM) material.
I asked two different governments and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for evidence that the manufacturer had been contacted. They said they could find anything yet they could find every letter I had written to them.
I believe you have the right to petition the EPA to find out what is in Foray 48b.
This is the page for the New Zealand ombudsmans report on the aerial spraying that found thousands were affected by Foray 48b: Ombudsmen - Publications
We were told to stay inside during the spraying. the only problem was, as we later found out, is that Foray 48b was staying in the air outside for around two hours, but when it got inside which it usually did, it would stay in the air for around eight hours.
My best advice is to leave the area for the day.
After I started developing nasal herpes the day after getting sprayed, the doctors moved me from the area. Unfortunately, by then I had already deveoped most of the conditions of chloramphenicol poisoning. As did my girlfriend back then and another friend who got sick. The father of another friend died from the motor nerone disease symptoms. The boyfriend of another friend of mine died soon after inhaling the spray from an anaphylactic reaction. You just don't know who will be affected by chloramphenicol and to what extent.
We were sprayed many times over a two year period.
There has been a systematic coverup in this country over the whole affair. The government owned health insurance company refuses to pay out and I am about to take them to court. I have little chance as the court judges are extremely corrupt. I found that out after taking the insurer to court twice before on other matters.
The government owned health insurance company refuses to pay out and I am about to take them to court. I have little chance as the court judges are extremely corrupt. I found that out after taking the insurer to court twice before on other matters.
I wish you well and thank you again for your information. I feel I have done as much as I can. I have NO support in this. It seems no one minds that there will be a yellow airplane flying over their homes, schools, playgrounds, parks, etc., emitting a virtual POISON that is very harmful for all children especially those with asthma, elderly people, those with digestive disorders--especially ULCERS--not to mention what the poison will do to beneficial insects.
Leaving for the day may be a good idea! Then again a week or so later when they spray again!!
In my over 50 years of living here I never imagined there would ever be a bug killer sprayed on my neighborhoods by an airplane to kill a bug we are not having a problem with.
I feel bad for those with thyroid issues too, for this will affect them too.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says it plans aerial treatments to slow the spread of gypsy moths in three counties starting next month.
The DNR said Wednesday the spraying in selected areas of Allen, Lake and Porter counties could begin the week of May 9.
The exact timing of the treatments depends on weather conditions.
If the weather cools and slows the emergence of the caterpillars, the agency says treatments could be delayed until the week of May 16.
The area for aerial spray (by crop duster) has been scaled down considerably! Areas are Munster and Brantwood section of Highland, to be sprayed with FORAY 76B.
I just don't understand why the DNR refers to the actual product as Btk. There is less than 18% of Btk in Foray 76B.
Oregon, California, Washington are some states that fight the aerial spraying in neighborhoods.
The Gypsy Moth POSES NO SERIOUS HEALTH THREAT to humans. Purdue/DNR is in a program that originated in North Carolina "Slow The Spread".
Munster and Highland are to be sprayed early morning by an airplane to slow the spread of the moth. May 9th and again on May 16th. The capsules are known to be buoyant and remain in the air for up to 10 hours after release. Once inside lungs, the pesticide can cause inflammation in those whose lungs are compromised.
If you are aware of someone that has asthma, digestive disorders/illnesses (ulcers), auto-immune diseases, skin issues please contact the DNR and get them to move the map away from your home/park/school/etc. I seem to recall reading that autism may be linked to pesticides.
The manufacturer has NOT done extensive testing for long term effects of this Foray on humans. Why would they?
Then, get ready for the spraying of the mosquitoes in the Summer!!
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