KEKAHA – Kekaha residents Bret Danson and Alix Barker have grown accustomed to seeing strange things in their neighborhood. One neighbor uses a flame thrower as a weed wacker, Danson said, and another uses an old refrigerator as a meat
KEKAHA – Kekaha residents Bret Danson and Alix Barker have grown accustomed to seeing strange things in their neighborhood.
One neighbor uses a flame thrower as a weed wacker, Danson said, and another uses an old refrigerator as a meat smoker.
While out walking their Alaskan Samoyed named Kai near Kekaha’s roadside seawall around sunrise last August, the couple saw a man in a yellow, hazmat-style body suit standing in the back of a white pickup truck moving slowly down the road.
“The guy looked like he was landing on Mars,” Danson said.
The man was holding a high-pressure spray hose attached to a tank, and he was directing its heavy “fire hose” stream at the narrow area between the roadside and the rocky seawall.
A chemical odor hung in the air. They weren’t quite sure what they were seeing.
“The spray was going everywhere,” Barker said. “The ocean was up to the seawall, and we were in shorts and flip flops. … We were worried about Kai.”
There were no Department of Transportation signs posted in the area warning of weed abatement spraying, they said, which added to their confusion.
During a September Kekaha neighborhood meeting concerning the relocation of a lifeguard tower, Danson and Barker spoke out about the chemical spraying and asked DOT Kaua‘i district engineer Ray McCormick why it was necessary to spray herbicides so close to the ocean.
McCormick said the Army Civil Corps of Engineers, which built the seawall, requires the county to keep it free of vegetation to ensure the integrity of the structure.
“The chemicals in the herbicide are EPA-approved,” he told meeting attendees. “If we’re using a lot out here and don’t need to, we need to look at that. If there is vegetation encroaching on the roadway, one of my guys will cut it or spray it.”
He said, “In the north by the Dolphin Restaurant, all the way north, because there was a lot of concern, our guys are restricted from using herbicides. Out here, we’re by the ocean, we’re by children, and those things can be looked at.”
On the morning Danson and Barker witnessed the spraying, crews used 2.5 gallons of Roundup diluted in 250 gallons of water to spot-spray specific areas of the two-mile seawall roadway shoulder, according to DOT officials.
However, according to Roundup use instructions, for an area that size, 1.5 gallons of chemical is the recommended maximum, regardless of the amount of water used to dilute the product, assuming all of the product is applied to the given area.
Roundup’s active ingredient is glyphosate, which is banned in some parts of the world, such as Denmark because of groundwater pollution.
Glyphosate was developed in 1973 by Monsanto, a GMO company that shut down its Kaua‘i operations last year.
Its application is designed to inhibit the enzyme involved in the synthesis of the amino acids. When absorbed through the leaves of plants, it causes them to wither and die.
Early research found glyphosate had a low toxicity when ingested, a low level of skin irritation and it did not cause cancer. Later research found the chemical caused fetus abnormalities in rats and mortality in many amphibian species.
Furthermore, exposure to certain chemicals, such as herbicides, can trigger asthma attacks, according to health organizations. By posting signs warning of upcoming spraying, people who are sensitive to chemicals can avoid the area during and immediately following spraying.
The American Lung Association reports an estimated 8,865 children and adults, or approximately 16 percent of the population, has asthma. A children’s health and environmental risk factors study from 2003 found that children with early persistent asthma were 10 times more likely to have been exposed to herbicides before the end of their first year.
In a recent Garden Island letter to the editor on Danson and Barker’s behalf, former mayoral candidate Diana LaBedz wrote: “This may be a very dangerous situation for those and their keiki who fish, walk and play along or near the sea wall area.
“Small children may be especially vulnerable to the potentially toxic mix of chemicals,” she wrote. “…What about the fish — right on the label it says it is toxic to fish, do not use near waterways — sea turtles and endangering monk seals?”
In another letter to the editor, Barker wrote: “The sea wall is considered shoreline, as per Hawai‘i Revised Statute 205A-1. This is clearly illegal application and practice, as both chemicals are highly toxic to marine life, and we all see the waves crash over that wall.”
Tammy Mori, DOT spokeswoman, said in e-mail that the agency uses a combination of Roundup Pro and Garlon 4 herbicides along most of the state highways on Kaua‘i.
“The seawalls are sprayed two times per year in order to control the vegetation that grows on the rock walls,” Mori said. “These herbicides are used throughout the state. They are safe, approved by EPA, and they are effective in temporarily retarding the growth of vegetation around seawalls, guardrail, signs and other highway facilities.
“Elimination of the vegetation keeps it from encroaching on the highway and covering safety related signing,” she said. “The use of the herbicide helps us maximize our resources, as its use in controlling vegetation is safer and more efficient than doing so through manual vegetation removal.”
Signs are posted when DOT applies the herbicides to warn the public that spraying is taking place, she added.
After the Sept. 1 public meeting where residents expressed concerns over HDOT’s use of herbicides on the seawalls, Mori said DOT Kaua‘i district “stopped the application of herbicides in this area with our large sprayer. Herbicides are still in use along the guardrails islandwide. HDOT personnel use backpack sprayer where possible.”
“We do care,” McCormick said at the meeting, “and if there’s a problem out here, we will follow up on it. … If there’s a problem, you’ve got to let us know.”
To report a problem or file a complaint, contact Kaua‘i Department of Agriculture pesticides office at 274-3074, Monday through Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Regarding the posting of sings warning of spraying, McCormick said, “We can do a better job of that.”
• Vanessa Van Voorhis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or by e-mailing vvanvoorhis@kauai
pubco.com.
