European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 14, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A a mad Azim Melinda wills of Pasadena calif., boosts movement aimed at halting the spraying of malathion  inst Athion protests Over med Fly spraying  fruit Fly. Wif6 our the Mediterranean fruit fut of sterile  fruit Fly used to to helicopter fraying malathion to a wipe out the Mediterranean fruit Fly. Sterile helicopter used it it wipe out helicopters 9pravin& malathion to a lab out the Mediterranean fruit Fly. By Seth Mydans new York times Hen the helicopters flying in military formation come thudding past her Home in the Early morning spraying insecticide Over her House her Lawn her car her Wilio a did children s yellow plastic slide Melinda her u Asadena it calif., considers what it Means to Nero be an american. Thoj Chisi Erica and people should have a voice Quot Thi it 8 a  she says of the spraying believe in?.aainst Al tale ideals we were taught to Fri mtg of Icia a assure wills and her remind her insecticide. Malathion is harmless and her that its use is vital to protect the state s $16.5 billion agriculture Industry from an infestation of Mediterranean fruit flies wills is troubled. Quot what if we re making a huge mistake and it s going to Cost thousands and thousands of lives Down the line the lives of our children Quot she asks. Wills doubts and her disillusion have led her like thousands of other normally accommodating people to join a grass roots movement that one participant has likened to the democratic uprisings in Eastern Europe. The movement As portrayed by its members reflects a heightened environmental consciousness along with an accumulated mistrust of government and a pugnacious idiosyncratic american defense of individual rights. Though it lacks organization the movement has proliferated along with the fruit flies arousing protest votes from a score of town and City councils leading two state legislators to file Bills to halt the spraying and threatening to become an Issue in this years gubernatorial Campaign. The Independent groups some of them no larger than a few friends have names like parents against malathion mothers against malathion and citizens against malathion. In january the California division of the Sierra club the states largest environmental organization called on the state to halt the spraying until More chemical research is done. The protesters received an assist with the disclosure that a toxicologist working for the environmental Protection Agency had recommended further study on the possible health risks of malathion. But an Agency spokesman said most scientists there disagree with this View. The truth remains elusive and As the confrontation Over spraying grows both sides Are accumulating expert evidence that Only widens the Gulf. Wills 36, an unpublished mystery writer has never before been roused to protest a not by the Vietnam War the Issue of legalizing abortion or the environment. But now she says she has spoken out on malathion because she says she simply must. For Days after each spraying she says she keeps her 9-year-old daughter Desiree Home from school and does not allow her 2-year-old daughter Marayna outside to play. Quot people Are scared to death Quot says wills whose husband installs linoleum a and they know nothing about the system. They know nothing about How to go about it. So i took it on myself to Start working through the  from her living room wills organizes demonstrations and Calls radio talk shows. She Speaks at town meetings and in classrooms. On weekends she takes her daughters to the local mall where she stops other people with children and asks Quot you re a Parent. Aren t you concerned about this spraying Quot Quot it s a very slow process Quot she says. Quot unless there is an uprising of the masses we Are not going to Stop the  the juror is starting to exasperate state officials who say they have acted responsibly in the face of the environmental emergency of fruit Fly infestation. Quot there s a tremendous amount of misunderstanding and there is also a tremendous amount of anxiety and the Issue is becoming an emotional rather than a rational one Quot says Pat Minyard the emergency program supervisor for the state department of food and agriculture. Quot of course malathion is Safe. Where would somebody get the idea that the final word is not in on malathion Quot nearly 400 Square Miles of residential area in los Angeles county and Orange county have been sprayed so far Many places repeatedly since the first of the flies known As me flies were trapped last August. Officials say the spraying will continue at least into the summer and its frequency is Likely to be increased As the weather grows warmer and Many More flies Are expected to appear. If the program was halted now said Leon Spaugy the los Angeles county agriculture commissioner the fruit Fly would spread and still More pesticides would be needed to control it and to fumigate produce for Export. No alternative to the spraying is immediately available Spaugy said and Quot based upon the studies by health officials that we have we Don t feel it poses a significant health  the protesters say that is not Good enough. Quot we be been told too Many times that things Are Safe and found out later that they Are not Quot said Patty Prickett a Mother of two who lives in los Angeles and who founded residents against spraying and pesticides. Quot i Call it the whoops theory of risk assessment Quot she said. Quot to from the government and i m Here to help you is no longer a credible  she recalled past government assurances about the safety of Dot. Wednesday March 14, 1990 the stars and stripes k k k Page 13