The MacNeil/Lehrer Report; 4024; Grasshoppers

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and other public television stations and by grants from exelon corporation allied chemical corporation and the corporation for public broadcasting day by day more and more grasshoppers hatched out of the ground green grasshoppers of all sizes were swarming everywhere in beating the wind could not blow loud enough to hide the sound of their jaws ripping knowing chewing made all the green garden roses made the green potato tops ate the grass and the world leaders and the green conflicts and the small green thumbs they ate the whole prayer a barren brown and they grew they grew large and brown oddly their big eyes bulged and their morning legs took them hopping everywhere thick overall the ground there were hopping at all laura ingalls wilder author of little house on the prairie describe the swarms of grasshoppers in pre pesticide pioneer days this summer the grass operas are struck again ravaging parts of nebraska kansas oklahoma colorado arizona and michigan

farmers are calling for emergency use of previously banned veron and pesticides with the federal environmental protection agents has resisted their knees tonight how do we say to control bugs which each year billions of dollars worth of crops this week last year it was the drought this year it's the grasshoppers and it's been perfect weather for the grasshoppers to grow without having killed off many of the harper's natural predators the grasshoppers you say here are somewhat smaller in size than those doing the damage in the midwest ten

grasshoppers per square yard can eat as much as a cow eats particular estimates in the western range from fifteen per square yard to seventy five the real danger is next year some grasshoppers already into the egg laying stage and more will be depositing the beginnings of next year's problems soon a female grasshopper lies as many as three hundred eggs in a season before she dies grasshoppers live only one season and i usually with the first phrase so the crucial killing time is before they lay eggs which in the spring will turn into a geometrically greater number of grasshoppers dry warm hatching weather helped his years hoppers escape a fungus disease that they're going to in a cool wet spring and early summer the young russell promotes five times before he gained his wings and becomes fully mature the grasshoppers can keep their weight in a day but their damage extends beyond what they actually eat because they attacked plants of vulnerable points causing them to buy and cropland invaded by grasshoppers is less susceptible to soil erosion two states were the grasshopper problem is the

greatest kansas nebraska ask the environmental protection agency to allow the temporary use of the banned pesticide hector clark the epa last week said it would not hold hearings on the book was released in effect continuing the battle in suits and the earrings been held it would have taken thirty days a time period farmer's field is too long the farmers do have a dozen chemical pesticides that may be used against grasshoppers that many yearn for the days of ddt alderman dialed in strong chemicals now ben discuss evidence as we've mentioned nebraska is one place that's been hard hit from grasshopper like the only boat doing major damage around the country right now for example the blood worm as threatening tragedy to some eight million acres of new england forest the japanese meal is even a why on plants in nearly half the states in the country and bark beetles are menacing ponderosa pines in the rocky mountains people who keep track of this kind of thing say the us says more than

ten thousand different insect pests doing various kinds of damage to various growing thanks last year they get an estimated six billion dollars worth of damage to crops range lands and forests corn growers and reforms along cause about two hundred and fifty million dollars in crop losses some experts say the recent russian and said play insect plagues is caused by those in your unusual class twists and whether the problem mentioned others say it's because they use a very strong pesticide have been banned for environmental reasons they're anxious to get to nebraska moment ago now we go there nebraska is one place that's been hit hard with grasshoppers an estimated thirty six million acres of range and cropland are infested roger simon is director of the nebraska state department of agriculture is with us tonight in the lincoln studios of the nebraska educational television network is to send them how critical do you think the situation is a nebraskan others no question or facing a very critical situation as you mentioned we have approximately six million acres are being affected and that we do not at

this time have a situation in hand and every day that goes by the damage increases in the amount of loss i goes right along with that so we are facing a very critical situation when you click on a dollar figure on the estimated crop damage we know it's running into millions of dollars it's very difficult for the exact dollar figure on it this disaster is a little bit different than a hailstorm or tornado were flooded with those types of disasters we can after it's all over and set down assess all the damages are in this one the damage increases every day so we're not going to have a toll on this until such time as it's over and that's not going to occur until this fall when the first frost ramps but it is of dust disaster proportions by your bar you'll be a way of looking at it there's no question there are some areas in the state of nebraska actress we've seen that have been actually stripped clean the work of some of the farmers or will i get hardly any return from their crop this year doing alaska farmers have

chemicals that can effectively killed last supper's right now another using them well there are chemicals that will kill grass auburn no question about that and some of the new chemicals that we're looking at now the environmental protection agency has allies tuesday look very hopeful that there were the problems with our faces even though the grasshoppers are killed when they're sprayed it did not have a residual action and other words that you could spray today three days later you would have the same problem all over again if you're a farmer if you're a farmer facing these types of situations if you spent three hours and fifty cents to spray once and you turn around and have to repeat it time and time again with a very small margin we have of operation now i just economically toll impossible to do how you ask the environmental protection agency to a permit the use of hector clark how do you feel about the action they took or didn't take we are extremely disappointed in the action they took week we ask for emergency status we did not want wholesale us we

realize the of the chemical is a can be dangerous but on the other hand we're facing a an extreme emergency i'll we do not throw one up opened up to use all the time just in this particular situation they didn't have a sour some chemicals an additional we were using that really appreciate but still i'll we needed the chemical i kept the quarter really take care of the situation with it was dissonant welcome back jimi fight the target of much of the farmers unhappiness over pesticide is with the federal government's environmental protection agency steven jelinek is the epa assistant administrator for toxic substances mr joe nick why did you turn out a request for a year in an emergency use a lot of the primaries we turn attentions because so we thought that there were alternatives available that could do just as good job and you would say for secondary reason is is as you mentioned before we have the corridor known carcinogen and they were saved consumers of the crops would be spared or to those possible fence

did you feel that there was no grasshopper emergency in kansas and nebraska ultimately an upward say to go there all we didn't think that there was we figured there was no martens say we agree that there is a problem i think there are differences of opinion as to what the extent of the promise and i think it's it's a localized problems however and summers and others we agree that there is a problem our position was that there are alternatives that could be using it affects i think that epa has done contrary to some of the year reports from the press in the midwest is not to turn its back on the foreigners were frightened to work very hard with the promise of our culture out there to make available to farms pesticides we thought were effective and will also say such as the verb for the semester salmon mention up by name but those corrected give him but you know the complaint

line there are there are those who complain that epa with all its procedures in here into the song is not really equipped to handle any kind of emergency you tell us and that's in an unfair charge the reason the procedure reason why and were re integrated given a fast as the corps was because this is a banned chemical and now is it a banned chemical that it was the subject of three and a half years of intensive hearings and given take on its problems associate with that we only band after three and a half years of careful examination it's much more difficult for us as a procedural matters a legal matter to reinstitute the use of banned chemical that it is to try to help the farmers find other chemicals that are that will be as effective and he never allowed a so called risky pesticide to be used on economic grounds we're confronted with a situation like the farmers are confronted with that they say they're confronted with in kansas an aggressor in the war jim requires us to make a decision between risks and benefits of if we believe that the risk at ways that benefit then

we are required by law to permit to two not to permit the use of we believe that the benefits of use of benefits to farmers and benefits to the country i weigh the risks and all hell for all then record low to somalia we we go through that balancing act just that the request has a decision to make and we are we are prepared to allow farmers to use risky cannibals and we think about it so we recently have done so environmental defense fund has led the fight to cancel use of a number of pesticides including at the clark wearing ankle is pesticides monitor for the environmental defense fund raising goal are you pleased with the epa's action for inspiration we think that epa did report was correct and proper in that circumstance the state of nebraska made it very easy for epa to turn down a request because they didn't ask for seventy two million pounds of have the corps to be sprayed on thirty six

million acres which comes out to two pounds an acre and when our the usda sprayed a fire out the imported fire at him nineteen fifty seven at the rate of two pounds an acre than they have some devastating effects are they did practically no harm to the fire ant but they did succeed in killing twelve species of mammals twenty eight species of birds eight species or reptile and many species of frogs crayfish sped up fish and our animals that went into the area for two years afterward are also succumbed half from a toxic dos so how important was the norm are and this is a chemical that our nebraska wanted to spray on thirty eight million pounds of our drink eight million acres of the state and looking at the other side of a term a single how do you evaluate the situation in states like nebraska doesn't look like a disaster situation requiring emergency action to you if indeed it is a disaster which may be on in the

state of michigan last year art that beyond farmers were given disaster relief for thought crop damage due to the core in our army weren't so that if nebraska has a disaster then they can go to their congressman and get that kind of relief right now you'd rather the target the federal government paid them for the damage compensate them for the damage then release chemicals which are considered toxic to use it do you say that this relief is available to those farmers who were suffering the damage art and there are some farmers who have suffered this damage on that we do believe that hectic war opposes a very genuine human health hazard to people ought to the farmers and people who might eat the corn and in some of the other crops grown on this land use ms eder well

you say to the people the agriculture community who accuse you environmentalists as a group are virtually leaving them defenseless against insects in your zeal to ban these chemicals parades we've never intended to be used for which there was no available alternative i say that is that how do you approve of instances that we just heard outlined an epa policy where they will on the kind of risk benefit calculation releases some chemicals which are perhaps carcinogenic i believe that the equation there may be situations in which the benefit art does outweigh the risk and in that case we believe that society has the right to know the risks that it's taking in and another federal agency with a stake in what's happening in the constant fight between the farmers and the barnes is the us department of agriculture dr walter mark larson is the staff scientists with

usda is past management science in education administration because it has the banning of pesticide such as the court given the bugs the upper hand right now with the farmer's well there are some problem areas and we're slowly making progress in overcoming these are our main difficulties really are with the route feeding insects that the soil and so things like the corner corn root worm complex to cut worms or worms and saw combat a nose a fight against an affected in any way by it the ban in a very special sowell the material censors aldrin returned to been an easy to apply and so that was a very economical solution to those problems so we have to work your way out of the island and find other solutions other crafters were coming along here with quite

effective materials summer which will be made in much lower quantities than before alternative yes i am and also we're making progress here in developing things like resistant prices which are just becoming beginning to come on stream was talk about that's the development of planned slow with a big crops trees or whatever that are resistant to insects right and center is a better world to damage are now how far along is that kind of experimental work was some are already in in the initial phases of commercial use and were working out use patterns for others that we hope will be affordable to the different areas of caught the belts or in a matter of a few years there should be a substantial acreage we believe is planted of these resistant riders planted cotton and cars nintendo and also by that time we believe that some of the and your insecticides

will be registered for for use on cotton and these will be as effective as the ones that have been removed from so we're were working our way out of the situation we're in a way of what situation of another the lawsuits are materials of searcher look at others like fire and again what they can research progress when we have candidates that cheerios that in the research phase is look just as effective as my rex which have which was removed and in the case of things like say the gypsy moth where we haven't used ddt since about nineteen fifty eight we didn't have found new materials that that the very fact that he has given a general what is the thrust of all of the research and no matter where it's being conducted is the thrust designed to eliminate they use of all chemical pesticides to file on an alternative to chemical pesticides or define better chemical pesticides that are not dangerous to other humans as

well we don't we feel really do i don't believe we've defined the problem is one of getting rid of pesticides what we're concerned about is use technology for dealing with this problems that is not only effective but which is ecological logically acceptable an unsafe to to people and whether that happens to be a chemical or resisting friday or whatever it's that these criteria of effectiveness of of safety too to people into the environment we're not really concerned what form it takes iraq thank you robert yes sir that you mr simon and lincoln audio from your perspective there nebraska evaluate the progress in research and development of alternatives to these ban the chemicals i mean is it becoming is it going forward as a practical alternative for farmers not this time they're to be commended the usda and other groups for other research they're putting in toward the eventual introduction these types of products and that is that doesn't do us much good

today chrome for liddy further honestly it was incorrect in the amount of the chemical that we had applied for the major john walker controller was an amendment applied to our application hour we reduced the application from to do a quarter pound occasionally you agree that two pounds what could have been devastating to other forms of life and yes we are we're use the navigation and every past we did that application a two day parade of time which really we should've had ten that we were in a hurry to tend to get the relief as soon as possible back to the reader the research another correct there is research going on some of it is very exciting and it looks very plausible for the future that that again doesn't help a sedan on the other hand i've had other complaints from the chemical companies from a researcher's alike say that it costs millions of dollars for many dollars to develop some of these different new pesticides that we're talking about and they get right to the point of commercial production to get out to the farmers for them to use

and five they to fall under the criticism of the environmentalist or epa and find that they cannot even get production costs back if they proceed with it so these are the types of things we have to be careful about and here again when we try we talking today tomorrow next week or five years from now a farmer scott in the middle he's criticizing one side because of high food costs and then on the other hand when he asked for something like a chemical is not because the public and nine only to protect his crop he was turning it was turned out that day and turned them on the horses go to the government and get those after last i don't think that's the answer mr jelinek what you say about that i mean are we are we letting out a chemical companies develop these new things to get to the point of sale and then then banging them too well i don't think that's correct and frankly my heart does not believe for the economic position of the pesticide companies they're among the most profitable or sectors of the entire chemical industry is true that a tape it costs a lot of money to develop an impasse

the silent about one that is safe as well as effective but we think that's possible and i would agree with her dark to caution that there are new chemicals being developed coming on the market that are not as dangerous as somebody of the older ben chemicals and that i will be able to help the farmer but without hurting the consumer of crops or the people who work in the field in upon us how far we away from alternatives to these dangerous ones i'm in in response to mr simon's point is it next week or is it five years volunteers at a continuing process we have well stream of applications for new pesticides that epa and we are continuing to to approve them and to have to register them in a year in an annual process the single do you have any anxiety that some of the new forms of protection being developed including some of the biological ones that are being talked about nate we may discover another generation have their own

dangers force you think i can be monitored and is it being adequately now oh it's clear that the regulations and laws right now are designed for regulation of pesticides is geared toward the chemicals are aaron and therefore by not specifying what data and how one is to go about testing whether or not these biologicals are safe are there is a constraint on the development which we believe should not be allowed to exist are in regard to the grasshopper there is a biological there is a a pathogen which has been developed by the montana range land an insect lab which is really all ready to go they've been working on since nineteen sixty six pound dog other sports in one grasshopper is about four three acres it cost flights sense for the us for isn't about twelve cents for the brand and that they have perfected their ground our application and they've asked a frisbee animal plant health inspection service for an airplane so that they can

start testing a long range plan because there are six hundred million acres of range plan which could avail itself of the pathogens which is called mr john edwards now that we're not going to prove there are no i don't think anything is held it up yet it spent on stage and as a matter of fact why we think it's very promising as well and then right and hold it up but epa is is going to be providing research money and laboratory service is to help make sure that it's available for farmers in the midwest to use next year if no we haven't grasshopper problem next year so we're helping to her along not to hold it up wants your brother called no similar crews to this area protozoan pathogens roots lot of us know is not available and now in nebraska mr salmon know i'm

aware of that that rio here again this is one of the project's enter research i've seen some of the data it does look good and hopefully it will work out why we say america doesn't others talk about next year robin said at the top and then there's a question about what the grasshopper situation is going to be next year it's really predict that in nebraska right now you know you have another series from next year are worth one or less and wonder why there's no question about it a mother nature treat says that with the right type of weather conditions for the grasshopper we will now have the prom we have now but a we multiplied because of the numbers it's a geometric saying it increases so we're at the mercy of the weather next spring what is that now is when i ask about the classical usda standpoint you work did a grasshopper projections on and you know what the situation is likely to be next year welcome threw an arm of our department panel plant health inspection service those adult grasshopper surveys every fall and so they do project ahead we're to

expect of wrightson hotspots and so forth is expected to be a bumper crop next year like i like this promises to truly to say actually early this fall before the fall they will make a projection this mystical you understate i just wanted to say that the last explosion topical grasshopper population explosion we had was in nineteen fifty four at that time there were always five chemicals available aldrin do you have the core courting intoxicating of those five there was no difference in the advocacy they had all five available and the fica lasted for four years they did not do very much damage to the grasshoppers that he only on one of the areas one chemical of those five which is still available and nebraska have attested talks it used to be separate it only works up to sixty percent but if that is so odd even if they have the other or they would only be are successful also a thing sixty percent plus our usda itself took alternate build an awful

it uses in nineteen sixty five so what's the environmentalist our ep it took away all going to vote for our land uses and grasshoppers the sermon what special measures are can you take a nebraska to prepare for next year which is a sunni get over the current problems that you have other preventive measures anything into special that you can do well we have taken some action of course through this situation right now and we will take action now this follows them down near as da said there is a car share power with the state government federal government and individual landowner for next spring on range land will i be working toward that we get a lot of accounts this fall but really there's not a lot we can do in preparing for the situation is just to keep monitoring it and one thing we learned the sheer that the sooner we can get at the problem early in the year when the grasshopper still young and that we get a lot better show on that initial supply so we'll be hitting a little sooner hopefully next year i will be watching for the problem it is the epa willing to work with states like nebraska way ahead of time in anticipation of way of becoming grasshopper problem with a

letter from like we certainly are and i think that there are some lessons of the press has learned this year will be i hope applied well next year are like iran and lincoln thank you very much mr senator lincoln thank you very much for joining us and i think in a single hour disturb delicate and dr clawson in washington tonight and so for the night will be back tomorrow night the company has become speaker send one dollar to the macneil lehrer airport foxx three four five new york new york one oh oh one nine seed new era report was produced by wnet nw today they are solely responsible for its

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