Rally Calls for Halt to Spraying of Malathion

About 600 people, including celebrities and politicians, attended a peaceful rally Sunday in Burbank to protest the aerial spraying of the pesticide malathion over residential areas in the state’s lingering battle to kill off the Mediterranean fruit fly in Los Angeles County.

Comedian Martin Short and state Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) were among those who spoke to the crowd, which included many families who brought picnic lunches to Buena Vista Park, and called for an immediate end to the malathion spraying.

“We’re worried about what the health effects are,” said Alice Kopacka of Sylmar, who brought her 3-month-old son, Nickolas, to the rally.

“They’ve been spraying a lot where we live.”

Gov. George Deukmejian in remarks Friday defended the Medfly eradication campaign being waged by the state Department of Food and Agriculture, saying that the aerial malathion spraying posed no health risk for Los Angeles-area residents.

The spread of the Medfly to agricultural parts of the state could cause millions of dollars in damage to fruit and other produce, he said.

Physicians are squabbling over the safety of the chemical at the annual meeting of the California Medical Assn. in Anaheim.

A resolution has been introduced that calls for an immediate halt to aerial spraying, but a number of doctors have spoken out against it, charging that the CMA has gotten swept up in hysteria over the pesticide. The measure will probably be put to a vote Tuesday.

Many at the rally said they are not convinced of the chemical’s safety.

Some said not enough research has been conducted to know the long-term effects of malathion, which is mixed into a corn syrup base and since fall has been sprayed repeatedly from helicopters over many parts of the city.

“The more I read, the more concerns I have,” said Burbank City Councilman Michael Hastings, who attended the event with two of his children.

“I have three young kids and 93,000 people that I am responsible for.”

The rally Sunday was sponsored by one of several organizations that have sprung up in past months in different neighborhoods throughout the city to fight the aerial malathion spraying.

The groups participating included Safe Alternatives for Fruitfly Eradication, Families Opposed to Chemical Urban Spraying, Residents Against Spraying of Pesticides, Coalition Against Urban Spraying and Pesticide Watch.

Many attending, however, were not part of any organized group. Joan Kompare of Studio City said fears about the health effects of malathion spraying on her young children prompted her to write letters of protest to state and county officials.

She brought her family to Sunday’s rally after seeing a notice of the event pasted to a pole on a freeway off-ramp.

“I haven’t been active since college,” said Kompare. “But we’re letting the governor and the agriculture industry dictate the terms of the spraying while the rest of us are being ignored.”