Getting Rid of Arundo Donax

Re “Officials Struggle to Control Invasion of Waterways by Nonnative Plant,” March 12.

I am constantly appalled at the widespread use of herbicides in our communities, and now I am further concerned about the county’s plan to spray along the Ventura River in an attempt to kill the nonnative bamboo-like giant reed called arundo donax.

County officials concede that no amount of spraying will totally eradicate this tenacious plant. It is my opinion that nonnative plants are not our biggest ecological concern in Ventura County--toxic substances are.

Herbicides are poisons. They can kill baby wildlife in the ground, run off downstream, harm anything passing by and contribute to toxic buildup in our own bodies.

Have we learned nothing from decades of being the chemical industry’s lab rats? Just because a product is available does not mean that it is safe. The more pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals we are exposed to the more sensitive we become to them. Our immune systems are being weakened. This is a frightening legacy to leave our children.

It is a paradox that Ventura County officials believe that we must try to retrieve an already irrevocably altered ecosystem by further harming habitat. Aren’t there any safe alternatives?

I vote for hiring unemployed teens to use some good old-fashioned elbow grease and pull the arundo out by its roots upstream.

LEAH GRIFFIN

Ventura