Cedar Valley Pesticide Spray Trespass

PESTICIDE POISONING INCIDENT IN CURRY COUNTY, OCTOBER 2013

A timely example of how the Oregon Forest Practices Act is failing to protect the people of Oregon and failing to protect drinking water recently occurred in Curry County.

On October 16, 2013, dozens of residents in Cedar Valley, Curry County, Oregon were exposed to a mixture of toxic pesticides from a forestry aerial spray. More than a dozen residents filed a petition with the US Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The petition asks for a community epidemiological study, procedural investigation and immediate relief from an ongoing pattern of herbicide exposures until the investigation is complete. The petition has also been presented to Governor Kitzhaber and Oregon’s state agencies (ODA, ODF, OHA, DEQ), and the Oregon Environmental Justice Task Force.

Beyond Toxics, the Oregon Pesticide Action Work Group and representatives from a number of other Oregon counties have signed on in support.

The petition highlights the need for more assistance for rural communities impacted by aerial spray. The danger comes from spraying a toxic soup of chemicals from helicopters without anyone knowing what effect it will have on our health or how it will impact our environment. Didn’t we learn any lessons after poisoning our own soldiers when the U.S. government sprayed Agent Orange during the Vietnam War? They were the collateral damage of the widespread use of deadly chemicals that are sprayed by air and linger to poison the people below. So too are the people living near commercial forestlands in Oregon’s rural communities.

CEDAR VALLEY STORIES

“A Poisoned Paradise” – new documentary about Cedar Valley Pesticide Trespass by Nick Sanchez (11 min.)

Poisoned Paradise: Stories from Cedar Valley by Lisa Arkin (8.5×11 size PDF) - First appeared as an insert in the May 22, 2014 edition of the Eugene Weekly in large format (see us for a hard copy)