Like Moths to Fame?

What do you get when dozens of moms who have recovered their kids from autism are at a dinner with celebrities . . .  in the midst of an historic battle over light brown apple moth (LBAM) aerial spraying?  ACTIVISTS! I and these moms attended a comedy show and auction on Friday night to benefit San Francisco autism organizations, such as The Ryder Foundation. We worked the celebs in the room as best we could.

These moms are not crazy "fringe" moms. Among the eight in our group that night, were five who founded non-profit organizations. These are intelligent moms whose research led them to believe autism is indeed treatable. They have the recovered kids to prove it. They know not to let the California Department of Agriculture pull the proverbial wool over their eyes without an independent environmental impact report on CheckMate, the LBAM spray.

These moms have experience going against the grain. Parents who choose biomedical treatments are constantly on guard from those who don't know the strict program, which can include a wheat and dairy free diet and sometimes heavy metal chelation. According to the Autism Research Institute treatment ratings, two-thirds of parents who have tried biomedical interventions say it helped their child.

"My son's teacher fed him a Nutri-Grain bar the other day," lamented Musician Mom to me, "There's enough wheat in those that I thought I was going to lose him for two or three months." She and other parents have fought tooth and nail to get all the toxins out of their children. Their children look them in the eye for the first time, some talk for the first time, some stop walking on their toes. The vigilance is worth it. They have their beloved children back, partially or fully, and don't want them to regress back into autistic behaviors.

The threat of being sprayed at regular intervals with CheckMate is enough to throw these moms into action. No angle was off-limits on Friday.

Musician Mom, with her soulful green eyes and long hair, turned to me and said, "I'm tuning Dana Carvey's guitar for him tonight, but look what else I have for him." Her large white shopping bag contained a guitar strap, picks, and LBAM pamphlets.

My face lit up, "Great idea! How many extra do you have?"

"My sister dated Phil Bronstein," said my actress friend referring to the former editor of The San Francisco Chronicle, "I already talked to him tonight about the spray and he didn't know the spray includes his residence in Marin County. His wife said they have a 15 month old baby and that she was now very concerned." Actress Mom, who is as delightful and polite as Audrey Hepburn, asked Musician Mom for a pamphlet and went back over to hand it to Phil and his wife, who both appeared thankful.

As the lamb course was being served, Actress Mom returned to our table to report on her pamphleting success. She seemed pleased. "Maybe we'll move out of the Bay Area," she said to me, hedging her optimism. "Montana is nice. How does your brother like living there?"

Meanwhile, we schemed on angles to approach Robin Williams, but despite the connection with Actress Moms' small part in one of his movies, he seemed less approachable than the others, so we gave up. Sammy Hagar, with his rock-star glam blonde hair and plaid shirt, didn't seem to take the event seriously enough to dress up, so we skipped him.  Though we probably underestimated him. Later, he donated $100K to the autism charities during the auction.

I've heard a lot of back and forth about the LBAM spray. Supposedly the pheromone is not that bad for humans, except that I've heard odd reports about women menstruating in response to it.  Musician Mom told me it's the "inactive" ingredients that pose the most threat, so focusing on the safety profile of the pheromone itself might be a red herring. The most solid proof that LBAM spraying is bad for humans are the more than 600 reports of ill-health effects after last year's Monterey County spraying.

It also turns out that the only time apple moths have been problematic in New Zealand is when organophosphates have also been applied. They kill apple moth predators.

As I type, an informal activist email list has formed among the moms at the autism event. Petitions are flying and letters to politicians are being sent as attachments for our collective review. Musician Mom just emailed me this letter coming from a different angle. She cites experts who say the LBAM might not be an actual pest and plans to send her letter to local publications:

UC Davis entomologist Dr. James R. Carey has talked to numerous esteemed UC entomologists, and not one believes the LBAM can be eradicated. He says that given its widespread distribution, the LBAM is not a recent invader, but has been here for up to fifty years!

Dr. Daniel Harder, director of the UC Santa Cruz arboretum says the LBAM needs evaluation as to whether the moth is even an actual pest, as there has been no quantifiable crop damage in California. He believes we need to integrate the New Zealand containment model, where LBAM has posed no damage, and where they do not spray for the moth.

Natural predators can control 80-90% of LBAM populations. Both Harder and Carey believe we need to use alternative containment methods and revisit US trade policies to get the LBAM off the most wanted list!

Just last week The Governator delayed the spray until August to allow time for an environmental impact report. The autism moms were not impressed. They won't trust the results of a report put out by the California Department of Agriculture -- they've seen this kind of government "science" before with the fox guarding the henhouse.  "Additionally, how can they test, in a few weeks, for long-term or cumulative effects?" wrote Musician Mom today, "remember DDT, asbestos?"

I've never seen women band together and organize so fast. Whether one has an issue with the spray or the status of the moth, these women are on it. They've honed their negotiation skills and debate skills in pursuing non-mainstream treatments for their kids. They've helped others pull their kids out of autism though Generation Rescue, the founder of which was also dining with us. Now, these same women are applying their considerable skills to halt LBAM spraying.

I wondered if our efforts would actually help. Were we like moths to 'fame,' soon to fizzle out when that first plane douses us with chemicals, or will the activism make a difference? I don't have a child with autism, but you can guess where I stand on the LBAM issue. If the spray becomes imminent, I have a feeling you'd rather move to Montana instead of waiting to see what these women will come up with next.

An original Silicon Valley Moms Blog post.

Alix also blogs at www.mednauseum.blogspot.com, a blog devoted to research supporting dietary and environmental causes of chronic illness.