People Against Chemical Trespass

P.A.C.T.

Sample Letters

Tailor one of these to fit your own sentiments.
Email your letter to citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com and it will automatically go to all the other members of the City Council. 

Members of the City Council:

I urge you to vote yes on the Santa Cruz  Local Control, Pesticide and Chemical Trespass Ordinance. In all 123 other towns that passed similar laws the damage STOPPED, so that can happen here too, and protect our safety and that of our children.   CDFA has 20 other pests in their pipeline for eradication.  Widespread pesticide applications going on and on is NOT the future we want for Santa Cruz. 

Forcing poisons into our lungs defies any sane moral standards and negates our fundamental human rights.  We must say  ‘No more!’  The CDFA’s ‘science’  is  thoroughly discredited and their very form of existence is being investigated by Senator Florez in the Sate Senate.  So it’s highly unlikely that the Attorney General would choose to sue the city.   In any case, the very slight chance of a lawsuit must not override our fundamental rights and our health and safety for the benefit of pesticide manufacturer’s profits. 

Sincerely,

Name
Address with Zip Code

 (Note:  This next letter is for residents of the city of Santa Cruz)

The Santa Cruz City Council
Dear City Council Members, 

I am a resident of Santa Cruz and I ask you to vote for the City of Santa Cruz Local Control, Pesticide and Chemical Trespass Ordinance.  This would prohibit forced widespread poisonous pesticide applications on people, our schools, parks, neighborhoods and backyards here in Santa Cruz City.

 I see that the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has plans to continue with the LBAM eradication program in our area, after completing their Environmental Impact Report (EIR).  Their plan includes spraying toxic pesticides from trucks in our backyards  and aerial pesticide spraying in non-urban and forested areas - where people live!. The CDFA’s own scientists reported that the pesticides used in the aerial spraying of 2007 drifted 3 miles. 

And it's not just about LBAM.  The CDFA has 20 more questionable "pests" in its sights, spraying on into our future.  We cannot just go with "business as usual", or “fix it at the state level”, when that means getting "treated" again and again with more applications of more pesticides, as CDFA plans forecast   If our current system could fix this, it already would have. That's why we need to make our own law, and why the City Council needs to pass it.

I am asking that you take a bold step and stand up for what is right, stand up for the health and safety of the citizens of Santa Cruz and put your support behind the City of Santa Cruz Local Control, Pesticide and Chemical Trespass Ordinance.

Sincerely,

Name
Address with Zip Code

 (Note:  The following letter is for residents of other communities outside of the city of Santa Cruz)

To the Santa Cruz City Council members
Dear Members of the City Council,

 You will soon be asked to vote YES on an important pesticide ordinance that will ban future applications of toxic pesticides in the City of Santa Cruz by  the State and its agencies.  The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has extended the LBAM eradication area to include 56 of the 58 CA counties, thereby including most of the state as a target for their pesticides.

Many CA communities are watching closely to see if the Santa Cruz City council members will take the bold first step, challenging the State, and asserting the right to decide locally about pesticides.  If passed into law in Santa Cruz, this ordinance will set an important precedent and will make it easier for neighboring communities to do the same at their local level.

 This is not just about LBAM. This is about our future!  Even if the LBAM eradication program ended tomorrow, there are 20 other “invasive pests” that the CDFA has in their sights for “treatment”, which means more and more  pesticides on us and on our environment.  Since the State currently has a pesticide preemption law, we, the people who are affected, don’t get to decide whether or not we get sprayed in our own communities!  Instead, unelected state bureaucrats with discredited science and dubious motives get to decide.  We are the ones who must start this change.

 I am asking that you take a bold step and be the leaders in this grassroots challenge to the State’s unjust pesticide preemption law and vote yes when the City of Santa Cruz Local Control, Pesticide and Chemical Trespass Ordinance is brought before the council.  People in the communities surrounding Santa Cruz appreciate your willingness to take the lead in this fight to regain local control and assert our constitutional right to safety!

 Sincerely,

 Name
Address with Zip Code

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Sample Letters to the Editor

Find media addresses here

These are meant for you to tweak and tailor to your own style, sentiments and wording.
Remember – 150 word limit!

 We Need A Law!

 A lawsuit temporarily delayed more pesticide aerial spraying for LBAM,  by demanding an EIR.  That report is now overdue, and there are strong reasons to expect approval of more spraying -  aerial spraying in “rural” areas, truck spraying in people’s backyards in town as well as pesticide “globs” on poles and trees.  The good news is that residents, with legal help,  have written an ordinance banning forced bulk pesticide applications, and will present it to the Santa Cruz City Council for approval in March.  This ordinance does NOT ban anyone from applying pesticides on their own private property or farm.  What it does do is assert our right to not be forced to breathe toxic chemicals into our lungs, and drives that right into law.  It says we, the ones affected, have the right to decide what is done to our bodies,  and returns control to our local accountable elected officials.  Visit www.PeopleAgainstChemicalTrespass.org.  (And give date and time and place, if that is set – we’ll let you know as soon as that date is set.)

 Pesticides: Not on People!

CDFA has formed plans to continue toxic pesticide treatments that sickened hundreds in 2007 and nearly killed a baby.  And they have 20 other pests in their sights  – whether or not they damage crops.  The problem here is not the insects; it’s that our power to decide about this most fundamental local issue – what goes into our lungs and our children’s – has been stripped.  In a  democracy  such decisions must not only guard everyone’s rights, but must be made by the people affected, not by unelected bureaucrats with their own questionable agenda.  An ordinance prepared by residents of Santa Cruz  would ban forced applications of toxic pesticides on people.

But an unjust state preemption law says towns cannot make laws about pesticides! Soon our City Council will either pass this ordinance which asserts our  right to “pursue safety” (California Constitution) - or it will endorse the oppressive preemption law by bowing down to it.  Visit www.PeopleAgainstChemicalTrespass.org   And give date and time and place, if that is set – we’ll let you know as soon as that date is set.)