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July 24, 2008
- EPA sued over endosulfan
- Carbofuran to be cancelled, finally
- Organic blueberries are better
- Boys with breasts stir pesticide-spray fears
- EPA lowers “value of life”
- US Army goes green as IPM boots pesticides
- India rethinks the Green Revolution
- Haagen-Dazs creates a buzz for bees
EPA sued over endosulfan
Today, a broad coalition of farmworker, public health, and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to stop the continued use of the pesticide endosulfan. The coalition is demanding action from EPA to protect children, farmworkers, and endangered species. Endosulfan is an organochlorine pesticide that is persistent in the environment and poisons humans and wildlife both in agricultural areas and in regions far from where it is applied. “This dangerous and antiquated pesticide should have been off the market years ago,” says Karl Tupper, staff scientist with Pesticide Action Network. “The fact that EPA is still allowing the use of a chemical this harmful shows just how broken our regulatory system is.” Go here for more information, including the legal petition, a full list of co-plaintiffs and press release.
shareMORE – Background on PAN’s Endosulfan Campaign | Digg This
Carbofuran to be cancelled, finally
This morning EPA announced a proposal to finally cancel the neurotoxic insecticide carbofuran completely. The Agency concluded “that dietary, worker, and ecological risks are of concern for all uses of carbofuran. All products containing carbofuran generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on humans and the environment and do not meet safety standards, and therefore are ineligible for reregistration.” Carbofuran, an N-methyl carbamate, is acutely toxic to humans, and one granule of the product can kill a bird. Of all pesticides currently in use, carbofuran is one of the most highly toxic to birds. EPA’s own estimates conclude that up to two million birds were killed each year by carbofuran before it was banned for all but emergency uses. Trade named Furadan, it is a WWII-era pesticide manufactured by FMC Corporation. When the EPA made its initial cancellation determination in early January 2008, FMC provided the Agency’s Scientific Advisory Panel with a flood of last-minute data. NRDC’s Senior Scientist Jennifer Sass reported that the panel found most of FMC’s filings “inadequate, unconvincing, and highly suspect.” One panel member even remarked that FMC’s misrepresentation of the data was reason enough to reject the appeal. Today, Kathryn Gilje, PAN’s executive Director, stated, “We strongly encourage EPA to move decisively now to cancel the registration entirely.”
shareMORE – See EPA’s full notice in the Federal Register |
Organic blueberries are better
shareMORE – Background on cancer-fighting phytonutrients |
Boys with breasts stir pesticide-spray fears
South African health and farming officials are mounting studies to investigate whether pesticide drift has been poisoning the Limpopo farming community of Groblersdal. The Cape Argus reports incidents of “teenage boys temporarily developing breasts during the crop-spraying seasons” from August to November. Exposure to the pesticide endosulfan has been linked to premature puberty. In 2007, Groblersdal physician Johan Minnaar treated numerous patients suffering from facial paralysis, miscarriages, asthma and migraines, and a five-year-old girl with the breasts of a teenager. “When there’s a light wind blowing, you can smell the pesticides in town,” Minnaar said. He had his family’s blood tested and found organophosphates and carbamates. A Department of Agriculture spokesperson said “we’re aware of flashpoints such as Groblersdal and Riebeek Kasteel and south of Durban,” but Gerhard Verdoorn, an industry consultant, responded: “I’m sick of everyone jumping on the pesticide bandwagon…. [T]o attribute every symptom to pesticide poisoning is rubbish.”
shareMORE – New York Times on “Premature Maturity” |
EPA lowers “statistical value of life”
shareMORE – Responses to this article in Environmental Economics |
US Army boots pesticides for IPM
“A can of pesticide in your hand can make you feel like a stud, a hero, the last line of defense for you and your family,” says Stars and Stripes, the US military’s independent news magazine. But driven by the growing awareness that “pesticides can harm both the environment and human health,” the Army Environmental Command has begun to introduce Integrated Pest Management programs at its facilities. Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas solved its mosquito problem by abandoning pesticides and adopting IMP techniques — including building 24 birdhouses for mosquito-eating Purple Martins. The program, already underway in the states, is now being applied worldwide, with one of the newest programs being activated at schools and youth centers at Camp Zama, a US base located 25 miles from Tokyo. Lt. Col. Sandra Alvey, the Deputy Commander of US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine Pacific, says the change is “economically driven” but “it’s also for the occupational health and safety of children and the workers in the workplace.” Stars and Stripes reports the goal is to assure that “overseas children are given the same protection from pesticides as those stateside.”
shareMORE – Background on the Army’s IPM Program |
India rethinks the Green Revolution
US News & World Report notes that, after 40 years, some Indian farmers are “turning their backs on modern agricultural methods — the use of modified seeds, fertilizer and pesticides — in favor of organic farming.” “The Green Revolution is not as green as it was earlier — it has become brown and pale,” says Punjab University Prof. R. K. Mahajan. USNews estimates that as many as 5 percent of Punjab’s farmers have turned to organic farming, citing the rising costs of pesticides and fertilizers, damaged soil and health problems. Renal failure, stillborn babies, birth defects and cancer — ailments associated with pesticide exposure — are on the rise in the region. In many villages where cancer was unknown just 10 years ago, USNews reports, residents “now regard it as a menace stalking all of them.”
shareMORE – For background see PANUPS June 26 |
Haagen-Dazs creates a buzz for the bees
shareMORE – Learn to grow a bee-friendly garden — The Pollinator Partnership |
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