Pesticides - Giustina Letter

Giustina Timber and Land originally applied to spray 300 acres in the Fox Hollow Valley by air. After numerous complaints by the neighboring community, they stated the 300 acre number was a mistake and agreed to spray only 144 acres by air. The rest will be sprayed by hand. Although this is a definite improvement, OTA objects to the use of Atrazine - an EPA classified carcinogen - being used at all next to a populated area.

The following letter was sent to Giustina on behalf of OTA:

March 24, 2008

Larry Giustina, Owner
Giustina Land & Timber Co.
1991 W. 2^nd Avenue

Eugene, OR  97402

RE:     Aerial and ground spray of Atrazine 4L in Fox Hollow Road area

Dear Mr. Giustina,

I am writing on behalf of the Oregon Toxics Alliance, a statewide organization with many members who live in the vicinity of Fox Hollow Road, Le Bleu Road and Hamm Road.  These residents are concerned about your plan to spray over 300 areas with Atrazine 4L, an EPA Restricted Pesticide.  We ask you to reverse your decision to use (especially to aerially apply) Atrazine 4L on the forest lands just south of the Eugene city limits and in a rural residential setting.  In light of the extreme environmental risks posed by this pesticide, there is no justification for spraying Atrazine 4L over this acreage.

First, the use of Atrazine 4L poses significant risks of groundwater contamination and related harm to wildlife and human beings.  As you must be aware that Atrazine 4L is a Restricted Use Pesticide “due to ground and surface water concerns.”  The EPA-approved label further states:

HAZARDS TO HUMANS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS – CAUTION: Harmful if swallowed, inhaled, or absorbed through skin.  Do not breathe vapors or spray mist….Atrazine can travel (seep or leach) through soil and can enter ground water which may be used as drinking water.  Atrazine has been found in ground water.

Since Atrazine is a highly mobile and highly persistent pesticide, its use poses particular risks in the proposed area at this time of year for numerous reasons. 

• The acreage where the aerial and ground applications are proposed is near residential areas, where adults, children and pets live and recreate. 
• This area of Lane County has slopes of up to 35% and seasonal streams, where rain and runoff can travel to community waterways and groundwater sources. 
• In these final months of spring, rain continues to fall on saturated soils, and runoff can be expected to continue. 
• EPA has classified Atrazine as a Class C carcinogen (possibly human carcinogen).
• Aerial spray applications are at risk of off-target drift movement.

It is foreseeable that, under these conditions, contamination of neighboring properties and/or groundwater could result from your application of Atrazine 4L in the vicinity of Fox Hollow Road.

Second, your proposed application of Atrazine violates the label requirements.  The notification of your proposed use of Atrazine 4L, submitted to the Oregon Department of Forestry, indicates that the application of this pesticide will be within 60 feet of local streams.  It appears that this proposed use is in violation of the specific directions of the product label, which reads: “This product must not be applied aerially or by ground within 66 feet of the points where field surface water runoff enters perennially or intermittent streams and rivers.”  While we urge you to reconsider your use of Atrazine 4L entirely, and the aerial application of the pesticide in particular, we at least expect that your application will comply with the directions found on the product label and required by Federal law.

Third, the fears and concerns of your neighbors and the community at large are justified.  In regards to human health hazards, the EPA’s own research about Atrazine’s powerful effects on the hormone system reveals disturbing discoveries.  In laboratory studies, female sex hormone cycles are disrupted by Atrazine.  The number of miscarriages increased in laboratory animals exposed during early pregnancy.  Research published by independent teams of scientists shows that Atrazine causes frogs to develop both male and female genitalia in a single animal.

The aerially and ground application of Atrazine can drift onto neighbors’ land, cover roads, driveways and other outdoor equipment or furnishings, runoff the steep slopes into the numerous streams of this area, and seep into groundwater that supplies drinking water to local families.  In other words, the potential for harm is too great.

We question why a Restricted Use Pesticide, like Atrazine 4L, is being used for this particular application in Lane County, just south of the Eugene city limits.  For reasons stated above, we strongly urge you not to use Atrazine, not to spray aerially and to use manual labor to clear your timber of unwanted grasses.

I welcome you to contact me in response to this letter.  From your notification, you indicate that you may begin the application of Atrazine as early as March 27, 2008.  Given this short timeframe, I will advise the Oregon Toxics Alliance and affected residents on neighboring properties of their legal rights under the current planned use of Atrazine 4L in the vicinity of Fox Hollow Road.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely yours,

Ann B. Kneeland
Attorney At Law