Truckloads of Glyphosate Sprayed in San Juan Creek

Residents from Dana Point and Laguna Beach were shocked to witness OC Public Works using public funds to apply multiple truckloads of glyphosate in San Juan Creek. San Juan Creek provides critical habitat for endangered Southern California Coast Steelhead and empties into Doheny State Beach—a popular surfing and swimming destination. Per the label, “Treatment of aquatic weeds can result in oxygen depletion or loss due to decomposition of dead plants. This oxygen loss can cause fish suffocation.” The negative impacts of glyphosate on the nation’s most endangered species can no longer be dismissed!

The Environmental Protection Agency’s final report indicated that glyphosate harms and kills 93% of the plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. Consequently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the EPA’s decision that glyphosate likely poses no “unreasonable risk” to the environment and human health. OC County should not be using public funds to hire third-party contractors to spray sensitive habitats with glyphosate.

“The EPA’s final report did not reach a single ‘no effects’ conclusion for any of the endangered species examined on the impacts of glyphosate,” according to the National Center for Agricultural Law Center. So why is OC County still using public funds to hire third-party contractors to spray sensitive habitats with this ecocide?

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) was originally intended to minimize risks to human health and the environment. However, the chemical industry has co-opted IPM as a marketing tool to maintain pesticide use under the guise of environmental stewardship. It is critical that IPM policies are not written or influenced by those profiting from chemical use. Did you know the county had a former Monsanto employee help draft the county’s IPM in 2011?

This application of glyphosate in this critical habitat for endangered Southern California Coast Steelhead, which empties into Doheny State Beach, a popular surfing and swimming destination, proves the county’s IPM is outdated and currently protecting pesticide use and not the public or environment. 

OC’s compliance with regulations that do not protect public health is irrelevant to human health and is instead meant to protect the county from legal liability. Hiding behind these regulations, rather than ensuring the safest possible environment for Laguna Beach residents, visitors, and wildlife, is unacceptable. Pesticide applications are a point source of discharge into the San Juan River, and applications of pesticides in conditions that cause drift present an immediate danger to the public and contribute to the impairment of nearby receiving waters.

“Glyphosate is a restricted, highly hazardous pesticide (HHP) based on its classification in the Chronic Toxicity hazard group and its potential for carcinogenic properties,” states the Department of Natural Resources Forest Service.

Three truckloads of AquaMaster that the county organized and funded to be applied in a protected and already impaired water body that flows out to Doheny State Beach and the Pacific Ocean is unjustifiable.

OC County must amend both county staff and third-party landscapers and pest control contractors from participating in cashback pesticide rewards programs. These programs incentivize increased pesticide use and create a clear conflict of interest.

We demand the Orange County Board of Supervisors follow the mounting and undeniable science on the dangers of glyphosate, especially in an impaired water body that’s home to migrating birds, nesting birds, and endangered species, and take immediate action to protect, not poison, the environment.

Kim Konte environmental advocate and founder of the national non-profit Non-Toxic Neighborhoods, Board Member of the Herd Foundation, former City of Irvine Commissioner.

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