PANUPS: Children at risk, Big win against GMOs, How to get rid of bugs safely

[Guest guest]

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:51:45 GMT

" Pesticide Action Network North America " <getactive

PANUPS: Children at risk, Big win against GMOs, How to get rid

of bugs safely

 

 

 

A Weekly News Update On Pesticides, Health and Alternatives

 

Children at risk, Big win against GMOs, How to get rid of bugs safely

August 24, 2006

 

U.S. Government fails to protect children's health:

 

A recent

report published by The Organic Center,

 

" Successes and Lost

Opportunities to Reduce Children's Exposure to Pesticides Since

the Mid-1990s " , <http://ga4.org/ct/ap1RIZS1GzOT/>

claims slow progress from the U.S. government toward meeting the demands of the

1996 Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA).

 

For example, the report describes a " worrisome, sharply upward trend in

pesticide residues and risks in imported foods. "

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was required by Congress to meet

FQPA deadlines by August 2006 and has failed to do so, according to the report.

Dr. Chuck Benbrook, chief scientist at The Organic Center and co-author says,

" It is difficult to understand EPA assertions that it is 99% done with the task

of reviewing tolerances under the FQPA, given that the agency has still

not reduced dietary exposures to a half-dozen of the riskiest

insecticides on the market since 1996, including azinphos-methyl

<http://ga4.org/ct/S11RIZS1GzOJ/>

, dimethoate <http://ga4.org/ct/Sd1RIZS1GzOD/> , and

methamidophos <http://ga4.org/ct/zp1RIZS1GzO-/> . Congress

directed the EPA to deal with these high risk pesticides within

three years (by 1999) and should be outraged by the lack of progress

after ten years. "

 

The FQPA was intended to protect the public, and children in

particular, from dangerous pesticides and chemicals in foods. Read more about

FQPA in the PAN

North America Magazine <http://ga4.org/ct/q11RIZS1GzOl/> .

 

USDA violates law with GMO field tests: According to federal

judge J. Michael Seabright, the U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) violated the Endangered Species Act and the National

Environmental Policy Act when they failed to conduct even

preliminary impact studies before issuing permits to ProdiGene,

Monsanto, Garst Seed and the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center

that allowed them to grow genetically modified drug-producing

corn and sugarcane in Hawaii.

 

The plaintiffs in the case-

Center for Food Safety <http://ga4.org/ct/q71RIZS1GzOp/> ,

Pesticide Action Network North America, Friends of the Earth

<http://ga4.org/ct/a11RIZS1GzOQ/> , and the Hawaiian-Environmental

Alliance KAHEA <http://ga4.org/ct/a71RIZS1GzOY/> -sued USDA in

November 2003, represented by Earthjustice

<http://ga4.org/ct/qp1RIZS1GzOP/> and Center for Food Safety.

Plaintiffs also challenged USDA's practice of concealing the

locations of trials from the public, and in most cases not

disclosing the substances being grown in the plants. This ruling is

the first federal court decision involving 'bio-pharm' crops, and an

important step toward prohibiting hazards and irresponsible

field testing of these crops. The New Standard

<http://ga4.org/ct/1p1RIZS1GzOo/> has the story; read the court

decision <http://ga4.org/ct/z11RIZS1GzOH/> here.

 

U.S. EPA cuts public access to information: Even before

Congressional review, EPA political appointees are shutting down

important research libraries in anticipation of budget cuts

from the Bush administration. Shutting down EPA's libraries

will remove a valuable environmental resource from the public

realm and reduce the transparency of EPA decision-making. Public

Employees for Environmental Responsibility

<http://ga4.org/ct/zd1RIZS1GzOG/> (PEER), representing three

unions of 10,000 EPA staff scientists and other staff, is protesting the

September 30th deadline to shut down regional libraries in Chicago, Dallas and

Kansas City. PEER announced this week that " public

access to EPA libraries and collections will end as soon as

possible, " and 80,000 original documents that are not

electronically available will be boxed up and shipped for

eventual 'digitizing,' though there are no funds directed for this

purpose. " What is going on inside EPA is positively Orwellian, "

says Jeff Ruch, executive director of PEER.

 

" Bad Actor " ; chemical sprayed in Santa Barbara; residents are

fighting back: Naled <http://ga4.org/ct/z71RIZS1GzOF/> , an

organophosphate linked to endocrine and developmental health problems,

was sprayed in Santa Barbara, California, after the discovery of three

Oriental fruit flies. DDVP <http://ga4.org/ct/S71RIZS1GzOK/> ,

a breakdown product of naled, is a known carcinogen and listed in

California's Proposition 65 law requiring notice of chemical

hazards. Residents reported feeling sick after the spraying and

are planning actions to ensure the use of safer alternatives.

Read more on the Santa Barbara Independent

<http://ga4.org/ct/ad1RIZS1GzOR/> website.

 

How to control household pests without using toxic chemicals:Beer,

beef sticks, peanut butter and jelly, and duct tape are all useful

ingredients for non-toxic home pest management, as explained in

a new DVD by entomologist and syndicated newspaper columnist

Richard " Ask the Bug Man " Fagerlund. He shows what he knows

about getting rid of pests in his new DVD " Do-It-Yourself

-Pest Management for Home/Business " <http://ga4.org/ct/qd1RIZS1GzO0/> .

Fagerlund details home-made remedies, commercial products, and,

most importantly, the knowledge about common pests that enable

us to vanquish them without using harmful pesticides. Rid

yourself of pantry moths, bed bugs, ants, fleas, and even mice without

threatening your family's health and environment with Fagerlund's

common sense approach to pest control.

 

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.

Tell-a-friend!

<http://ga4.org/join-forward.html?domain=pesticideactionnet & r=n71RIZS1BX\

yO>

 

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for

Pesticide Action Network North America

<http://ga4.org/pesticideactionnet/join.html?r=n71RIZS1BXyOE> .

 

 

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. We gladly

accept donations for our work and all contributions are tax deductible

in the United States.

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

Email us at: panna. Phone us at: (415) 981-1771. Also see

Contact and visit information.

Acknowledgements.