Capital press., July 31, 2015, Page 4, Image 4

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CapitalPress.com
July 31, 2015
Lawsuit blames insecticide for farm worker’s death
Bayer Cropscience
named as
defendant in
wrongful death
complaint
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The family of a deceased
farm worker in Idaho has
filed a lawsuit claiming that
his terminal lung cancer was
caused by a pesticide that’s
being discontinued.
The complaint, filed by
the wife and four daughters
of Jesus Madera, claims that
Bayer Cropscience is liable
for his death for manufactur-
ing and selling the insecticide
aldicarb, commonly known
as Temik 15G.
According to the com-
plaint, Madera did not smoke
and was not exposed to as-
bestos, radon or other sub-
stances known to cause lung
cancer prior to his death in
November 2013 at the age of
39.
“Mr. Madera’s medical
providers concluded that Mr.
Madera acquired metastatic
adenocarcinoma of the lung
due to his exposure to Temik
15G,” the document said.
His family seeks com-
pensation for medical and
funeral expenses, as well as
the loss of earnings and com-
panionship, in an amount to
be proven at trial.
The complaint claims
that Bayer is responsible for
Madera’s death because the
chemical was “defective and
unreasonably dangerous” and
the company negligently pro-
duced it without adequately
warning of its hazards.
Capital Press was unable
to reach a spokesperson for
Bayer as of press time.
Production of aldicarb
was phased out at the end
of 2014 as part of an agree-
ment between the company
and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, which
Calif. citrus growers on edge
following HLB discoveries
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — Addi-
tional discoveries of the devas-
tating tree disease huanglong-
bing in urban neighborhoods
in the Los Angeles area have
California citrus growers on
high alert.
University of California
Cooperative Extension ad-
visors are urging all citrus
growers to monitor their trees
for disease symptoms as they
conduct research on possible
solutions.
For instance, a team at
UC-Davis is working to fuse
two immunosuppressive genes
that attack the disease in dif-
ferent ways to make the plant
more effective in fighting the
disease, while scientists at
UC-Riverside are working
with Florida researchers to de-
velop a rootstock with natural
resistance to HLB.
Other scientists are study-
ing ways to identify the disease
in trees before visual symp-
toms occur so the trees can be
taken out sooner, helping to
prevent the spread of HLB.
Growers “are waiting for
results of UC researchers with
baited breath — especially
techniques for early detec-
tion,” said Jeannette Warnert,
a spokeswoman for the UC’s
Division of Agriculture and
Natural Resources.
The UC has developed a
website for farmers and ranch-
ers with detailed information
on managing the Asian cit-
rus psyllid, which can carry
huanglongbing. In some urban
areas, a natural enemy of the
psyllid, Tamarixia radiata, has
been released, according to a
UC news release.
Mark Hoddle, a biocontrol
specialist at UC-Riverside, has
found a second natural ene-
my of the psyllid in Diapho-
rencyrtus aligarhensis, which
comes from the Punjab region
of Pakistan. Populations of the
insect have been released in
urban areas.
The measures come as two
additional backyard citrus
trees in the San Gabriel, Calif.,
area were found last week to
be infected with huanglong-
bing, bringing the total num-
ber of infected trees to four
— a kumquat tree, a lime tree
and calamondin and mandarin
trees, all on residential proper-
ty.
Among commercial grow-
ers, the finds have “certainly
heightened people’s aware-
ness and increased the vig-
ilance,” said Bob Blakely,
vice president of the Exeter,
Calif.-based California Citrus
Mutual.
“The finds have been quite
a ways from any commercial
citrus, but it’s kind of con-
firmed what we’ve known is
going to be the outcome for
quite a while — that eventu-
ally it’s going to show up here
in California,” Blakely said.
“We’ve held it off longer than
other citrus-producing states,
primarily through aggressive
efforts to control psyllids and
slow down their movement.
The hope now is to engage
homeowners to look for it in
their back yard and call their
agricultural commissioner …
if they think they have a symp-
tomatic tree.”
Huanglongbing
isn’t
harmful to humans or ani-
mals but causes discoloration
of fruit and leaves and even-
tually kills the tree. The Uni-
versity of Florida estimates
the disease causes an average
loss of 7,513 jobs per year
and has cost growers nearly
$3 billion in revenue in Flori-
da, Georgia, Louisiana, South
Carolina and Texas, where the
disease is present.
In California, a quarantine
for the Asian citrus psyllid has
been set up in all or parts of
17 counties, requiring shipped
fruit to be free of leaves and
stems and restricting move-
ment of any nursery stock that
isn’t grown in a USDA-ap-
proved facility.
An early symptom of
huanglongbing is yellowing
of leaves on an individual
limb or one sector of the tree’s
canopy, according to the UC’s
Integrated Pest Management
Program. Leaves that turn
yellow from HLB will show
had previously found that the
pesticide “no longer meets
our rigorous food safety
standards and may pose un-
acceptable dietary risks, es-
pecially to infants and young
children.”
However, the product will
continue to be sold until the
end of 2016 and growers will
have until the end of 2018 to
use it on certain crops.
To win such a product
liability case, the plaintiffs
face the burden of proving
that the toxic substance was
responsible for the death,
said Monique Lillard, a
law professor specializing
in torts at the University of
Idaho.
The plaintiffs can rely on
the expert testimony of doc-
tors and other scientists, but
they face a tough battle be-
cause there can be numerous
causes for lung disease, she
said.
“The actual cause is of-
ten the hardest hurdle for the
plaintiff to overcome,” Lil-
lard said.
Scientists and the
public far apart on
safety of GMO food
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
Courtesy of UCANR
This citrus tree in Hacienda
Heights, Calif., was found to be
infected with huanglongbing,
which is carried by the Asian
citrus psyllid and eventually
kills trees. Citrus growers are
on high alert for signs of the
disease as officials are urging
urban homeowners to check
their backyard trees.
an asymmetrical pattern of
blotchy yellowing or mot-
tling, the program’s scientists
explain.
The Asian citrus psyllid
was first discovered in Cal-
ifornia in 2008, and the first
case of huanglongbing was
found in 2012. In February,
the USDA awarded more
than $4.5 million to UC-Da-
vis and nearly $1.7 million to
UC-Riverside for prevention
and research into huanglong-
bing, and the state’s Citrus
Pest and Disease Prevention
Program has been distributing
best-practices tips to nurser-
ies.
BOISE — Scientists are
sharply divided from the
public on the question of
whether genetically modified
foods are safe.
The wide disparity is due
in part to the fact that an-
ti-GMO advocates have been
successful in convincing a lot
of people that genetically en-
gineered crops are unsafe and
scary, a leading expert on the
issue told National Onion As-
sociation members last week
during their annual meeting.
A Pew Research Center
survey on science literacy
found that 88 percent of sci-
entists believe GMO foods
are safe. By contrast, only 37
percent of the public believe
that.
The 51-point margin be-
tween what scientists and the
public believe about GMO
crops was greater than it was
for any of the survey’s oth-
er topics, including climate
change, fracking and human
evolution.
The survey, which was re-
leased Jan. 29, was conduct-
ed in association with the
American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
Pat Byrne of Colorado
State University’s Depart-
ment of Soil and Crop Sci-
ences, whose job includes
educating people about ge-
netic modification, said he
was initially surprised by the
wide disparity.
“But in a way, it’s not
surprising because the op-
ponents of GMO crops have
really been dedicated to
spreading uncertainty and
fear about (the technology),”
he said.
He said both sides of the
issue have been guilty of ex-
aggerating their claims and
sometimes his job “seems
like Mission Impossible be-
cause there is so much misin-
formation about GMO crops.
The truth is somewhere
in-between.”
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Colorado State University professor Pat Byrne speaks to National
Onion Association members about the issue of genetically modified
crops in Boise July 16.
LEGAL
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSAL TO AMEND
THE WASHINGTON DRY PEA AND LENTIL COMMISSION
MARKETING ORDER
Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) has
scheduled a public hearing on a petition to amend the
Washington Dry Pea and Lentil Commission’s Marketing Order
(WAC 16-536). The proposal would:
• Rename the commission the “Washington Pulse Crops
Commission.”
• Add dried faba beans and lupine as commodities covered by
the marketing order, which would subject commercial
growers to the terms of the marketing order, including
assessments.
• Increase the assessment rate effective January 1, 2016
through December 31, 2018 from 1% to 2% of the net
receipts at the first point of sale. The assessment rate would
return to 1% on January 1, 2019.
• Remove the citizenship requirement as part of the
requirements for board membership in order to bring the
rule into harmony with state and federal appellate court
decisions.
Changes to the Marketing Order must be approved by
referendum vote of affected pulse crop producers and will
become effective on January 1, 2016, if approved.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are a commercial grower of
dried faba beans and/or lupine, please contact Teresa
Norman at (360) 902-2043 or tnorman@agr.wa.gov to
register your affected producer status. You must be
registered as an affected producer in order to vote on
this marketing order referendum. Registered producers
of other commodities already covered under this
marketing order are not required to register unless also
producing dried faba beans and/or lupine.
A public hearing to address the proposed amendment will be held:
September 15, 2015 at 9:00 a.m.
Whitman County Health Coalition Public Services Building
310 N Main St.
Colfax, WA
Testimony may be presented at the hearing or submitted in
writing. Written submissions must be received by WSDA no later
than 5:00 p.m. September 15, 2015 and may be mailed, faxed, or
e-mailed to:
Teresa Norman, Commodity Commission Program
P. O. Box 42560
Olympia, WA 98504-2560
Fax: 360-902-2092
Email: tnorman@agr.wa.gov
For questions about or copies of the proposed amendment,
contact Teresa Norman, WSDA, at (360) 902-2043 or Tim
McGreevy, WA Dry Pea and Lentil Commission, (208) 882-3023.
Dated at Olympia, Washington this 31st day of July, 2015
Derek I. Sandison, Director
WA State Department of Agriculture
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