Activists hail halt to spraying for apple moth

Northern California activists fighting aerial spraying to stop a destructive moth say they’re heartened by a judge’s decision to temporarily halt the state program.

Earlier this week, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Robert A. O’Farrell issued an order preventing further spraying to stop the light-brown apple moth, saying he needed more information about a spray component that could have “potentially harmful propensities.”

Attacking the moth from the skies over 60 square miles of the Monterey Peninsula has been a contentious issue since the first round of spraying last month. Afterward, dozens of residents complained to local health officials of illnesses they thought were connected to the spraying, but no definitive link has been drawn.

Just hours before more spraying was to take place Wednesday night, O’Farrell issued the order blocking it at least until a hearing he set for Oct. 18.

David Dilworth, head of Helping Our Peninsula’s Environment, which sued to prevent the spraying, called the order “a great first step.”

“The court took the seriousness of potential harm to humans into account,” he said, “and, in another week, we’ll get to present evidence of what our concerns are.”

Unknown in the U.S. until it was spotted in Berkeley last year, the light-brown apple moth is a voracious eater that can threaten many fruit and vegetable crops, according to state agriculture officials. In areas around Santa Cruz County, the site of its heaviest infestation, the state plans to do what it has done in Monterey -- spray artificial moth pheromones in a product called Checkmate, a chemical blend that can stifle the species’ ability to reproduce. Spraying in Santa Cruz County is scheduled for next month.

In his ruling, O’Farrell took issue not with the pheromones but with using an inert ingredient called polymethylene polyphenyl isocyanate that has been linked to asthma in spray-painters.

“Neither side has had an adequate opportunity to submit reliable scientific evidence on that issue,” he wrote.

Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture, said in a statement that officials “pledge to work to provide Judge O’Farrell with the information he requires to issue a decision.”

Helping Our Peninsula’s Environment has urged officials to abandon the spray and use sticky-tape traps that have snared more than 8,000 moths in California. The city of Santa Cruz voted this week to take legal action against the spraying.

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steve.chawkins@latimes.com