Pesticide spurs free speech flap - Officials say trade rules prevent disclosure of inert substances in a spray applied over parts of Monterey County.
If the state and federal governments get their way, night-flying planes will soon resume dousing the Monterey Peninsula with a moth-targeting pesticide, before they move on to other areas of Northern California.
State regulators insist the chemical compound is safe. But they also insist they can't disclose much of what's in it.
"Trade secrets," said Steve Lyle, spokesman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
The mystery has opened a free-speech front in California's latest battle over potential health risks associated with aerial assaults on crop-threatening insects, in this case the light brown apple moth.
Experts say the Monterey dustup pits the public's right to know against the needs of pesticide manufacturers to shield the ingredients of their products from competitors.
Similar clashes between the 1st Amendment and trade secrets erupted over unauthorized leaks about an Apple Computer product and Internet postings of DVD decryption codes. Another skirmish came after a former employee tried to write about Oprah Winfrey, in defiance of a confidentiality agreement.
The Monterey fight centers on whether the government, at the behest of a corporation, should refuse to identify the chemicals that it sprays over homes, businesses and schools, as well as orchards and vegetable fields.
"It's outrageous," said David Dilworth, executive director of Helping Our Peninsula's Environment in Carmel. "Democracies don't do that."
But state officials say that, under trade secrets laws, they have no choice. Only the active ingredients in pesticides are routinely disclosed. Other components that make up the formula -- so-called inert ingredients -- are not.
"Product formulation is a classic definition of a trade secret," said Polly Frenkel, chief counsel for the state Department of Pesticide Regulation.
With money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the blessing of the Environmental Protection Agency, state crews last month began applying the chemical blend known as CheckMate over 60 square miles of Monterey County.
A pheromone in the mixture disrupts the apple moth's breeding cycle.
The ensuing controversy has followed a path as twisty as the winged critter in flight.
The Monterey Peninsula environmental group filed suit to stop the spraying after dozens of people said the initial application left them with asthma-like symptoms, burning eyes, rashes and stomach pains.
