by Judy Hoy, Stevensville
I don’t like to get credit for beneficial activities I had nothing to do with. Unfortunately, I did not make it clear to Michael Howell who wrote the excellent article “Pesticides linked to local declines” in the September 25, 2024 Bitterroot Star (thank you Michael and Bitterroot Star), that the Ravalli County Study Group was established with the aid of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lee Metcalf National Refuge. I did not know they even existed as a group until they asked me to furnish specimens of animals with the reported birth defects for them to examine. I did so and that was my only contact with them. They said they formed their study group to determine whether the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) were correct that the reported issues on wildlife were normal variations, or if they were actually birth defects. Everyone in the Study Group, made up of veterinarians, medical doctors and wildlife biologists, agreed that the wild and domestic animals I provided to them for examination did have the reported birth defects. They issued their report on April 12, 2001 along with suggestions for a study and how it should be done. Their report was sent to the Governor, the Ravalli County Health Department, the MDFWP and others. MDFWP said that the Study Group was wrong. None of the group’s suggested actions were done and the definitive birth defects are still occurring on a significant prevalence of newborns.