OTNP December 2025
Good morning lovely people.
I am going to repost this really good Mr. Sandman parody by two very talented young women. They are one of the reasons why I spend so much time on this project. There are people that have talents other than what I have and yet don’t have talents in database construction, the interface between chemistry and biology, and some of the other gifts I have.
If you didn’t listen to it last time certainly consider giving it a try! And if you did listen to it listen to it again like I have!
Nice guitar work!
https://www.facebook.com/reel/25313109035019259/?mibextid=9drbnH&s=yWDuG2&fs=e
I am deeply concerned about the child abuse our pesticide industry is perpetrating.
We must have a zero tolerance policy for neurotoxic pesticides around our children.
Zero tolerance for at least one mile around public and private schools. We must have zero tolerance of neurotoxins around places of worship; churches, mosques, synagogues, etc. We must have absolutely zero tolerance for neurotoxic child abuse around municipal parks.
California dpr is not only racist (as claimed by Californians for Pesticide Reform) but they are in effect also child abusers.
I had a voice meeting recently with representatives from the California department of pesticide regulation (cdpr) and I was able to ask several questions. One was primarily about the makeup of the teams that regulate pesticides. These “teams” are given names such as oak, redwood, maple, cedar and pine and are central to the agency’s work, yet there is very little public information regarding who decides their makeup or how specific, active ingredients are assigned to them.
Pesticides are incredibly diverse. They range from biological life forms to complex chemical toxins like neonicotinoids and “forever chemicals.” Currently, there is no clear published rationale by the cdpr for how these materials are assigned to various teams.
The cdpr actually argues that this is a “feature”, as a generalist approach ensures knowledge overlap if a member leaves. I believe this lacks the effectiveness of true specialization. A system that allows specialists to focus on specific chemical or biological properties would be far _more_ robust and less susceptible to the gaps created when team members depart. Without clear rules, the current system remains vulnerable to political and financial influence.
While none of the teams at the heart of the cdpr regulation of pesticides have clear boundaries, The pesticides they are responsible for do have clear boundaries. The active ingredients can be classified as bacterial life forms, viral life forms, and other materials in addition to all the chemical toxins. The toxic chemicals also fall into various categories herbicides, insecticides, avicides as well as being in different classes of chemical compounds such as neonicotinoids, synthetic pyrethrins, and especially important, how long any of these toxins persist in the environment. This last physical property (the half life) has become vitally important with the identification of more and more so-called forever chemicals. We desperately need to have a team made up of members who are focused and particularly knowledgeable on these.
No rhyme or reason to how the chemicals are being assigned to various teams and the cdpr website and the representatives I talked to claim that this is somehow more robust. This is nothing but gobbledygook. How is a system that has teams specializing on specific groups of compounds somehow _less_ robust?
A system that allows the team members to work with other team members having similar knowledge and focus enhances the knowledge about the specific chemical properties or biologics that they’re working with. Teams without any specialization cannot possibly have the independent ability to understand and critically determine all the ramifications of the random hodgepodge of chemicals and biologicals they are assigned. The teams must be able to focus and specialize on these incredibly complex chemical and biologic systems. And the rules for assigning chemicals must be clear and stated in new online cdpr documents.
If one member of a specialized team leaves there is still plenty of knowledge remaining. In fact this would be far _more_ robust than scattering knowledge to the winds.
Where as if an unspecialized team has been assigned a group of biological organisms and their one person with a somewhat better biological knowledge leaves, there is no one to fill the gap. And the cdpr claims that they do not regularly reassign active ingredients to other teams in the event of a team member leaving.
The current system is simply too susceptible to team member loss, abuse, politics, money, and mushroom growth (think lighting and food).
In my opinion this is not pesticide _regulation_ it is a freeway on ramp, and it is killing our kids.
On a completely new topic I received a newsletter from chaparral wisdom recently that I thought I would put here with some information and links. Given my rant just above I truly loved the quote “Using Orwellian double-speak to mask the madness” 😆🫤🤔🥴😮😳
Chaparral Wisdom Read on blog or Reader
The End of Wild Nature in California
CA Chaparral Institute Avatar
By CA Chaparral Institute on March 4, 2026
Governor Newsom and Cal Fire target all wildlands in California
with herbicides, logging, grinding machines, and fire
Part I: The scope of the destruction
One third of California, 35.5 million acres, are in the sights of the state’s new, updated Vegetation Management Program (VTP). Rather than something to cherish, Nature is now seen as the enemy, a thing that needs to be controlled, mitigated, cleared. Using Orwellian double-speak to mask the madness, the clearance and ripping apart dense, biodiverse habitat is referred to as “ecological restoration,” improving “forest health,” and making wildlands “fire resilient.”
In this eleven part series we will be offering an in-depth look into the consequences of the belief that Nature can not function without us, and needs to be forever mowed, trimmed, and chemically treated
The series of posts above by the chaparral institute has additional implications about the past spraying of carbaryl in our oak forests _in order to protect them_.
Spraying promoted by industry, and salespeople as well as the Sierra Club itself. This has led to serious consequences to all the animals that actually call our oak forests home. You know, all the animals that can’t go to their nest in the oak branches and take a hot shower to wash the toxins off their paws and (furry, webbed, bird, etc.) feet. Wonder how many people that were involved in that spraying program (including the Sierra Club members) would like to have that amount of carbaryl dusted around their own living rooms. It would not quite be the same as they wouldn’t have to lick it off their hands and feet.
Beware “integrated pest management” stories. IPM is simply the NRA of the pesticide industry.
IPM advocates _responsible_ pesticide use. …. More, and more, and more of it … very subtly very deliberately.
We desperately need
#ChemFreeZones
Especially around our schools!
Please ask our environmental organizations to provide basic information on what pesticides the national parks are spraying.
https://chng.it/9Dj4vKwbK5
https://www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/just-three-easy-steps/