SAN FRANCISCO Opponents blast moth spray plans

Environmentalists and local politicians lashed out Thursday at new plans to spray much of the Bay Area with a chemical mist this summer to kill off an invasive moth.

Opponents of the aerial spraying say the California Department of Food and Agriculture has not adequately investigated residents' health complaints from Central Coast communities sprayed last fall.

The agency "should place an immediate moratorium on aerial pesticide spraying until it is proven both safe and effective," said Mayor Robert Lieber of Albany, one of several Alameda County cities on the list to be sprayed.

State officials contend the chemical, which the Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a pesticide, is safe.

The light brown apple moth, native to Australia, threatens more than 2,000 varieties of plants, including crops, trees and endangered species, according to the Agriculture Department.

Under the plan announced Wednesday, planes would spray the chemical -- a synthetic moth pheromone designed to keep the pests from mating -- over San Francisco starting Aug. 1.

Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, which were sprayed in the fall despite objections from residents, would be sprayed again starting June 1, officials said.