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Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS)
A Weekly News Update on Pesticides, Health and Alternatives
See PANUPS archive for complete information.
September 24, 2009
- Ending India’s push for endosulfan
- Corporate ‘Global Harvest’ rehashes failed solutions
- New movie explores Canada’s bans on lawn and garden pesticides
- Court rules against Monsanto’s ‘Roundup Ready’ sugar beets
Ending India’s push for endosulfan
The world’s largest manufacturer and user of the antiquated, persistent and highly hazardous pesticide endosulfan — India — is standing in the way of a global ban of the chemical. In mid-October, experts from around the world will meet in Geneva to consider the science behind the pesticide, and make decisions as to whether endosulfan should be considered for global phase-out under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs treaty). So far, Indian officials have gone to significant trouble to block endosulfan’s listing on the POPs treaty, and delay a global ban. Pesticide Action Network North America and the Environmental Justice Foundation (U.K.) are putting pressure on the Indian government, urging them to support the global ban of endosulfan at the Geneva meeting. Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Minister of State for Environment and Forests, is the target of letters and petitions. More than 60 countries have already banned endosulfan, and Bayer — the only major agrochemical company still selling it — recently announced that it is abandoning the chemical. “Indian officials are working to derail the Stockholm Convention process every step of the way,” reports PAN staff scientist Karl Tupper, who’s seen Indian officials in action at POPs treaty meetings. “They’ve used procedural tricks and presented false information on endosulfan’s impacts. They’re clearly protecting the health of their chemical industry rather than the health of people and the environment.” PAN works closely with organizations and movements inside India, such as Thanal, that are demanding
an end to use of endosulfan.
shareMORE Take action: email India’s Environment Minister | Digg This
Corporate ‘Global Harvest’ rehashes failed solutions
Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network and a co-author of the UN’s International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology (IAASTD), observed: “The continuing global food crisis demands a change of course, not more of the same. The corporations sponsoring the GHI are those who helped create today’s hunger, environmental and climate crises. Fortunately, the IAASTD shows us a better way: support the world’s small-scale farmers and cool the planet through productive, energy-efficient, ecologically-resilient, locally adapted farming methods.” Tim Lasalle, CEO of Rodale Institute, summed up the critique in the Huffington Post: “The symposium’s highlighting of groups seeking environmental and social benefits may do some good — if the groups can break industrial ag’s profit-driven willingness to sacrifice soil vitality, agricultural biodiversity, human endocrine and neurological health, farmer control of seeds and a nation’s nutritional well-being. Or it may just be the best agri-greenwashing money can buy.”
shareMORE “Business as usual is not an option” |
New movie explores Canada’s bans on lawn and garden pesticides
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In 1984, June Irwin, an eccentric dermatologist, noticed a connection between exposure to weed killers and hospital visits, prompting her to lead the charge for stricter controls on pesticides in her small town of Hudson, Quebec. Her crusade won not only a ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides in her town, but also catalyzed a national movement, culminating in a ban across all of Quebec. The new documentary film, A Chemical Reaction (PDF), tells the story and also asks: If in Canada, then why not in the U.S.? The answer, in part, is “preemption” — laws quietly pushed through most state legislatures at the behest of the agrichemical industry that preempt local governments from setting pesticide rules that are stricter than state regulations. The filmmakers sit down with California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma to discuss her failed attempt to return control of pesticide use to municipalities, and they also talk to Elizabeth Martin-Craig from PesticideWatch, Pesticide Action Network executive director Kathryn Gilje and staff scientist Karl Tupper. The movie is screening at film festivals around the country this fall, and makes its West Coast premier this Sunday, September 28, at the Wine Country Film Festival in Sonoma, CA. See A Chemical Reaction website for additional screenings.
shareMORE Landscape chemicals banned across Canada |
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Court rules against Monsanto’s ‘Roundup Ready’ sugar beets
recent studies that suggest Roundup is an endocrine disrupter, and that some amphibians and other forms of life may be at risk from glyphosate.” The court may consider an injunction to halt use of all Roundup Ready products when the judge reviews remedies on October 30. On Sept. 21, Beyond Pesticides, Pesticide Action Network and 20 other groups filed comments (PDF) with EPA documenting that Roundup products pose unreasonable risk to human and environmental health.
shareMORE ‘Roundup Ready’ alfalfa ban upheld
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