PANNUPS: A Vote Against Pesticides

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PANNUPS: A Vote Against Pesticides

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 10:32:39 -0700

 

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P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

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A Vote Against Pesticides

October 28, 2004

 

Although pesticide issues specifically, and environmental issues

generally, are not in the foreground of this year's U.S. Presidential

debates, they should be. Virtually every major U.S. environmental

organization

has denounced the current administration's environmental record. The

Sierra Club describes it as the most aggressively anti-environmental

administration in U.S. history, and the National Resources Defense

Council

declared President Bush guilty of† more than 300 crimes against nature.

 

To the many issues of environmental protection, public health and

social justice voters could consider in next week's election, we add this

review of several recent pesticide-related decisions by federal agencies

and administrative offices.

 

No Lindane Ban Means Higher Exposures In and Outside the U.S.

In late September 2004 the North American Regional Task Force on

Lindane met in Montreal, where Canada and Mexico both signaled a

willingness

to ban this insecticide that persists in the environment and poses a

threat to people and wildlife in the Artic. Lindane is banned in 52

countries, restricted in 33 others, and is a strong candidate for a

worldwide ban under the Stockholm Convention for Persistent Organic

Pollutants.

At the Task Force meeting the U.S. delegation parted company with

Canada and Mexico, and refused to consider a ban. (See PANUPS October 4,

2004 http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20041004.dv.html)

 

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Undermined

The POPs treaty came into force in May 2004. Designed to eliminate a

class of dangerous chemicals that are toxic, travel long distances,

persist in the environment, and build up the food chain, it has been

ratified by more than 100 nations, but the U.S. is not among them. U.S.

ratification legislation is stuck in Congress because Republicans

legislators

and the Administration want the EPA to decide which of the treaty's

bans to enforce and which to ignore. (See PANUPS March 24, 2004

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20040324.dv.html)

 

Montreal Protocol Sabotaged; U.S. Methyl Bromide Use May Increase

In April 2004 the U.S. delivered a demand that essentially broke the

bank of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

At the first ever Extraordinary Meeting of the Parties, the U.S.

requested a whopping 9,500 tons of so called critical use exemptions for

methyl bromide for 2005, an increase in use that comprises fully 70% of

exemptions worldwide. Confronted with such blatant backpedaling, other

nations stepped up their requests for exemptions, weakening one of the

most successful international environmental agreements on record. (See

PANUPS, April 5, 2004

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20040405.dv.html)

 

Endangered Species Act in Danger

In late July 2004 the Administration adopted new rules allowing the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to perform pesticide reviews

under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) without consulting U.S. wildlife

agencies (i.e. the Fish and Wildlife Services and NOAA Fisheries). This

is contrary to the ESA, and sidelines the wildlife scientists with most

expertise on wildlife issues. EPA has failed to protect wildlife from

pesticides in other areas as well, as highlighted in the April 2004

court decision severely limiting use of 38 pesticides near creeks and

streams in the in Pacific Northwest because levels harmful to salmon are

routinely found in region's waterways. (See PANUPS May 28, 2004

http://panups.c.topica.com/maacOcyabbgsea6pTC3b/ and PANUPS: February

2, 2004 http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20040202.dv.html)

 

More Moves to Gut National Organic Standards

In April of 2004 the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued four

directives that seriously compromised the department's National Organic

Program. These changes would have allowed, among other things, use of

antibiotics on organic dairy cows and some synthetic pesticides on

organic

farms, and were made with no public comment or advice from the National

Organic Standards Board, the advisory group that helped to develop the

federal organic standards. Following sustained outcry from outraged

consumers and the organic and sustainable agriculture communities,

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman was forced to rescind the new

directives in

late May. (Organic Trade Association, May 26, 2004, http://www.ota.com.)

 

We urge all PANUPs readers who are eligible to vote in next Tuesday's

U.S. elections to consider what kind of environmental health and justice

policies you want, and ensure your voice is heard by voting with all

the information in hand!

 

Contact: PANNA

 

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

all contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://panups.c.topica.com/maacOcyabbgsha6pTC3b/

 

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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://panups.c.topica.com/maacOcyabbgsja6pTC3b/

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