Roles of Agriculture, Politics in Medfly Issue

I don’t know how Sacramento Superior Court Judge Anthony DeCristoforo was chosen to preside over the malathion hearing, but it’s clear that the city attorneys from Orange County never had a chance.

It seems odd that of all the possible judicial choices, our attorneys were faced with this clearly biased Neanderthal who brags about how careless he is when spraying malathion for his personal use: “I’m not careful at all. I even get it in my eyes,” he said.

Perhaps the judge’s skin is as thick as his head, which explains his apparent resistance to malathion. Or, since pesticide exposure may result in psychological problems and learning deficits, his honor can’t interpret the warning label on the bottle, or the Pesticide Dictionary, which reads, “Harmful by swallowing, inhalation or skin contact. Avoid breathing spray mist. Avoid contact with skin. Wash thoroughly after handling. Change contaminated clothing.”

The judge’s attitude reminds me of the macho mentality that can’t associate smoking with lung cancer, drinking with liver disease, radiation with cancer and birth defects, or in the extreme, unsafe sex with AIDS and crime with punishment. The cause-and-effect relationship, particularly because of the time interval, is apparently too much of an abstraction for any meaningful connection to be made.

His honor can’t grasp the fact that it isn’t only obvious systemic hazards that concern the sprayees--the low-dosage application tends to minimize these--it’s the more subtle effects such as cancer, birth defects, eye problems, learning deficits, etc., that are also frightening.

Aha, it just dawned on me! Just as frequent exposure to a pesticide results in some small percentage of insects mutating so as to become immune to it, something similar may have occurred to his honor. Unfortunately (perhaps fortunately) the rest of us weaklings haven’t been similarly blessed.

PHILLIP CUTLER

Costa Mesa