SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Department of Food and Agriculture has canceled its light brown apple moth aerial spraying program, NBC11's Mike Luery reported.

Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture A.G. Kawamara announced the surprising decision to stop any plans for aerial spraying in all urban areas around the state.

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The decision is a major victory for Bay Area activists who have been rallying for months around the Capitol and throughout the state in protest over the state's plan to use pheromones to eradicate the pest.

Activists insisted the spraying campaign would be neither effective in killing the pest nor safe for humans caught up in the path of the spray.

Instead the state has announced it will use sterile moths, which it said research has proven to be an effective tool to eradicate the pest.

There were seven counties in the Bay Area that were going to be sprayed but are not going to be now.

Following the announcement, Assembly member John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, said, "I'm pleased with the CDFA's decision to discontinue aerial spraying over urban areas for LBAM. Today's news represents significant progress and evidence that the governor is responding to public concerns. My hope is that through better planning, we can avoid the level of public fear and scientific disagreement that have marked the CDFA's apple moth program to date."

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said, "The state's aerial spray program has been a dead man walking since April, when a Santa Cruz Superior Court ruled that an environmental impact report was required to fully assess potential human health risks. So, I'm glad CDFA appears to have accepted the inevitable."

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, "I am pleased that the Governor and the California Department of Food and Agriculture have come up with an alternative strategy for eradication that at this time does not include aerial spraying of pheromones in San Francisco and other urban areas. I will continue to work with Governor Schwarzenegger to ensure that the health and safety of Californians is not threatened."

In the past few months, 29 cities and three counties have passed resolutions against the spray.

The cities that had agreed be sprayed included:

• Alameda County:



• Albany
• Alameda
• Piedmont
• Emeryville
• Oakland



• Contra Costa County:



• El Cerrito
• El Sobrante
• Hercules
• Kensington
• Pinole N Richmond
• San Pablo



• San Mateo County:



• Daly City
• Colma
• Pacifica
• San Bruno
• South San Francisco



• Marin County:



• Tiburon
• Belvedere
• San Pablo
• Corte Madera
• Larkspur
• Sausalito

Santa Cruz Spraying Problems

Hundreds of people in Santa Cruz and Monterey County reported feeling sick in 2007 after the state began spraying communities along the coast.

Dozens of people complained of feeling short of breath and experiencing sharp stomach pains after the first application of a pheromone spray called CheckMate.

Those numbers quickly grew as the aerial spraying continued.

The state Department of Food and Agriculture received a total of 330 illness reports since the pest eradication program began in September, spokesman Steve Lyle said.

Some of those reports may be duplicative, and many don't include comprehensive data about people's symptoms or personal information, he said.

"The agencies with the jurisdiction to review the product have told us it's safe to use," Lyle said. "[They] came to the conclusion that the Checkmate products were unlikely the cause of the illnesses reported."