Home › PAN Updates<>
in
<>
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS)
A Weekly News Update on Pesticides, Health and Alternatives
See PANUPS archive for complete information.
July 2, 2009
- Push to ban endosulfan in the U.S.
- Big Ag-friendly climate bill passes House
- NYC eliminates pesticides to control cockroaches
- Californians call for commitment to reduce pesticide pollution
- Canadian national organic standards launched
- Chiquita swears off paraquat
- Even Colbert is concerned about endocrine disruption
Concerted push to ban endosulfan in the U.S.
On June 29th, a coalition of 33 environmental and public health groups including Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America submitted a letter the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calling for the agency to take “long overdue” action on endosulfan. That same day, PAN and United Farm Workers also sent in a petition signed by nearly 10,000 individuals urging a ban, and Defenders of Wildlife submitted a similar petition with more than 37,000 names. These actions were in response to EPA’s recent request for public comment on the fate of endosulfan — a request sparked by previous petitions and scientific critiques from PAN and Natural Resources Defense Council. The letter and petitions, which are the latest in a series from concerned environmental and social justice groups, highlighted recent developments concerning endosulfan, including: California’s designation of endosulfan as a Toxic Air Contaminant; a series of new studies showing that it is highly toxic to amphibians; data compiled by the EPA showing that few farmers use it anymore and that the economic impacts of a ban would be minimal; and information on readily available alternatives to endosulfan.
shareMORE PANNA’s endosulfan pages | Digg This
Big Ag-friendly climate bill passes US House
On June 26th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the deeply compromised — and historic — Waxman-Markey climate change bill, also called the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) climate bill. Collin Peterson (D-Minn), a staunch supporter of industrial agricultural interests, played a central role in weakening the ACES bill by threatening to withhold 50 Democratic votes if agricultural interests were not accommodated in the bill. The end result — termed the “Waxman-Peterson compromise” by Tom Philpott of Grist — is that EPA has effectively lost jurisdiction over greenhouse gas emissions resulting from increased agrofuel production, and chemical “no-till” farming will earn carbon credits in the bill’s cap-and-trade scheme. Chemical “no-till” farming sequesters very little carbon in the soil, and relies on heavy herbicide use. Sustainable agriculture activists are expectant that organic and agroecological farming practices, which actually sequester carbon in the soil, will also be eligible for credits. The ACES bill now moves to the Senate for consideration. Following passage of the House bill, a broad coalition of 47 environmental, science and faith-based groups sent a letter to President Obama (PDF) urging him to set and pursue a science-based goal of keeping the global average temperature increase at no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The letter, which targets the U.S. administration’s resistance to European calls for industrialized nations to agree on the two degree limit at international climate talks at the G8 meeting in Italy this
month, warns that failure to do so “will have the greatest impact on the most vulnerable nations and communities and will dramatically increase the need for adaptation in the future.”
shareMORE Rodale study on carbon sequestration with organic no-till farming (PDF) |
New York eliminates pesticides to control cockroaches
shareMORE PANUPS on similar findings in schools |
Californians demand reduced pesticide air pollution
In 1994 and 1996, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) promised to meet requirements to reduce emissions from smog-forming pesticides by 20% below 1990 levels in the Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, Ventura, Southeast Desert and South Coast air basins. DPR subsequently backtracked and only reduced smog-causing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from pesticides by 12% in the San Joaquin Valley. VOC emissions from pesticides are the third largest contributor to smog in Ventura and the fourth largest contributor to smog in the San Joaquin Valley. Smog-forming pesticides — many of which are gaseous fumigant pesticides — have also been responsible for many mass farmworker and community poisonings. Currently, a state budget “trailer” requires enforcement of the original 20% pesticide-VOC emissions reductions in the San Joaquin Valley — giving advocates an opening. Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR), Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, United Farm Workers and Pesticide Action Network are pressing the Governor to enforce DPR’s original 20% reduction commitment by signing the VOCs budget trailer. Californians can join this statewide coalition in calling on Governor Schwarzenegger to protect public health by enforcing pesticide laws via the budget.
takeACTION Call on the Governor to enforce pesticide use reductions |
Canadian national organic standards launched
shareMORE Canadian Organic Regulations |
Chiquita swears off paraquat pineapple
Chiquita and Dole have all but abandoned use of the weed-killer paraquat in banana production. It is banned in Europe, and in late 2007 Dole pledged to stop using the dangerous herbicide in all of its farming. Now Chiquita has joined Dole in phasing out paraquat for pineapple production: by the end 2009, 90% of Chiquita’s pineapple supplies will be Rainforest Alliance Certified. While such certification applies standards for environmental and labor protection, and paraquat is on a list of prohibited pesticides, Rainforest Alliance has been criticized for not mandating decent prices for small farmers and living wages for workers. “The rapid expansion of pineapple production in Panama and Costa Rica has led to some serious social and environmental problems…. [including] illegal pesticide use, water contamination, soil erosion and poor labour practices,” according to FreshPlaza, a trade publication for the global produce industry. Paraquat, historically one of the most widely used herbicides, is a major agricultural worker hazard in the developing world, frequently used to commit suicide in rural China and India. In the Philippines, Central America and other places sales by its main producer, Syngenta, have been targeted for pineapple and banana production for export, and it is used heavily in industrial palm oil farming across southeast Asia. Paraquat has been the focus of an ban campaign spearheaded by the Berne Declaration in Switzerland, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific and PAN UK. Berne Declaration notes: “The ongoing move away from paraquat by big companies as well as smallholders shows that paraquat is not needed for agricultural production.” Paraquat dichloride remains a registered active ingredient in U.S. pesticide products,
and is on PAN’s Bad Actor Pesticide list because of its acute poisoning hazard. In 2007, nearly 1 million pounds were applied on California crops alone.
shareMORE Berne Declaration’s Goodbye Paraquat (PDF) |
Even Colbert is concerned about endocrine disruption
shareMORE Endocrine disruptors on PAN’s Bad Actor List |
Bookmark and share this page:<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>