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Y 1 1/ <br /> I <br /> 12/23/98 <br /> TESTIMONY RE FUNDING FOR THE MARIJUANA ERADICATION PROGRAM <br /> BY: RENE SIRACUSA RECEIVED <br /> P. O. Box 1520 _ <br /> Pahoa, HI 96778 a 124 1 <br /> county Counc <br /> I have brought with me today the draft of the Supplemental <br /> Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) of April 1998, entitled <br /> "Cannabis Eradication in the Contiguous United States and Hawaii ". <br /> This study was commissioned by the DEA and prepared by the U.S. <br /> Department of Agriculture. If you have not read it, if you have <br /> not studied it in detail, then your have not informed yourself <br /> sufficiently to vote on this agenda item. <br /> Basically, this document is an in -depth look at three (3) <br /> herbicides which the DEA wishes to use in the eradication program: <br /> Glyphosate (commonly marketed under the brand names of "Roundup" <br /> and "Rodeo "), 2,4, -D and Triclopyr. Our local police will probably <br /> testify that they do not intend to use herbicides in their eradi- <br /> cation efforts. However, they will be under increasing pressure <br /> from the DEA to do so, especially if they wish to continue being <br /> eligible for these federal funds. And when they succumb to this <br /> pressure, they will not have to come back to you for permission <br /> to include herbicides. They will "just do it ". It therefore <br /> • <br /> behooves us all, as intelligent, caring and morally upright <br /> persons, to inform ourselves about these chemicals, their usage, <br /> their effects on humans and the environment, and then make an <br /> informed decision as to whether or not we believe this is the <br /> proper way to address the problem. All the information which I <br /> will discuss today is drawn from this SEIS. <br /> One exception to this has to do with the effects of he bi- <br /> cide drift and contamination of water catchment systems. The <br /> reason for this is that the SEIS does not discuss this issue at <br /> all. The SEIS discusses the effects of all 3 herbicides on water <br /> quality in lakes and rivers and aquatic life. There are serious o <br /> problems in these cases, as anyone who has ever read the warning <br /> label on "Roundup" may be aware. But there is a far cry between <br /> a free - running, continually flushing river, stream'or lake, and <br /> a stationary water tank, which will tend to concentrate any con- <br /> taminants and pass these along to families (adults, children and <br /> fetuses). Anyone who has ever stood underneath the rotors of a c <br /> hovering helicopter is aware.of how much wind is generated. Even J � <br /> a small amount of herbicide applied through a smalyozzle can be <br /> whipped around as a mist over a fairly wide area. LPlants being <br /> treated in this way on a vacant lot may very well enter into the <br /> • <br /> catchment systems of innocent neighbors, and coat their lawns, <br /> fruit trees and gardens. Indeed, we have heard complaints of this <br /> nature from time to time. <br /> "Glyphosate is strongly absorbed to soil and does not • readily <br /> move out of the soil once absorbed. In some cases, however, it•' • <br /> has been reported to take up to 174 days [almost 6 months] to break <br /> down half the original glyphosate." Thus, a vegetable garden and <br /> its produce would be unusable by a family for up to 6 months,,'if, <br /> 1 <br />