Fwd: Re: monarch freeze

Chip Taylor chip at ku.edu
Wed Mar 28 14:13:20 EST 2001


Response to Cherubini:

Richard Worth wrote today:

>  Hey group,
>  Just thought I'd pass this along.  A note from Andy Brower to a colleague.
>  Looks like the whole pesticide thing is now but an urban legend.
-----
Maybe and maybe not. The sprayings (not just one) are still under 
investigation.
------

The problem with the Monarch Watch website is that it only reports bad news
about the monarchs in Mexico. ---

--  So
the public hears only one side of the story and is likely to jump to the
conclusion that the rumors of intentional butterfly poisoning by loggers
are true.
------
It may be and then again it may not be true. The Profepa analysis is 
reassuring but we don't know anything about when and where the 
samples were taken relative to the alleged spraying. Further, and 
what Paul isn't telling you but knows quite well,is that there is 
another alleged spraying event at another of the colonies. In this 
case, the source is the local residents and not an outsider on a 
mission. These incidents which began in Dec are still under 
investigation. Again this event may or may not have occurred. All 
these cases need verification and in the later case, given that the 
alleged spraying occurred in Dec, it may not be possible to ascertain 
that the monarchs were killed by pesticides - even if they were. 
Establishing just what happened in these cases is very difficult and 
many of us have spent a lot of energy dealing with an issue for which 
there is NO FIRST HAND INFORMATION.

---------
Likewise, consider how Dr. Chip Taylor (director of the Monarch Watch)
sent out the following "Shocking news" post on March 10 about monarchs
killed by pesticides in Mexico to leps-list, entomol-list, dplex-list and two
reporters, (about 3000 people total) but has not followed up with a retraction
post in all this time.
---------
There is nothing to retract. The investigation is ongoing.

I am writing the Season Summary for MW at this time and will include 
a synthesis of this episode,including the Profepa analysis and much 
more,in this publication.

Chip Taylor
-- 
Monarch Watch
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usps:  University of Kansas, Entomology Program, 1200 Sunnyside
Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-7534

 
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