By Michael Howell
The fourth time was the charm for local wildlife rehabilitator Judy Hoy in her decades-long attempt to get the Ravalli County Board of Health to request that the Environmental Protection Agency test the foliage, snow and rain, surface water and urine of domestic grazing animals in the county to determine what gene disrupting, mineral disrupting and/or hormone disrupting toxins are present.
Hoy, who had recognized a rising incidence of malformations beginning in 1995, asked the Board of Health to request a study be done by the EPA for the presence of certain herbicides and pesticides in the valley that could be causing the malformations. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks refuted Hoy’s claims and the Board of Health took no action.
Hoy continued to accumulate evidence and eventually tried again to get some action. An independent study group was formed and a report was issued that verified, to a large extent, Hoy’s claims and was critical of FWP’s dismissal of the concerns. But the Board took no action.
The issue was raised again in 2006 and a member of the Board at the time went over all the research and talked to many officials and scientists. In her report she doubted that FWP had ever bothered to take a serious look into the issue. She also expressed doubts about some of the evidence and studies done by Hoy. But she recommended that the Board take action. However, the Board took no action.
Hoy, frustrated but undeterred, continued collecting data, doing research and enlisting the help of scientists in the valley and beyond. Now, years later, a lot of “undisputed” (except by the companies) studies have emerged concerning the toxicity of many of the most used herbicides and pesticides and their proven effects, especially upon embryos and fetuses. So Hoy gave it one more go and submitted some of the latest studies to emerge concerning the harmful effects of glyphosates (a major ingredient in Roundup) and a recent study, published in 2015, that demonstrates a high degree of correlation between increased herbicide and pesticide use and increases in various birth defects among humans.
Hoy told the Board, not for the first time, “All I ever asked was that Ravalli County Board of Health ask the EPA to come and check our foliage, snow and rain, surface water and urine of domestic grazing animals in the county to determine what gene disrupting, mineral disrupting, hormone disrupting toxins are present.”
This time, the three members of the board that were present, although skeptical that their request would achieve any results, did agree to compose a letter to the agency and request some testing.
