Monday, March 7, 2016

Musings: Fact, Fancy and Flat-Out Fudging

I've been looking through the draft report of the Joint Fact-Finding Group on pesticides – the one that was supposed to be released on Jan. 6, 2016, and is now being updated and reviewed prior to distribution later this week.

I sure hope that it's gone through some serious revisions, because this first draft has a lot of problems, not the least of which is speculation. But in fact, the entire report is suspect. The group admits it faced numerous challenges in collecting data, due to both medical and corporate “confidentiality barriers:" 

"This put the JFF Study Group in the position of trying to gather and piece together disparate sets of data and match those with peer reviewed national and international research.”

In other words, it's a hodgepodge of data patched together with conjecture and speculation, which is evident in the inflammatory language in the executive summary. I don't know who wrote it, but it seems the intent was to elicit a certain response, knowing most people won't bother to read the full report. Because when I looked at the chapters and data that supposedly informed the summary, they didn't support the rhetoric.

The summary does note that less than 25 percent of restricted use pesticides were sold for agricultural uses on Kauai. “The largest users of RUPs are structural fumigators, the Kauai Department of Public Works (for wastewater treatment) and the Kauai Department of Water.” Buried deeper in the report is the revelation that structural fumigators account for 41 percent of total RUPs sold for use on Kauai between 2010-14.

The JFFG found no data at all on even estimated household pesticide use, though "90 percent of Hawaii's reported pesticide poisonings occurred in a residence."  So again, why are only the seed companies being scrutinized?

The draft report states:

There is no statistically significant evidence that shows causality between seed company pesticide use and harms to Kauai flora and fauna.

But then it warns of “important signals” that indicate we need to be more attentive to pesticide issues. These "signals" include the unpublished, Surfrider-funded school science fair project on glyphosate residue, and disputed research on neonicotinoid impacts on bees, including references to colony collapse disorder, which has never been found in Hawaii. It also notes, “Several local residents on the westside have reported what they believe may be an unusual number of dead or sick owls.”

Now that's the kind of crap that serves to undermine the already tenuous credibility of this report. Unfortunately, there's way too much of that hocus-pocus in what is supposed to be a survey of evidence.

The report also notes the group looked at 17 environmental sampling studies:

“Many of these revealed the presence of pesticides, some of which may be from contemporary use, others that may come from previous agriculture or migration from other sources such as structural fumigation. Most were in trace amounts and at levels between EPA action standards, with a few important exceptions.” 

It then goes on to report that atrazine, metolachlor and chlorpyrifos were found. It's not until some 38 pages later that the actual levels of these "important exceptions" are disclosed: In the Waimea Canyon Middle School air study, the concentration of chlorpyrifos was 24 times lower and the metolachlor level was 650 times lower than California's subchronic level of concern for these two chemicals. It's not until page 44 that the water study results are given, indicating that no samples exceeded EPA regulatory standards. One sample taken upstream of the Kikiaola boat harbor detected atrazine at 2 parts per million — above the aquatic bench mark of 1 ppm — and metolachlor at 1.07 ppm, just barely above the aquatic life guideline.

Though I find it questionable that the JFFG even considered Hawaii SEED's totally undocumented drift tests, the group did admit that samples from some 200 tests turned up just one positive result for chlorpyrifos, and it was at a level 13 times below the California sub-chronic level of concern.

Yet still we see these activists and Hooser claiming that chlorpyrifos is poisoning the westside. 

Worse, the JFFG cites these extremely low-level findings as indicating “the need for additional monitoring to determine the status of drift from agricultural operations on the westside.”

As for health impacts, the report notes: 

“The lack of comprehensive data on human exposure and pesticides in Kauai's environment makes determining causality between seed company pesticide use and human harms virtually impossible at this time.”

Then it goes astray, talking about how “low level but continuous exposure to pesticides can result in a variety of medical conditions” — without ever documenting that folks are a) subject to chronic pesticide exposure and b) that such exposure is from current ag operations. Sadly, the lack of data doesn't stop the group from throwing out a smear: “Some of the health statistics of Kauai's westside are among the worst in the state. The JFF Study Group cannot determine the exact reason why, and so cannot eliminate pesticide exposure as a possible co-factor.”

As an example of its tortured attempts to blame seed companies for health problems, the report references “growing evidence” that toxic substances in the environment can contribute to obesity and diabetes. It then notes that westsiders have a high rate of diabetes and obesity. Well, it also has a large Native Hawaiian population, which has disproportionately high rates of obesity and diabetes.

The report also shows that westsiders have a higher rate of admissions for bacterial pneumonia. Only later does it reveal that it has the highest rate of smokers in the county.

Reading through the health chapter, it's like they identified health problems that may be associated with pesticide exposure, and then tried to find health stats for the westside that fit those ailments. Mo bettah would have been to simply report what is known, and avoid drawing any conclusions, since the panel had neither the expertise nor the data to do anything else. Let's hope they stick to the straight and narrow in the final report.

When I began to drill down into specific findings, I found several that disputed claims made by anti-GMO activists. For example, the oft-repeated claim by Paul Koberstein – who was paid by anti-GMO groups to write stories — that Kauai seed crops use 10 times more pesticides than mainland crops, as well as Center for Food Safety's claim that seed companies use 17 times the rate of of restricted use ingredients as mainland corn farmers.

The report notes:

"There is substantial variability between estimates of RUP application by acre for corn on Kauai. This makes reliable comparisons with … mainland field corn problematic. Kauai seed companies appear to be applying roughly 0.8 to 1.7 times the amounts of different herbicides and roughly 1 to 3 times the amounts of different insecticides per acres. However, these estimates are based on GNP [good neighbor program] data for acreages, which not be sufficiently accurate for deriving precise rates. Also, the ability to grow up to three crops per acre per year on Kauai compared to one per year on the mainland makes this comparison less exact.”

So the 10 times rate is disproven outright, and the CFS 17 times figure is specifically discounted in the report as relying on assumptions. Meanwhile, if you consider three Kauai crops may be grown for every one on the mainland, then the local application figures are either comparable to mainland application rates, or less.

Also debunked was Councilman's Gary Hooser's perennial lie that the seed companies alone are using 18 tons of pesticides per year. Actually, that is the amount of total formulation, which includes inert ingredients, such as water, used over the 20-month period between December 2013 to July 2015. The seed companies and Kauai Coffee applied 7.5 tons of active ingredients – and that includes organic pesticides and substances like clay — over that same 20-month period.

I found it very curious that the JFFG chose to use that particular 20-month period, as opposed to all of 2014 or July 2014 to July 2015. Was that period selected to give a token nod to Gary's bogus allegation? Still, now that Gary's lie has been outed, hopefully he'll start telling the truth. 

Also revealed as total bullshit is the Hooser and activist claim that the companies are “experimenting” with new pesticides on Kauai. Of the six experimental pesticide use permits that the EPA issued to seed companies between 2010 and 2014, five were for “plant incorporated protectants,” such as Bt corn. The only exception was a permit issued to Syngenta to test Callisto, an already approved pesticide, on soybeans.

Like I said, I can only hope that the group sticks to the facts and published studies, and avoids conjecture and speculation when it issues its final report.

Because perhaps most noteworthy is this conclusion:

This report in no way infers that a different approach to using agricultural pesticides in the future will somehow restore the island to pristine environmental or human health conditions

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I stated when this JFFG was proposed: just another vehicle for utterly wasting taxpayers money. Next boondoggle please.

Anonymous said...

Great reporting Joan.

Anonymous said...

just barely too much atrazine? sounds like being just barely pregnant.

Manuahi said...

Of course, the Anti's will totally ignore the factors revealed in this report that don't support their theories and will call it bogus "chemical company propaganda". But who cares about them really? It is our legislators that matter and hopefully they will use their powers of logic to determine that there's nothing more we need to do about pesticide use in Hawaii than what we are already doing. Mahalo, Joan!

Anonymous said...

They spray 1.7 to 3 times more pesticides here then they spray on the mainland but it is OK, because the man who said it was ten times more pesticides was wrong? I am not an anti, but this is flawed logic.

The fact that we have 3 growing seasons does not mean a Kauai body can handle three times more pesticides either.

Joan Conrow said...

11:10 -- it's flawed logic because it's the product of your own flawed thinking. First, I never said anything was OK. I just pointed out the lies and exaggerations. Second, you choose to ignore an important point made in the report: they can't really make reasonable comparisons between Kauai and the mainland.

As for your comment, "The fact that we have 3 growing seasons does not mean a Kauai body can handle three times more pesticides either," it appears you missed the entire point of both my post and the report: there is zero evidence that any Kauai body is getting any exposure.

Anonymous said...

Good job Joan! And a huge mahalo to whoever leaked this document to you as that is a true community service. This way we will not get caught by surprise on March 10th and we can get out ahead of the narrative that is sure to come and be in sympathy to the red shirts. When Roy Yamakawa quit, that was a sure sign that the fistees had somehow gained control of this process. Stupid really of whoever was in charge of this. They should have known that these companies are engaged in these types of activities all over the world and no silly little fact finding community pseudo science committee is going to get the best of the real science.

Anonymous said...

"There is zero evidence that any Kauai body is getting any exposure." Yippee. let's celebrate! Let the biotechs rule the day---let them use the land and continue their practices, cuz there is zero evidence that the rups they use are getting to/into our bodies. Joan, you the bomb----you know everything!

Joan Conrow said...

11:43 -- Your sarcasm underscores the perverse perspective of the antis. They can't truly celebrate a report that shows no evidence of harm because they actually want people to be harmed -- just so they can have their way. Kinda sick. But what else would you expect from folks who reply upon fear-mongering as their primary mobilizing tactic?

Anonymous said...

Hey these corn guys are so happy they have you. You are the knight in shining armour for them. The day has just begun and they're on the web waiting to read your gossip and put-downs.

It is so evident, you and guys like Tsuji are all being paid off. You only write, are you too scared to show your face and visit the areas of concern. Good luck to you and yours for a happy life. Stop putting people down, you're only exposing who you really are, (bet you were a touble maker in your school years too), you'll finally find a person who never knew what happiness was/is.

Joan Conrow said...

Except I'm not getting paid off, or receiving any money at all, to write this blog. I do it because I'm tired of seeing the bullshit promoted by the antis who are indeed getting paid, as I've repeatedly documented -- and will again with a new report tomorrow. And I was just in Waimea last week. But hey, nothing like an "anonymous" to lecture people about being too scared to show face. To borrow your own words, "you're only exposing who you really are."

Anonymous said...

'only targeting seed corps'
you gotta start somewhere....

Anonymous said...

structural termite treatment for real esnake sales somehow get a free pass cuz the Realtors donate so much to the anti gmo efforts, sure as shit doesn't pass the sniff test. i don't wanna be poisoned by the termite treatment companies, but somehow the only perps are the ag guys. It's a bit obvious the goal is to get rid of that nasty AG so the land can be developed.

Anonymous said...

Kauai only looks like paradise to newcomers and tourists who don't leave the hotel.

Anonymous said...

Another financial boondoggle to add to salary increases, Rice Street, increases in taxes and fees. Can't this county get anything right?

Anonymous said...

Wait til the dairy study comes out. Then the sh-t will really hit the fan.

Anonymous said...

Also, don't forget those super friendly golf courses that also contribute to pesticide and fertilizer use that drains way to the oceans and streams. Not an enemy to the anti GMO group because they're friendly to our tourist industry too?

Anonymous said...

Can Kauaielectic find out if Joann Yukimura is holding secret meetings to increase the gas tax, vehicle weight tac and increase the GE tax like the Beer Gate that illegally occurred to grandfather TVR's and build on AG land?

Is that not illegal under county and state laws for her as a councilwoman to hold secret meetings?

Anonymous said...

The Termite Guys are heroes. Termites destroy more homes than hurricanes and floods put together.
If we sprayed pesticides for mosquitoes in more places, there would be no malaria...let alone the Big Island Dengue. This could hit Kauai and if it does, I hope we spray plenty.
You can't have it both ways. Chemicals are here to stay.
Better living thru chemistry.

Anonymous said...

But Joan you get paid to write other industry support material. So you clearly have a bias And your bias is driven by your paid customers. And of course I know you'll never print this because you're so full of shit.

Anonymous said...

The two bills that would have potentially given the counties much needed and well justified visitor monies in the form of Transient Accommodations Tax were killed by their respective Finance Committees. SB2028 and HB1554 are both dead. While I do not want to pay increased GE taxes, I really don't want further property tax increases. At least the visitors contribute to GE taxes, so I think it would be fairer to get them to pay for some of the road work needed through this GE tax. Seems like the State is happy to continue stealing funds from the counties by not uncapping the "shared" TAT.

Joan Conrow said...

3:40 -- Actually, no, I don't get paid to write any industry support material, nor do I write any industry support material. But I'm not surprised you got it all wrong because --- again, I'll borrow your words --- "you're so full of shit."

Manuahi said...

Only little losers like you 3:40 PM use language like that. Such an immature little brat. Please leave Kauai for your mainland gutter home and let the adults work here.

Anonymous said...

It so entertaining to read the whiny anti's posts. Since they can't argue facts because they have none to support their claims, they always resort to saying you're being bought off by the seed companies. And what these less than master debaters (lol) don't get, is that their claims of corruption do absolutely nothing to undermine the facts and logic you deliver to us here. Thanks again Joan for exposing these scurrying cockroaches. (Smash!)

Anonymous said...

Joan you seem to think it is no big deal that "five were for “plant incorporated protectants,” such as Bt corn"? The companies need to get an pesticide experimental use permit in order to legally grown these plants that have pesticides imbedded within their plant cells and that is not something we should be concerned about? Putting pesticides into the gene of a plant we eat requires a "pesticide experimental use permit" for a reason and I suspect that is because it is experimenting with pesticides and plants. Also, I should point out the permit is only needed for "non permitted" applications and so it is not so simple as implying it is only Bt corn that we are already using.

Anonymous said...

4:54 PM, please get yourself a (valid) scientific education. The plants don't have "pesticides imbedded within their plant cells" nor are there "pesticides into the gene of a plant". They have genes isolated from soil bacteria introduced into their genome, to allow the plants to produce a specific protein that targets specific plant pests. You've already been exposed to this "pesticide" the first time you touched dirt as a child. It's the same protein that is allowed in organic agriculture, only it doesn't harm beneficial non-target insect species like the organic method does. But I guess your way of saying it sounds better for advancing a cause; your version of "truthiness", I suppose. BTW, the companies are only following the USDA and EPA regulations by getting the permits.

Anonymous said...

The JFF report should be short and to the point.

It should stick to the scope of the project: Is there evidence of harm to people or the environment from agricultural (seed company) use of pesticides?

Any speculation or uneducated/unscientific/unsupported opinions should NOT be included in this FACT FINDING report.

Organizer Peter Adler had better be prepared to justify non-facts, buried truths, incomplete and misleading statements, and unwarranted conclusions and recommendations.

I can't wait to see the report and how my tax dollars were spent.

Anonymous said...

So if it's harmless why do they need a "pesticide experimental use permit? Just for shits and giggles?

Anonymous said...

They have to get a permit for crops that are not yet deregulated and they are doing field trials on hardiness, yield, time to maturity, resistance to pests, etc.

Anonymous said...

Joan says, "....they actually want people to be harmed." That is the most absurd statement I have ever heard. Talk about paranoia and projection.

Anonymous said...

6:21, it's what the USDA requires for any new event. Do you understand anything about the process of developing GE technology and taking it through the robust and extensive regulatory process?

Anonymous said...

Oh I get it. The Pesticide Experimental Use Permit is just a formality. They are not really experimenting with pesticides but only experimenting with breeding a plant that has pesticides in it? Do I have it right yet? Help me out here.

Anonymous said...

7:43 pm. - no, you're wrong. Do some more research and get back to us when you've figured it out.

Anonymous said...

7:43 If Only we could help you out of here.... You are a tiresome nagging wheeze. Go and take 4:54 with you; you sound like perennial candidates in a foreign country for a PhD in a sociology completely divorced from the blog topic. Go read the CFR's on RUP labeling before you return. And it may have escaped your notice that this activist orchestrated focus on demonizing the seed companies may very well deprive us of a chance to address the real and far, far more likely causes of multiple health problems on the island. This may very well be the legacy of HAPA-Hooser, CFS-Hooser, Chun-Chock, Bynum, Furfaro, Yukimura and the JFFG if they marched off task. And this intransigent three years of manipulation, while acceptable to you, should be remembered and put to an end in November by the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

Okay, i got it---it must be factual or everything else is bogus. So the whinners and naggers should shut up and go somewhere else! Oh wow, no chance of discussion, hearing others' stories, concerns and feelings?! And yes, there is so much PROJECTION going on by many who post on this blog.

Manuahi said...

"stories, concerns and feelings" are just that and not anything on which legislation should be based. That is unless you want to revive the Salem witch trials.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the industry is getting nervous. Maybe just maybe this report is going to say there is some valid basis for concern and further studies, and you guys are freaking out over that possibility? Sheesh you all are worse than even I thought. You can't even admit that there might be some tiny basis for the community concerns and that further testing and studies might be appropriate to do?

Anonymous said...

1:10 PM, if there is a valid scientific basis for the concern, it should be listened to. But please tell me, how can we discern the source of the concern if all of the pesticide users on the island are not being scrutinized? I would like a direct response to this question in the form of a post to this blog.

Anonymous said...

To 2:11 PM:
Didn't you know that only pesticides used by ag are suspect.

Stop using logic; it doesn't work with that crowd.

Anonymous said...

Do you eat the bt corn? Would you buy the bt corn? Is the bt corn for sale? Why try to scare everyone. Just enjoy Kauai