[PCT On The Road] Local Issues Take Center Stage

An an impassioned "call to action" to more than 500 chemical company executives, Stacey Pine, grassroots issues manager for the trade group Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE), urged those attending the organization’s annual meeting — held in conjunction with CropLife America in September — to speak out on behalf of the specialty chemicals industry, particularly at the state and local levels, where anti-industry advocates have made inroads in recent years.

"We need to tell our story. We need to have our voices heard. We need to start speaking with a unified voice," she said. "RISE is monitoring (local) issues across the country, but we can’t do it alone. We need your help."

Pine, who joined RISE earlier this year to pro-actively address a range of grassroots issues, urged attendees to:

• Monitor local newspapers and news
media and alert RISE to issues.

• Scan agendas for city and county level
meetings.

• Make yourself and your business
known to local elected officials.

• Be willing to submit a letter to the
editor defending our industry.

• Be willing to speak at local meetings.

• Resist sacrificing other segments of
the industry to defend your own.

• Speak on behalf of all product users.

It was a theme repeated several times throughout the RISE Annual Meeting, held at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, Fla. Karen Reardon, director of communications and public relations, said in the past "grassroots issue management has been conducted on an ad-hoc basis" at RISE. However, this past year the RISE governing board recognized the importance of dedicating more resources to state and local issues, which resulted in the hiring of a full-time grassroots issues manager.

"Local towns move very quickly (to pass ordinances)," she said. "We can make a difference if we’re there in time…but we have to know where these things are happening. We’ve got to have information feeding into the organization so we can get out there and get everyone engaged."

If the specialty chemicals industry doesn’t become more adept at rapidly responding to local threats, it could find itself facing an onslaught of anti-pesticide and anti-fertilizer ordinances. "Local politics are going to have more of an impact on your bottom line than any other level of government," Pine predicted. "This past year alone we had 57 pieces of (anti-industry) legislation introduced in 27 different states around this country. Legislation passed at the local level…may be the most dangerous to our industry," she warned. "Activists see power at the local levels of government. They realize they can use grassroots advocacy to push their agendas forward."

That’s one of the reasons RISE and CropLife America decided to join forces for their annual meeting, the second time in the organizations’ history they’ve held such an event. "Many of the issues at the federal level are the same as at the local level, so we think it’s good to bring both groups together for industry unity," said RISE President Allen James. "We wanted people to know about our grassroots effort to engage not only management, but their field force. Their field people are critical to our success and we wanted to get that message across to our members."

Throughout the annual meeting, RISE attendees also heard panel discussions on the challenges and successes of integrated mosquito management for West Nile virus, the role of pesticides in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the role pesticides play in the production of food.

The author is publisher of PCT magazine.

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Pesticides Played Important Role in Protecting Gulf Coast Residents Following Hurricane Katrina

One of the highlights of the recent RISE Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla., was a series of presentations highlighting the important role pesticides played in protecting Gulf Coast residents from a variety of public health threats in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Dr. Jerome Goddard, state medical entomologist with the Mississippi Department of Health, and Dr. Claudia Riegel of the New Orleans Mosquito Control Board, shared their first-person accounts of how public health officials, PCOs and others worked together in the days and months following Hurricane Katrina to prevent a major public health disaster in the region. Goddard said one of the earliest concerns of public health officials was the spread of mosquito-borne illness, so a massive mosquito larviciding and adulticiding effort was undertaken throughout the Gulf Coast in the weeks following one of America’s most devastating natural disasters.

The sheer scope of the problem, "made me realize pesticides are important public health tools," Goddard said. "We need all our pesticides." A combination of aerial and ground spraying successfully knocked down the mosquito population, while every effort was made by public health officials and local residents to eliminate standing water. Mosquitoes were "breeding like crazy," he said.

Surprisingly, Goddard said it wasn’t the threat of disease transmission that proved to be the biggest problem for public health officials, but "the nuisance impact (of mosquitoes) on an exposed population. There comes a point where you have to ask for aerial spraying," he said.

In New Orleans, Dr. Claudia Riegel managed a range of pest problems upon entering the city on Sept. 19, a few days after the hurricane. While mosquitoes weren’t a serious problem, a "mountain of trash" throughout the city attracted flies and rodents. "The flies were unbelievable," she said. And while the city was not overrun with rats, she estimates that 10 percent of the properties have active rodent burrows.

Interestingly, the rodent problem was exacerbated by well-meaning animal rescue groups that "dropped big bags of dog food and water" on the streets of New Orleans — as much as two tons a day — to protect pets displaced by the storm. This lack of cooperation between state and local government and volunteer organizations caused "lots of problems" for public health officials. The rodent population has increased since June, Riegel acknowledged, but the city is not being overrun with rats. "We’ve surveyed 15,000 properties and serviced 1,010 complaints." While "pockets of high activity" continue to exist, the most severe problems have been addressed.

Riegel was particularly complimentary of the pest control industry, which sent volunteers from around the country and donated cash and supplies to assist the city’s pest control efforts. "The industry really came through for us. We are very grateful," she said.