[Update 5/1: DOE has issued a response, claiming labels matter. They have shown a label of the "approved" product. That label shows an imidacloprid concentration of 21%. The label referenced below, from Bayer, which includes the "Environmental Hazards" warning, has a concentration of .5% imidacloprid. Are we to feel more comfortable that an Australian firm has approved a product with a 21% concentration of imidacloprid when Bayer would not approve a product with .5%? ]
From Ecology's website - newer and safer?
"Chefs ‘horrified’ by plan to spray pesticide on oyster beds"
Taylor Shellfish owner Bill Taylor is noted in today's Seattle Times as maintaining the neurotoxin imidacloprid is "safe." Bayer, the chemical company who created the pesticide, feels differently. Especially when it comes to applying it to tidelands and water, as seen in their "Hazards" label. In fact, when asked by shellfish growers, they refused to change their label, driving the growers to a more "understanding" Australian firm who had little problem approving its use in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. Seattle Chefs are horrified by the proposal to spray a pesticide onto tidelands and waters where Washington shellfish are grown. They should be, as should anyone who consumes shellfish grown in Washington's waters.
Warning Label from Bayer on Imidacloprid
(if hard to read, click to enlarge)
Mr. Taylor, however, misses the larger point underlying the beehive of concerns stirred up by this proposal. Taylor Shellfish has become a large corporation who believes Washington's tidelands are theirs to convert to shellfish production, using any means they see fit, with any structures they see fit, operating at any hour of the day or night they see fit. Imidacloprid is not the only thing chefs should be horrified about. Herbicides are sprayed regularly in Willapa Bay, the newest being imazamox.
Scoters Feeding on Mussels/Barnacles on PVC Pipe
used for geoduck grown for China.
Plastics the shellfish industry is placing into Washington's marine environment escape from their "nets" on a regular basis. Barnacles and mussels which grow on this temporary "structure" are fed on by diving birds. When those organisms are torn off of the PVC, parts of that PVC come with it and are ingested by those diving birds.
Puget Sound: $1.5 million to grow kelp on 3 acres
and monitor acidification. (Huffington Post)
Willapa Bay: Spray herbicide on 3,000 acres.
Washington's marine ecosystem is having millions of tax payer dollars, and millions of donor dollars, spent to improve its health. Those dollars are not being spent so Taylor Shellfish and other growers can then turn around and spray pesticides and herbicides, place tons of plastics into it, and use helicopters to flush migrating birds out of the way so they won't get sprayed by chemicals (the latter being a form of "mitigation"). Chefs - and anyone eating shellfish from Washington's marine waters - should be horrified.
Hubris can be blinding, especially when it leads to reliance on lobbyists, public relations firms and contract scientists making decisions for you.
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