OPINION/COMMENTARY

California Wine vs. Two-Legged Pests

California is under attack by parasites, of both the six-legged and two-legged variety. The former are glassy-winged sharpshooters, leaf-hopping insects that are among the state's most insidious agricultural pests. They carry Pierce's disease, a lethal bacterial infection of grapevines and other major crops, for which there is no cure. The two-legged parasites are the activists and regulators who are making safe, effective new agricultural technologies unavailable in California.

The infestation, which has been creeping northward inexorably from Mexico, threatens the San Joaquin Valley's 800,000 acres of table, raisin and wine grapes and has been found in Santa Clara, Monterey and Solano counties. Inevitably, the nearby premier winemaking regions of Napa and Sonoma will be next....