Board of Supervisors Meeting which will address IPM Ordinance for Contra Costa County

If you have concerns about pesticide use by Contra Costa County, please join Parents for a Safer Environment and other community members in asking the Board of Supervisors to adopt an IPM Ordinance that will help protect our families, wildlife, and the environment.  IPM (Integrated Pest Management) does NOT mean that pesticides can not be used, it means that preventative strategies and other, less toxic methods are considered first.  

Please attend or e-mail your Supervisor TODAY (or before December 13th) and express that you care about reducing pesticide usage in our county, which uses significantly more than nearby San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties, who already have an IPM Ordinance.  Your presence, phone call or email really does make a difference!

For information on which Supervisors represent which cities (which have recently been redesignated), and how to contact them, please visit http://www.pfse.net/currentprojects.shtml#supervisors

What our community needs:

• To prioritize prevention like Santa Clara and San Francisco Counties to get our pesticide usage below a thousand pounds annually (we have half the size of infrastructure compared to Santa Clara County, yet use significantly more pesticides).

• All county departments to show how they have tried or at least investigated least toxic alternatives before choosing pesticides, like other counties are doing.

• Our county should prohibit the use of Bad Actor Pesticides by staff (which are linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive damage, ground water contamination, and highly acute toxicity).  Other counties have stopped using bad actor pesticides but we are using over 4,000 lbs annually (Santa Clara, Marin, San Francisco).

• County Department of Agriculture should not endanger non-target species crucial to a healthy eco-system by applying over 25,000 lbs of grains poisoned with anti-coagulants (rat poison) for ground squirrel control when other public agencies use traps (these squirrels are native species and rehabilitated by the Lindsay Wildlife Museum).

• Sign posting when pesticides are applied in areas where people and pets can come into contact with them such as along stretches (70 miles) of creek banks and flood control channels next to walking trails, in landscaping and turf shared by county and school districts, and in open space and empty lots where our children and pets may play. 

• A reduction by Public Works Deptartment, who apply 12,000 lbs of pesticide products annually along creek banks, roadsides, empty lots, and the airport during the rainy seasons, many of which can end up in our watersheds.

• To assure that the three community seats on the IPM Committee are given to community members who have proven to be supportive of community participation and supportive of change.

• Parents for a Safer Environment (PfSE) help in the selection of the Community Members for the IPM Advisory Committee since PfSE has been the only organization keeping apprised of the County IPM Program for the last seven years and have the best interest of public health and the environment in mind.

If you have questions or want more information, please contact info@pfse.net. 

Thank you!