1. You promised answers. I still don't have your answers, only obfuscation. Why? Will you provide answers again at the last minute, just before tomorrow night's AMCD meeting (6 PM)? Or will you show me the courtesy and respect to get me something by Noon tomorrow?
2. It appears that sensitive areas in St. Johns County have not been protected, as AMCD improperly sprayed neurotoxiins, (Dibrom/Naled), an oranophosphate (OP) without observing restrictions. Worse, a Board member was apparently present as this assault on our environment was carried out.
3. This spraying of OPs was without prior public notice. The St. Augustine Record reported AMCD's news about the aerial spraying, but was not told OPs were being sprayed.
4. This spraying of OPs covered over 103,000 acres of St. Johns County -- possibly violating Board policy and state and federal laws regarding sensitive areas.
5. The lack of detailed maps and the long delays are inculpatory.
6. Will AMCD be held accountable for OP spraying without justification or excuse?.
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
-----Original Message-----
From: easlavin@aol.com
To: xueamcd@bellsouth.net
Sent: Wed, Jul 1, 2009 5:55 pm
Subject: Re: Cholinesterase testing and the legal, moral and ethical duties of AMCD to its employees and contractors -- we must meet or exceed the standard of care
Dear Dr. Xue:
1. Here is a url for the MSDS for Dibrom,
http://www.amvac-chemical.com/media/pdf/products/msds/DIBROM_Concentrate_260_10.pdf
2. Please share it with Board members and our counsel, and be prepared to discuss "cholinesterase depression" and other acute and chronic sequelae of Dibrom exposure.
3. Reading the MSDS again makes it all the more unreasonable that we have not been testing our emplyees in AMCD over decades of organophosphate use (and abuse).
Thank you.
Ed Slavin
-----Original Message-----
From: easlavin@aol.com
To: xueamcd@bellsouth.net
Dear Dr. Xue:
Aerial OP spraying with Dibrom was one month ago. We still have no maps and no answers to key questions. Please note:
1. The standard of care is cholinsterase testing. Please check label requirements and EPA.
2. I met with a DACS investigator earlier today on another subject, and he mentioned that Walt Disney Co. required him and other entomologists to have cholinesterase testing when he worked there circa 2000, years after it ceased using organophosphates. Walt Disney was concerned about potential liablity, and did not honor requests not to be tested.
3. I am mystified by the District's Boulwareism in refusing to provide cholinesterase testing. If we have employees exposed to organophosphates, it is necessary and proper that they have cholinesterase testing. It protects the District, the helicopter company, the manufacturer, and most importantly, our employees. We should have had it decades ago. It is shocking to me that it was never requested or required in 60 years. Let us learn from our mistakes, please.
4. It is right and just to order cholinesterase testing. Anything less is willful, wanton recklessness.
5. It was wrong to deny cholinesterase testing to employees when the issue was raised in 2007.
6. It was wrong to pressure employees not to request cholinesterase testing in 2007.
7. It was wrong to deny cholinesterase testing to the the two employees who asked for it.
8. This issue has been badly managed by the District.
9. I appreciate, Dr. Xue, that you rightly stood up for AMCD employees' safety by insisting on meeting PPE requirements.Please show them the same respect on cholinesterase testing.
I don't understand why you would never administer the simple cholinesterase test for the biomarker for neurotoxic poisoning. Do Mr. Dobson and Mrs. Bosanko assume that there has been neurological damage to employees from spraying neurotoxins?
10. More than 2.5 years of avoiding testing weakens your case for any organophosphate spraying, in my opinion. What does our District have to hide? When will you start testing?
11. I still have received nothing on the IGR research contract, not even an MSDS or information on the company in quo.
12. Please provide me with all maps and answers before the weekend.
Thank you.
SIncerely,
Ed Slavin
829-3877
-----Original Message-----
From: ruide xue
To: John Sundeman
Sent: Wed, Jul 1, 2009 4:59 pm
Subject: Re: Ed Salvin
The district attorney will provide the answers related to many legal issues. I am working on other answers related to my part. It takes a lot of time to do this. Mr. Mike Page from the DACS told me that the chapter 388 does not require for the cholinesterase testing. Thanks, Rudy
----- Original Message -----
From: John Sundeman
To: Rui-De Xue
Cc: Ed Slavin
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 2:45 PM
Subject: Ed Salvin
Mr. Slavin called and indicated that he has not received a response from you to his questions.
Please respond to his questions and cc me.
Thank you, John Sundeman
Dear Dr. Xue:
May I please have the answers? Please see below I have not yet received maps or complete answers, e.g., on the bald eagle nest maps. Please see below.
It appears that any spraying of organophosphates on or around bald or golden eagle nests (or other threatened/endangered species) could constitute a felony. It must be avoided in the future.
Would you please invite Dr. Michael Shirley of GTM-NERR (or his designee) to speak at the July 9th meeting on non-target organism effects? We need true scientific peer review and a public hearing, as required by AMCD's Mission Statement..
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
829-3877
819-5817 (fax)
-----Original Message-----
From: easlavin@aol.com
To: xueamcd@bellsouth.net
Sent: Fri, Jun 26, 2009 4:20 pm
Subject: Re: Cholinesterase testing, answer to questions on organophosphates
Dear Dr. Xue:
May I please have the answers? Please see below. Also, do you have maps of bald eagle nests and were they considered in targeting.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
829-3877
819-5817 (fax)
-----Original Message-----
From: easlavin@aol.com
To: xueamcd@bellsouth.net
Sent: Thu, Jun 25, 2009 12:44 pm
Subject: Re: Cholinesterase testing, answer to questions on organophosphates
Dear Dr. Xue:
May I please have the answers? Please see below.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
829-3877
819-5817 (fax)
-----Original Message-----
From: easlavin@aol.com
To: xueamcd@bellsouth.net
Sent: Wed, Jun 24, 2009 2:00 pm
Subject: Re: Cholinesterase testing, answer to questions on organophosphates
Dear Dr. Xue:
Thank you very much for your very prompt reply. I appreciate the District's tough tasks following the recent huge rainfall. I appreciate your commitment to reduction/elimination of neurotoxin use.
My further questions follow.
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
829-3877
819-5817 (fax)
-----Original Message-----
From: ruide xue
To: easlavin@aol.com
Sent: Wed, Jun 24, 2009 11:08 am
Subject: Re: Cholinesterase testing, answer to questions on organophosphates
Dear Mr. Slavin:
Thank you very much for your questions and concerning about AMCD's operation. My answers are following your each question.
Sincerely,
Rudy Xue, Ph.D.
Director / Entomologist
----- Original Message -----
From: easlavin@aol.com
To: xueamcd@bellsouth.net ; pgreeneamcd@bellsouth.net
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 3:36 PM
Subject: Cholinesterase testing, answer to questions on organophosphates
Dear Dr. Xue and Ms. Greene:
1. Will you please E-mail me all records on cholinesterase testing of AMCD and contractor employees, including every single one of the AMCD and contractor employees who were involved in spraying Dibrom all over St. Johns County? In 2007, I asked then-Chair Barbara Bosanko about cholinesterase testing and she hung up the telephone on me. I was later told that employees were asked by Mr. Boone if they wanted it and that they did not want it. (No supporting records or legal opinion was ever provided).
THE ANSWER: The records show that 93% employees did not want to take the test on February 14, 2007. Two employees wanted to have the test, but they did not make it due to stopping use of malathion.
CDC/DOH did the study about the aerial spraying Dibrom at St. Johns and other Counties in Florida, 2004, and published the result (They found no impacts on humans by the spraying).
AMCD had Clarke Mosquito Control sprayed Dibrom by aerial application in 2005. No any AMCD employees had the opportunity to contact the Dibrom.
AMCD had Clarke Mosquito Control sprayed ANVIL in 2007 by aerial application, but the result was not good.
AMCD had the Southern Helicopter sprayed ANVIL in late 2008. The result was better than the result in 2007.
AMCD had the Southern Helicopter sprayed ANVIL and Dibrom from June 2 to June 11, 2009. ANVIL did not work very well. The sopts (sic) sprayed by ANVIL had the 2nd spraying by using Diborm.
There was only one AMCD employee who helped the Southern Helicopter to load Dibrom for a few times. All process/other loading were done by one person from the Southern Helicopter.
FOLLOWUP QUESTIONS:
A. Do I understand that there are no records and no testing was ever done? If not, will you please provide baseline and post-application cholinesterse testing data for these two people? (You can redact their names/identifiers in the event of privacy concerns).
B. Do you acknowledge that baseline and post-application cholinsterase testing is both desired/required to protect employees?
C. Do you agree that the cholinesterase testing requirement was/is mandatory, and may not be negated by any effort to pressure employees into claiming they don't want it? If not, do you contend that employees may opt out of anything else? (Personal Protective Equipment? Mandatory drug testing? Income tax withholding? Obeying speed limit laws)
D. Do DACS, EPA and/or our insurance carriers know we handled organophosphates without cholinerstse testing?
E. Are AMCD employees trained on what cholinesterase testing means? Please provide training records.
F. Are there any documents relating to the putative effort to obtain "consent" to no cholinesterase testing? Please provide records.
G. Did Mr. Dobson provide any form or legal advice for the putative "consent?" Please provide records.
H. Does our current counsel agree that asking for such "consent" was illegal and should never hapen again?
I. Do our Commissioners and managers now appreciate the dangerous implications of managers sua sponte "manufacturing consent" from employees not to provide those employees with health protection and monitoring?
J. Are our Commissioners and managers now familiiar with the history of deception and deadly industrial exposures -- colossal mistakes by management that result in huge liability -- mistakes that begin with deception and "consent" that is not worthy of the name?
K. Please provide the CDC/DOH study and explain AMCD's role in it if any.
L. Do you agree that the CDC/DOH study method was defective?
M. Do you agree that the CDC/DOH study excluded non-human non-target organisms?
N. Do you agree that this is pregnant with the admission that dogs, cats, horses, cows, chickens, frogs, butterlies and other-beloved and beneficial critters are needlessly killed by neurotoxins applied from the air? Do you agree that we must reduce and eliminate neurotoxins?
O. Do you agree that the pesticide industry -- like tobacco, asbestos, nuclear weapons and other malefactors of great wealth -- has specialized for decades in creating phony "doubt" about the deadliness of its products to workers and neighbors?
P. Do you agree that EPA relies on industry data?
Q. Have you examined the scientific data from EU countries that have banned Dibrom? Please provide documents.
R. If not, why not and will you agree to do so and report back to us before the next large rain event?
S. The two employees who requested cholinesterase testing -- why were they denied it? Please provide documents.
T. Who denied it? Please provide documents.
U. Did any of the AMCD's counsel opine on that denial? Please provide documents.
2. Will the management staff please assist the Commissioners to provide a Public Hearing and Scientific Peer Review for the purpose of complying with the District's Mission Statement regarding the spraying of more than 103,000 acres with tons of organoposphate neurotoxins, in apparent violation of the District's policies and the Sunshine Law?
THE ANSWER: Yes, we are glad to assist any Commissioners to provide the public hearing. The scientific peer review has been done recently by an independent contractor. The aerial spraying with Dibrom for spot/hot area was approved by AMCD Board in 2008 and recommended by the peer reviewing contractors this year.
Dibrom is registred (sic) for aerial spraying by the EPA and Florida's DEP & DACS. Dibrom is the best adulticide for aerial spraying and quickly breakdown after spraying. The residum (sic) is very short (about 1day) in the field and kills flying mosquitoes very efficiently & quickly. The price of Dibrom is cheaper than ANVIL. The application rate at 0.5/0.6 o.z. per acre and spraying at night and early morning did not have any big impacts on nontargets (butterfly & honey bees did not activity at these time). That is the reason why most of mosquito control districts/program use Dibrom for aerial spraying.
ANVIL & permethrin have not been registred (sic) for aerial spraying in Florida due to less efficacy and impacts on fish. We have to get the DACS's permission (we get it) for spraying ANVIL by aerial application.
FOLLOWUP QUESTIONS:
A. Do you contend that the contractor provided scientific peer review in a paper unadorned by any citation to the scientific literature, replete with indicia of incompetence and unscholarliness (e.g., "mosquito fish" instead of Gambusia and assumptions that were never explained or justified by date)?
B. Pleae provide data on non-target species.
C. Under what weather conditions is ANVIL 10 + 10 effective for mosquito control?
D. Under what weather conditions is ANVIL 10 + 10 ineffective for mosquito control?
E. Is Dibrom indicated for aerial spraying in helicopters or fixed wing aircraft?
F. What are the statistics on infected mosquitos in traps after the recent inundation?
G. Do you agree that there was neer any Public Hearing before resuming the promiscuous consumption of organophosptate pesticide poisons by AMCD, contrary to the public's expectation in electing our Commissioners?
H. What plan exists to eiminate the use of neurotoxins for mosquito control in St. Johns County?
I. Please provide statistics and graphs on use of bat houses, Gambusia, and Bti.
3. Was there a Commissioner or Commissioners present at AMCD when aerial spraying decisions were made? On what dates? Does this violate the Sunshine Law? Does it violate the principle that elected board members are policymakers, not to be directing managers?
THE ANSWER: Yes, the Commissioner who is the Chair of the operation committee joined the MapVision meeting and had the opportunity to join/learn the aerial spraying justification and operation on June 1, 2009. The Director and his staff made the decision for aerial spraying based on the service requests & Landing Rate Counts. Nothing was related with any violating Sunshine law & policy.
FOLLOWUP QUESTIONS:
A. Does the Commissioner in quo now understand that he is a policymaker and not a manager?
B. Does the Commissioner in quo now understand that he may not purport to speak for the Board or direct staff?
C. Does the Commissioner in quo agree that micromanaging is unethical and that he he has no more business telling staff where to spray than President Lyndon Baines Johnson had in poring over maps, ordering the Air Force where to drop bomb in Southeast Asia?
D. Does the Commissioner in quo appreciate that his appearing at the office regularly and appearing to direct staff would be improper and subject the District and himself to possible liability not covered by the District's or personal insurance policies (e.g., in the event of negligent targeting of locations where non-target organisms are poisoned or killed, including schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.)?
E. What training has the Commissioner in quo had in pesticide application?
F. Does the Commissioner in quo have any DACS certfication?
G. Is DACS aware of the role of the Commissioner in quo in AMCD's program as a de facto manager?
H. Was our counsel or DACS asked about the advisability or legality of the role of the Comissioner in quo?
4. Will you please provide the maps and data that I requested last week on aerial spraying?
THE ANSWER: We will send it to you soon after combined with the data. We are still waiting for whole spraying pattern files from the contractor due to their busy service at other State.
FOLLOWUP QUESTIONS:
A. Will you please state what date you plan to provide the requested documents?
B. Can you please explain why they were not provided as you promised last week?
C. Should our contract be amended so they can't make this excuse again?
D. Please provide me whatever you have today, to inform the Commissioners and the public.
5. Will you please send me a list of all A&E firms that were provided a solicitation regarding the new building and the data they were provided on AMCD's needs?
THE AMNSWER (sic): Ms. Greene will provide the list to you. It is under study and process.
FOLLOWUP QUESTION:
A. Do you agree that it was a violation of the Sunshine Law for staff to evaluate A&E contractors without notice?
B. Do you agree that any contract with the A&E firms would be a contract violation of public policy?
6. Having you and the Commissioners seen the County Administrator's presentation on tax and budget issues?
THE ANSWER: Not yet.
FOLLOWUP QUESTION:
A. Will you please review the County Administrator' sPower Point presentation before or during our meeting today?
B. Do you agree that this is a good time to obtain more reliable economic data to make decisions about future fax revenues? (Better late than never. Carpe diem).
7. Do you and the Commissioners now agree that the people of St. Johns County can't afford a new building now in light of declining tax revenue estimates from the Tax Collector's and Property Appraiser's offices)?
THE ANSWER: AMCD planned for the new build (sic) since 2005 and saved/reserved enough money for it. AMCD will not increase any milage (sic) rate and tax for the building. The project & centralization direction will save more tax money from long term view. Also, the project in next 2 years will provide more jobs and help the local economy.
FOLLOWUP QUESTION:
A. Please provide supporting data.
B. Don't you reckon that we'd rather have a St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Coastal Parkway to "provide more jobs and help the local economy" than another Taj Mahal (like the County keeps on building)?
C. Do you agree that the argument that the new building "will provide more jobs and help the local economy" is nothing more than a "make-weight argument," is no substitute for thought and does not provide an answer for the AMCD's woeful lack of a needs analysis for a new building?
D. Do you agree that a new building would be a financial and public relations disaster for a District that is only now recovering from the sequelae of serious lawbreaking -- illegal AMCD purchase of a $2 million helicopter without competitive bidding, from which we only recovered due to the public's will and our new counsel's skill (Mr. Doug Wyckoff)?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
P.O. Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
829-3877
No comments:
Post a Comment