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Earlier this month, Judge Robert O'Farrell issued a temporary injunction against the spraying on California's central coast amid concerns over the long-term health effects of CheckMate, which was first dropped in the area last month.CheckMate is a pheromone spray developed specifically to keep the moth from mating without killing it.
The spraying is aimed at the light brown apple moth, an invasive species from Australia that has infested 12 California counties stretching from north of San Francisco to Los Angeles. The U.S. Department of Agriculture fears that if the moth, which consumes 250 varieties of plants, crosses into the San Joaquin Valley, the infestation could cause up to $2.6 billion in losses.
Hundreds of residents reported feeling short of breath and sharp stomach pains after spraying began. Environmentalists quickly sued, claiming the state never prepared an environmental impact report to ensure the airborne chemical droplets were safe for residents and aquatic life.
In lifting the ban, O'Farrell found the agriculture department's health-monitoring plan adequate to address concerns of residents. The government monitoring program will "accept and investigate" medical complaints after the pesticide is sprayed, the judge wrote.
It wasn't immediately clear when spraying would resume. Calls to the state Department of Food and Agriculture were not immediately returned.
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 The environmental group that filed the lawsuit, which is still pending, said it had no immediate plans to appeal the lifting of the temporary ban.
"It is hard to fault the judge because he was just following the law," said David Dilworth, executive director of Helping Our Peninsula's Environment.
O'Farrell's temporary ban on spraying was prompted in part by an Environmental Protection Agency official who told the Santa Cruz Sentinel the pesticide contained a potentially hazardous chemical. The EPA later said that was incorrect, and O'Farrell said Friday he is satisfied that the chemical, polymethylene polyphenyl isocyanate, is not in the product.
The company that manufactures CheckMate, Oregon-based Suterra Inc., has said numerous state and federal agencies tested the product and all its ingredients and determined it was safe. But residents concerned about the spraying were angered when the company, along with federal and state officials, said the product's inert ingredients could not be disclosed because of trade secret laws.
[Associated Press;
By JULIANA BARBASSA]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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