From: EcoNet (via Jym Dyer) <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,talk.environment,ca.environment
Subject: NEWS: "Pesticide Rustling" in California
Followup-To: talk.environment,ca.environment
Date: 30 Sep 1992 04:25:17 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: jym@remarque.berkeley.edu

[From EcoNet en.pesticides Conference] 
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=> From: Pesticide Action Network North America Reg Ctr <panna@igc.org>
=> Subject: PANUPS: Pesticide Rustling 
 
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PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE 
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CALIFORNIA PESTICIDE THEFTS ON THE RISE 
 
September 17, 1992 
 
A new form of ``rustling'' is taking place with increasing
frequency on farms throughout California.  Truckloads of
fungicides and herbicides have been taken from storage sheds
on farms in almost every agricultural region in the state.
A typical haul may include hundreds of gallons of costly
brand-name formulations such as Bayleton (triadimefon),
Rubigan (fenarimol), and Rally (myclobutanil).
 
Sheriff's offices throughout the state report a consistent
pattern, in which burglars cut through fences and sheds with
bolt cutters, steal trucks parked on the farm, and use those
trucks to move the pesticides off the farm property.  Virtually
all thefts happen at night.  Commonly, the replacement value
of the pesticides taken is between $30,000 and $70,00.
 
Law enforcement investigators speculate that these crimes
are related, and the work of a ``ring'' operating out of
California's Central Valley.  Pesticide thefts in major
agricultural areas in the Valley and the Central Coast region
have been increasing dramatically; King City alone reported 14
so far this year, twice as many as were reported in this area
for all of 1991.  Meanwhile, other agricultural areas have been
added to the thieves' agenda, with grape growers in Sonoma
County's wine country among the most recent targets.
 
Growers along major commerce corridors, such as Interstate
5 and US Highway 101, are among the thieves' most frequent
targets.  The destiny of these pesticides after they leave
the farm is unknown.  One investigator in the Central Coast
strawberry growing area commented that ``all we have to go on
are hunches.''  It has been suggested that at least some of
the black market for these stolen pesticides is international.
 
What is certain is that there are no controls whatsoever on
the transportation and use of stolen pesticides.  The herbicides
and fungicides taken all have some environmental toxicity, for
example to birds or fish, and present risk to workers and the
general public, especially if not used as directed.  Any vehicle
on the freeway could be holding these toxic substances; in the
event of an accident, the existing risks are compounded by its
extra-legal nature. The possibilities of gross misuse in the
mixing and application of these pesticide formulations, their
potential for unapproved food uses, and the disposal and
environmental contamination problems they present are
staggering.
 
Large-scale pesticide theft is not merely a rural crime problem;
it is an important public safety issue that affects the well
being of everyone who drives or rides on the highways, uses
water that could become contaminated, and works with or eats
food that may have been grown or treated in California or
elsewhere with any of these products.  The lack of ability to
account for literally tons of economic poisons illustrates a
technology of chemical pest management that is dangerously out
of control.
 
SOURCE: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, MONDAY AUGUST 31, 1992 --
``Costly Pesticides Stolen in Sonoma,'' by Rob Lopez.
Background information from law enforcement personnel in
affected areas.
 
============================================================= 
This information is provided by the Pesticide Action Network
North America Updates Service (PANUPS), a pesticide-related
new service from the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North
American Regional Center.  Updates are posted weekly on EcoNet
in the "en.pesticides," "en.agriculture" and other appropriate
electronic conferences, and distributed worldwide across the
APC computer network.  PANUPS is also posted in the Public
Conference on RTK NET, on GeoNet in the PESTICIDES-BBS bulletin
board, on FidoNet in The Ecology Network, on the Sustainable
Agriculture Network (SANET) on BitNet, and on PENpages
agriculture information service at Penn State Univ. Hard-copy
compilations of these updates are also available.  For more
information about PAN activities and publications, contact: PAN
NA RC, 965 Mission Street #514, San Francisco, CA 94103. Tel:
415/541-9140.  Fax: 415/541-9253. Telex: 156283472 PANNA. E-mail
on EcoNet/IGC/APC: panna.  [From Internet: panna@igc.com.]
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive