Oregon daily emerald., April 10, 1973, Page 9, Image 9

esticides termed ‘a necessary evil
By REE WEIL
Of the Emerald
I>n7i1 Ferguson, from the
Malheur Environmental Field
Station in Burns, discussed the
pros and cons of pesticide usage
in the Dad’s Room Monday.
Ferguson explained the origin
of the problem. “Early man
started out as an omnivorous
scrounger, seeking food as best
he could. When man
shifted from a food collector to a
food producer, he opened up Pan
dora’s Box. No, man is the
dominant primary consumer on
earth. We have 4 billion people,
and we are unwilling to make
concessions to our competitors,
the insects.”
Ferguson said that the
movement towards farming
produced a monoculture, or
thousands of acres of one plant.
This creates an environment
where the natural predators of
the pests infesting crops are not
attracted to the same crops,
Ferguson said.
The density of population en
couraging disease-spreading
insects, and the concentration
cities where buildings provide
hiding places for pests were
further reasons cited for the pest
problem.
Ferguson presented the case in
favor of pesticides first. He
claimed certain chemical
compounds such as DDT have
literally saved millions of lives,
citing examples in India where
disease-bearing insects were
whipped.
Ferguson
said most foods have much less
than the tolerance level of DDT.
culture, he said, predicted food
production would drop 25 per cent
to 30 per cent without pesticides
in the United States.
He also said no alternative
exists for DDT. ‘‘Biological
control is not the answer for large
scale agricultural farmers. Now,
DDT is replaced in some places
by Organo-Phosphate Com
pounds which are much more
toxic. We’d stop killing fish and
start killing people.”
Many chemical companies are
no longer producing insecticides
for fear of loss of profit if the
pesticide is banned, Ferguson
said.
Ferguson pointed out that
pesticides are used in places with
little damage to wildlife, such as
the monoculture enviroment.
Little wildlife exists in acres and
acres of cornfields, he said.
Presenting the case against
pesticides, Ferguson said,
“Chemicals are molecular
structures that don’t occur in
nature. When you release them,
you intiate a worldwide, un
controlled experiment.”
Ferguson said pesticides
“should be called biocides,
because they endanger more
than just pests.” He said
pesticides get into food chains,
recycle, and enter them again
and again, as animals store the
Senate votes 26-2
Meetings bill passed
By NAN HENDERSON
Of the Emerald
SALEM (Special)—A bill
requiring public governing
bodies to hold open meetings, but
also outlining several cir
cumstances allowing those
bodies to hold executive sessions
(closed meetings) passed die
Senate Monday, 26-2.
Many of the Senators, however,
felt the bill (SB 15) is only “a half
way bill” and verted in favor of a
motion to re-refer the bill back to
the Joint Committee on
Professional Responsibilities.
The motion to re-refer failed, 13
15.
As it now stands, the bill requires
that ‘‘all meetings of the
governing body of a public body
shall be open to the public and all
persons shall be permitted to
attend any meeting except as
otherwise provided by this Act.”
The other provisions in the bill
state that closed meetings may
be held:
—to consider employment of a
public employe.
—to hear complaints against
any employe.
—for labor negotiations.
—to consider records that are
exempt by law from public in
spection.
—“to consult with counsel cm
matters that may involve
litigation.”
The bill also states, however,
that no final action shall be taken
in an executive session.
There was some feeling among
the legislators that allowing
meetings involving litigation
(legal action) to be closed could
be used as a way for many
governing bodies to avoid holding
public meetings since almost all
matters considered by governing
bodies relate in some way to
possible court action.
And Senator John Smith (R
Burns) who made the motion to
re refer stated that provisions in
the bill allowing either labor or
management to close labor
negotiations will assure that all
negotiations will be closed.
Smith said he wanted the
committee to reconsider “Some
of the exemptions in the bill”
including labor negotiations.
Sen. Jack Ripper (D-North
Bend) disagreed with Smith
saying “There are some things
that are in the public’s best in
terest not to know.” Ripper said
that labor negotiations fall into
that category since many of the
proposals made during
negotiations “are only ploys for
other proposals and could be
misunderstood.”
The professional respon
sibilities committee spent weeks
considering the bill and listened
to numerous pleas for dozens of
exemptions from the measure.
Besides exempting all govern
ing bodies from holding open
meetings under certain cir
cumstances, the committee
placed provisions in the bill
which exempt the State Parole
Board, the State Banking Board,
the Commission on Judicial
Fitness and the Workmen’s
Compensation Board from
holding any public meetings
during their deliberations.
The committee also removed a
“penalty clause” from the
original proposal which stated
that any governing body violating
the open meetings law could be
fined up to $1000 in a civQ court
suit and added a clause stating
that no action taken in secret
session may be overturned by a
court.
In addition, the committee
changed a clause in the bill which
said reporters shall be admitted
to executive session meetings to
read “representatives of the
news media may be allowed to
attend executive sessions.”
There was some indication
Monday that legislators may try
to strengthen the bill during
consideration by the House by
moving to reinstate the penalty
clause, add provisions for a court
to overturn action taken during
closed meetings, remove the
litigation exemption or replacing
“may” with “shall” in the sec
tion dealing with the news media.
Bill sent to House floor
to put students on Board
SALEM (Special)—A bill directing the governor to appoint two
students to the State Board of Higher Education passed the House
Education Committee Sunday and now goes to the House floor with a
“do pass” recommendation.
The action came after the committee amended the bill (HB 2147,
which originally called for three students to be appointed to the Board.
Rep. Mary Rieke (R-Portland) attempted to also amend
the bill so that the governor might appoint two students to the Board,
but would not be forced to make the appointments.
Presently, the law states that no person in any way connected with
an institution in the State Sytem of Higher Education may be ap
pointed to the Board.
Rep. Glen Otto (D-Troutdale) opposed Rieke's amendment saying
that “it would make the bill meaningless.
“It is time we assure students some participation on the State
Board of Higher Education and also in other parts of government,”
Otto continued.
Rieke's amendment failed the committee by a 6-3 vote and the
final adoption of the bill passed 8-1.
Rep. Wayne Whitehead (R-Eugene) voted against the measure
because, as he explained before the vote, any governor “should not
have his hands tied” in making any appointments.
chemicals in body fat. Chemicals
don’t disintegrate, he said, they
just move around.
Ferguson said it was true that
DDT did save lives, but the more
insidious effects, such as muted
genesis, abnormal genesis and
carcinogence are not mentioned
by industry.
Killing off the insects’
predators produces more insects,
compounding the problem,
Ferguson said. Also, as insects
develop resistance to chemicals,
the farmer is eventually forced to
drench his crops with insecticides
with little results.
As a solution, Ferguson ad
vocated a national conference to
rank insects according to what
kind and how much pesticide they
require, and to systematically
start campaiggns to find non
chemical pesticides.
Are pesticides a boon or a
bane? “If we had to call them
anything,” Ferguson said, “we’d
have to call them a necessary
evil.”
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