PANUPS: Action Alert: Ban Lindane Now!

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> PANUPS <panups

> PANUPS: Action Alert: Ban Lindane Now!

> Thu, 19 Aug 2004 16:41:16 -0700

>

> ===========================================

> P A N U P S

> Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

> ===========================================

> Action Alert: Ban Lindane Now!

> August 19, 2004

>

> This month, U.S. agencies are considering a long

> overdue ban of the toxic pesticide lindane. Click on

> the link below to sign our petition urging the U.S.

> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S.

> Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to eliminate all

> uses of lindane, including agricultural uses for

> seed treatment and use in shampoos and lotions to

> control lice and scabies.

>

> Sign our petition before Sunday and tell US decision

> makers to ban lindane:

> http://www.petitiononline.com/lindane

>

> Banned in at least 17 countries and severely

> restricted in more than 20 others, the

> organochlorine pesticide lindane is currently

> registered for use in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. In

> the U.S., the vast majority of lindane is applied to

> corn, wheat and a handful of other grains before

> planting. In an average year, 142,000 pounds of

> lindane are used agriculturally in the U.S. for seed

> treatment.

>

> These continuing agricultural uses are largely

> responsible for the pervasiveness of lindane and its

> breakdown products in the Arctic environment, where

> it is found more often than any other pesticide.

> Indigenous peoples of the north who rely on

> traditional diets of marine mammals and fish are

> particularly at risk from lindane exposure through

> foods. In 1997, the Northern Contaminants Program

> estimated 15 to 20 percent of Inuit women on

> southern Baffin Island exceeded the tolerable daily

> intake of lindane.

>

> Lindane can cause seizures and damage to the nervous

> system, and can weaken the immune system.

> Case-controlled research has shown a significant

> association between the incidence of brain tumors in

> children and the use of lindane-containing lice

> shampoos. The insecticide is also a suspected

> carcinogen and hormone disruptor. Lindane and its

> breakdown products persist in the environment, where

> they can expose people and wildlife long after the

> pesticide is applied. A U.S. Centers for Disease

> Control and Prevention study in 2003 determined 62%

> of U.S. residents carry the insecticide in their

> body.

>

> The FDA continues to approve use of this dangerous

> insecticide in shampoos and lotions for control of

> lice and scabies. Given that elementary schools are

> frequently plagued with infestations of head lice,

> and children are known to be particularly vulnerable

> to lindane's toxic effects, approval of this

> neurotoxin for head lice is especially risky. Safer

> and more effective alternatives are available for

> all pharmaceutical uses of lindane. Careful combing

> with a fine-tooth, specially designed comb, for

> example, is an effective head lice treatment.

>

> Lindane is also a significant contaminate in urban

> sewer systems and can pollute sources of drinking

> water. The Los Angeles County Sanitation District

> estimates that one dose of lindane laced shampoo

> used as a treatment for head lice contaminates six

> million gallons of water. This threat to clean

> drinking water, and the enormous costs of clean up,

> prompted California to ban lindane shampoos in 2002.

> After the ban, levels of lindane leaving Los Angeles

> County reclamation plants dropped dramatically.

>

> Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are now drafting a North

> American Regional Action Plan for lindane. It is not

> yet clear what position U.S. federal agencies will

> take as the region considers a complete ban of the

> insecticide. More than 30 environmental, health and

> indigenous groups have signed an urgent letter to

> U.S. officials urging an immediate ban of all uses

> of lindane in the region.

>

> Later this month EPA and FDA, which share

> responsibility for regulating lindane, will decide

> whether the U.S. will join the growing list of

> countries that have banned this toxic pesticide.

> Sign our petition before Sunday, August 22, and urge

> U.S. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt and Acting

> Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug

> Administration, Dr. Lester M. Crawford, to ban

> lindane now!

>

> To sign our petition click here or go to:

> http://www.petitiononline.com/lindane

> (Sign before Sunday, August 22, to ensure your

> signature counts!)

>

> Sources: Statement in Support of the Elimination of

> Lindane Use in North America, PANNA, Alaska

> Community Action on Toxics; North American Regional

> Action Plan on Lindane, Background Document,

> Commission on Environmental Cooperation of North

> America, email info, website

> http://www.cec.org ; PANNA, Global Pesticide

> Campaigner, August, 2004.

> Contact: PANNA, Alaska Community Action on Toxics,

> pkmiller.

>

> PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing

> resource guides and reporting on pesticide issues

> that dont always get coverage by the mainstream

> media. Its produced by Pesticide Action Network

> North America, a non-profit and non-governmental

> organization working to advance sustainable

> alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

>

> You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations

> for our work and all contributions are tax

> deductible in the United States. Visit

> http://www.panna.org/donate.

>

>

> ===========================================

> Back issues of PANUPS are available online at:

> http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

>

> Please note: responses to this message will not be

> read.

> To comment, send an email to:

> panna

>

> To , send a blank email to:

> PANUPS-

>

> Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

> 49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102

> USA

> Phone: (415) 981-1771

> Fax: (415) 981-1991

> Email: panna

> Web: http://www.panna.org

> ===========================================