The head of the Forest Health service in Ibiza of the Balearic Government, Luis Núñez, has affirmed that the product used in the fumigations against the processionary plant “is perfectly authorized” and that all the requirements established by the regulations are met, althoughhe did not deny that it can generate certain effects on people, after the complaints of a group of people through social networks that detailed having suffered different discomforts, testimonies collected by La Voz de Ibiza.
Consulted by this media, the technical specialist explained that the guidelines of the Royal Decree 1.311 are strictly followed. Royal Decree 1.311. “At other times other chemical products were used. Today only this one is allowed, which is a biological, natural, non-toxic product, allowed in organic farming, which is used by organic farmers. Even beekeepers in Ibiza use it to kill orbita they have in their hives,” he said.
He also reiterated on several occasions that “this is the safest measure. We have used other products at other times and this is the safest option”. In that line, he dismissed the concern that had been generated from the dissemination of certain information through a group of Facebook group. “This Mr. Dominus Sylvestris what he says is that it has volatile organic components. That is not true. I have a certificate that guarantees me that it does not contain volatile organic components. Part of what he says in his writing is not true, or at least we already confirmed to him not to worry about this,” dismissed Núñez. The head of the Forest Health Service maintains that “I have been advised more by the sellers of the product, by the manufacturers, by the most expert ones, because for me it is a tool”.
“Can produce sensitivity.”
Núñez repeats again and again that the product, called Bacillus thuringiensis variety kurstaki “is perfectly authorized. And, in addition, we use it in other autonomous communities. The same product. “I am a technician and we rely on phytosanitary products authorized by the Ministry of the Environment and even by the European Union, because this comes from a European regulation of the Sustainable Uses Directive, and in Spain it was transcribed to the Royal Decree 1,311 of 2016 on Sustainable Uses and Phytosanitary Products,” he details. In any case, he clarifies that “the product says that it can be used, as long as those mitigation measures are used. And in the product data sheet it is made clear that it can produce sensitivity. Legally they oblige you to do it here in Spain and in other places in the European Union they don’t.” “The question is that, if all the mitigation measures are used, it would be legally permitted. And we absolutely comply with all the product’s mitigation measures,” he points out.
– What are these mitigations?
– That it is done by aerial treatment, it complies with the conditions set forth in Royal Decree 1,311 and the application plan approved by the Department of Agriculture, by the Director General of Agriculture, which is the focal body that gives us the authorization.
– That is to say that, from what you say, it does not generate any risk to people.
– No, what I have told you is that it does not contain VOCs, volatile organic compounds, which is what this gentleman was saying, that it had possible harmful ingredients including volatile organic compounds. I confirm that this company says that it does not contain volatile organic compounds. And that it does appear that it is sensitizing, because the law says that, being a microorganism, it has to appear that the product is sensitizing. But that does not mean that it is sensitizing or that it produces sensitization. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, obliges the label to show that, but it says that under those conditions and with that plane, there is no major risk because there are no effects on the environment and on people. And that is what we do.
Maybe there is someone, someone who might feel annoyed with this… Well, it is a super authorized product. But that this gentleman (Dominus Sylvestris) who says that there must be more transparency. From the beginning we have been in the press. The technical data sheet and the safety data sheet are on the website. In other words, I believe that there has been transparency and caution. We comply with all the control requirements.
– One of the requirements is that a minimum safety strip of 100 meters be left around the treated area.
– Royal Decree 1,311 states that a safety distance must be left to avoid any type of impact on organic farming, wetlands, beekeeping areas and urban areas. We have left those 100 meters of separation with respect to urban areas in the product application plan.
Transparency
Núñez has stated that “we have nothing to hide” and reported that “On our website, there is all the information, the safety data sheet, the product registration form and the areas where it was to be treated, and so on. We also have our application plan authorized by Agriculture and complying with all the requirements that Royal Decree 1,311 says.” “I, anyway, I am a technician and for me it is a tool. You, when you buy a car, the car is homologated. You are not going to go to the star against a wall to prove if the airbag works. You trust that the European Union, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health have carried out the appropriate experiments and that they certify that this is so,” he explained. In addition, he said that “we have published in the Spanish Provincial Congress the exhaustive control, the bestial control, with pardon the word, that we do technically and technologically for the application of the product”. For example, he detailed that “a GPS device is used with differential that the airplane and the helicopter know where they have to treat and open and close the product”. “There is a document where all the calls to the municipal technicians, to the PIA (Environmental Information Point), to 112, which I already call it, every time the plane or helicopter leaves to tell them that it is going to pass that way. We even call a group of people with chemical syndrome, simply to inform them that we are acting and that they do not feel neglected. What we can’t do is call every single person. It is impossible,” he replied to La Voz de Ibiza. And he concluded that “the control does not worry me at all, I am very happy with what we do, with the exhaustive control. So much so that other communities copy us”.
The purpose of the fumigation
Núñez said that the aim of the fumigation is “to prevent the processionary plant from being declared a plague on the island of Ibiza. It is the only island in the Balearic Islands that has not yet been declared a plague, but there is one”. This insect, as he explains, entered the island fifty years ago. “Since then we do all kinds of control actions to try to prevent it from becoming a plague. So, we use the capabilities we have at our hand, authorized and at our disposal”. For that, they carry out an “integral control plan of all the actions that can be done. We cut pockets, which is not done anywhere else in Spain, we shoot at the pockets, we put traps. This year they have seen that there are many traps. The lizards are the ones that ate the butterflies when they came out of the ground. But lately, because of the snakes, there are fewer and fewer lizards and, therefore, there are more processionaries”.
The Government has detailed that during the summer of 2024 , 8,180 G-traps baited with a specific pheromone have been placed in Ibiza to capture male processionaries. These traps have a lid to prevent the entry of non-target fauna (lizards). The captures registered in 8,000 traps installed, according to provisional data, during the three revisions made have been 32,206 male pine processionary butterflies. “During the months of January, February and March we will continue with the integral fight and we will proceed to the elimination of the bags that the caterpillars make to protect themselves from the cold”, added from the Govern.
