West Hollywood Calls for End to Spraying of Malathion

The architect of West Hollywood’s “cruelty free zone” for animals failed to persuade the City Council on Monday night to make the city a “malathion free zone.”

But City Councilman Paul Koretz did persuade his colleagues to unanimously approve a resolution calling for an end to aerial spraying of the pesticide in Los Angeles County until it is proven not harmful to humans.

Malathion is the pesticide used by state agricultural officials in recent years to attempt to eradicate the crop-destroying Medfly.

“They are routinely spraying this substance that can rust the paint off your car,” said Koretz, author of the resolution. “How safe can that be for your lungs?”

Koretz, who works for the California League of Conservation Voters, an environmental protection lobbying group, admits that the malathion resolution is little more than a symbolic gesture, but he said he hopes the action sends a message to state legislators.

“I guess there’s not much we could really do if they wanted to spray us again,” he said.

The West Hollywood City Council at times is criticized by residents of the 1.9-square-mile city for supporting resolutions that have little concrete effect.

In recent months, Koretz has authored resolutions banning the use of steel-jawed traps on animals in the heavily urban city, creating a “cruelty free zone” for animals, and urging a moratorium on the cutting of old-growth redwood trees. Koretz was not able to persuade council members and city staff Monday night to go further than a symbolic gesture. His original resolution called for the drafting of an ordinance that would have banned all malathion spraying within West Hollywood’s borders.

But such a ban would have been superseded by state law and would have been unenforceable, City Atty. Michael Jenkins said.

West Hollywood, though not known for the agriculture that attracts Medflies, from time to time has endured aerial bombing of malathion--most recently in October, 1988. City officials are worried about health hazards from the pesticide.

“Some studies show that AIDS sufferers might be particularly susceptible to deleterious effects of malathion,” Koretz said. A substantial number of the county’s patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome live in West Hollywood.

In an interview Monday, one of the authors of a 1980 state study used to demonstrate the safety of malathion disavowed that report’s findings. Marc A. Lappe, a professor of health and ethics at the University of Illinois, who was part of a 1980 state risk-assessment team, said the pesticide may pose a danger to infants, the elderly, and the sick.

Though West Hollywood’s malathion resolution is unlikely to persuade state officials to halt malathion spraying, the city is jumping into the fray just as the idea of a ban is gathering steam across the state.

In passing the resolution, the council was responding to the most recent assault on the crop-destroying pests by state agriculture officials. While Californians in spray areas have long complained that the sticky, yellow pesticide ruins car paint, several residents groups in recent weeks have voiced concerns that the pesticide may pose greater health hazards than state officials admit.