US Blocks Phase Out of Lindane in North America

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The money that controls the pesticide industry is mainly the same

money that controls the pharmacutical industry, the chemical industry,

the biotechnology genitically modified food industry, the

petrochemical, and the petrolium industry as well as many others with

the subsequent effective control over the actions of the US

government. They all grew out of the petrolium industry.

 

" PANUPS " <panups

Subject:US Blocks Phase Out of Lindane in North America

Thu, 07 Oct 2004 16:23:42 -0700

 

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P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

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US Blocks Phase Out of Lindane in North America

October 7, 2004

 

Last week, U.S. representatives parted company with Canada and Mexico

and announced plans to allow continued use of the pesticide lindane that

persists in air and water and has been found at high levels in the

Artic. Canada plans to eliminate agricultural uses of lindane by the

end of

2004 and Mexico plans a full phase out of agricultural, veterinary and

pharmaceutical uses of the pesticide. Representatives from the three

countries met in Montreal, Canada September 28-30, 2004 to draft a North

American Regional Action Plan (NARAP) for lindane through the

Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America established

by the

North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA).

 

Public health, indigenous and environmental groups have called for

elimination of the pesticide lindane, a neurotoxin banned in 52 countries

and restricted in 33 more. Pam Miller, of Alaska Community Action on

Toxics and the official Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)

representative

on the task force, called the U.S. position allowing continued use of

lindane " downright shameful " urging the U.S. to join the growing

movement to eliminate lindane worldwide.

 

Fifty-eight public health, indigenous and environmental organizations

recently sent a joint letter to U.S. agency officials and Task Force

members urging elimination of lindane. More than 400 health care

professionals in the U.S. sent a similar letter, and more than 800

individuals

signed a petition to ban lindane. (See PANUPS Action Alert: Ban Lindane

Now! on the PANNA website.)

 

Environmental groups have also submitted a request to Bayer CropScience

to voluntarily withdraw lindane products from the North American

market. Bayer recently acquired Gustafson LLC, the primary distributor

in the

U.S. of lindane seed treatment products.

 

International treaties on toxic chemicals have also targeted lindane.

Included on the Prior Informed Consent list of hazardous chemicals in

the Rotterdam Convention, lindane will also likely be one of the top

candidates considered for addition to the list of chemicals slated for

global elimination under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic

Pollutants.

 

Lindane is a known neurotoxin that causes seizures, damages the nervous

system, and weakens the immune system. Exposure may also cause cancer

and disrupt the human and animal hormone systems. Because lindane is

highly persistent and travels globally via air and water, its continued

use in agriculture poses an exposure risk to people far from the source.

Lindane is now one of the most abundant pesticides in Arctic air,

water, and wildlife; northern indigenous peoples consuming traditional

diets

risk lindane exposures above levels considered safe. Lindane residues

have also been reported in a variety of common foods in the U.S.

 

Pharmaceutical use of lindane also contaminates drinking water sources.

The Los Angeles County Sanitation District estimates that one dose of a

lindane treatment for head lice can pollute six million gallons of

water to levels exceeding drinking water standards. This threat to clean

drinking water, and the enormous costs of clean up, prompted California

to ban lindane shampoos and lotions in 2002. Mark Miller, MD, of the

University of California at San Francisco Pediatric Environmental Health

Specialty Unit, an academic representative to the task force meeting in

Montreal said that more effective and less toxic treatments exist for

headlice. Children are particularly vulnerable to this chemical that

presents a danger to the young nervous system, he added.

 

The 2002 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Re-registration

Eligibility Decision allows lindane to be used as seed treatment for six

grain crops: corn, wheat, barley, oats, rye, and sorghum. These seed

treatments account for 99% of lindane use in the U.S. Up to 233,000

lbs of

lindane active ingredient are used annually in the U.S. on seeds.

 

The draft North American Regional Action Plan for lindane is scheduled

to be open for public comment in January 2005.

 

Sources: News Release, September 28, 3004 PANNA,

http://www.epa.gov/REDs/factsheets/lindane_fs.htm; 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.

 

Contacts: PANNA, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, email,

pkmiller. website http://www.akaction.org/.

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and

reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the

mainstream media. It's 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

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