This is in response to Antonio Valino?s letter. (?Aerial spraying ?getting curiouser and curiouser?,? Inquirer, 8/11/09)

1. ?Silent Spring,? by Rachel Carson, describes how DDT enters the food chain, accumulates in the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and causes cancer and genetic damage. A single application kills insects for weeks and months?and not only the targeted insects but countless more. DDT remains toxic in the environment even after it is diluted by rainwater. Carson concludes that DDT and other pesticides have irrevocably harmed birds and animals and contaminated the entire world food supply.

To say that ??Silent Spring? has not happened anywhere in the farming world? contradicts what has been scientifically shown. The scientific data and studies on the damage done on humans and the environment are so enormous and credible that DDT had to be banned in the United States and, later, worldwide.

We challenge Valino: Cite to us credible scientific studies showing pesticides (i.e., DDT and the like) can?t harm the environment. The very labels of these pesticides warn of their risks to humans and the environment. And may we remind him of the basic, internationally accepted precautionary principle from the 1998 Wingspread Statement: ?When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.?

2. The July 9 forum was organized by the Ban Aerial Spraying Core Group, a coalition of NGOs, medical professionals, academe and people?s organizations calling for the banning of aerial spraying?not by IDIS alone.

True, the study belonged to the Department of Health and Dr. Allan Dionisio is from UP. But the activity was intended for individuals and groups actively calling for the banning of aerial spraying; they are alarmed at the concerted efforts of plantation and chemical companies to discredit the study findings, methodology and investigators. Core Group had the right to refuse ?walk-ins.? Out of courtesy, Valino should have called the organizers in advance to request participation in the forum.

3. On the issue of Camocaan residents not being invited to the forum. May we clarify that the Core Jesu College in Digos City conducted a separate forum on July 10, 2009 for Davao del Sur. A significant number of Camocaan residents were there. In fact, the Cor Jesu administration reportedly reprimanded people identified with plantation companies for distributing papers discrediting the DOH study, without telling the school as a matter of courtesy.

?EMMA V. SAGARINO,
research associate,
Research and Development Center,
University of Immaculate Conception;
ANITA MORALES,
Metsa Foundation Inc.;
LIA JASMIN ESQUILLO,
Interface Development Interventions Inc. (IDIS);
JEAN LINDO, M.D.,
faculty member and COMMED 4 coordinator,
Community Medicine,
Davao Medical School Foundation Inc.;
RAYMOND QUIOCHO SALAS,
Saligan-Mindanaw;
WILLY MOSQUEDA,
Daliaon Plantation
Farmer?s Association for Health
and Environment Protection;
TOM VILLARIN,
Sustainable Integrated Area Development Initiatives
in Mindanao-Convergence for Asset Reform and
Rural Development (SIMCARRD)