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July 31, 2008
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WTO founders over agriculture policies
- PAN sues EPA over diazinon
- Orion magazine spotlights PAN's Drift-Catcher
- Toxic levels falling in the Arctic
- U.S. exports tons of banned pesticides
- Endosulfan taints Oz's tomatoes
- Maori Party calls for endosulfan ban
- Mustard to the rescue
WTO founders over agriculture policies
On July 30, World Trade Organization negotiations in Geneva collapsed after seven years, hitting "an impasse when the United States, India and China refused to compromise over measures to protect farmers in developing countries from greater liberalization of trade," the New York Times reports. The key issue stalling WTO's "Doha Round" has been global agricultural trade. “Finally, poorer countries are standing up to the US and saying no to our unfair trade policies,” says PAN Senior Scientist Marcia Ishii-Eiteman. "As international experts concluded in the recent UN Agricultural Assessment, trade liberalization and 'business as usual,' as represented by the WTO, are not a solution to the food crisis, but part of the problem. Instead, we need fair trade policies that recognize local and national sovereignty and that support diverse, smaller-scale ecological farming in all countries." Similar findings were presented last week in an authoritative new report on effects of trade liberalization in Latin America. Anuradha Mittal, founder of the nonprofit Oakland Institute, called the collapse “a victory for small farmers and workers in developing countries.”
shareMORE – See PAN's analysis of the future of food and farming | Digg This
PAN joins coalition to sue EPA over diazinon
shareMORE – Read the complete 19-page legal complaint |
Orion Magazine spotlights PAN's Drift Program
The July-August issue of Orion Magazine features a cover story that explains how "farmworker communities in the San Joaquin Valley and across the U.S. are collecting data on the hazardous chemicals that permeate the air they breathe." These grassroots monitors are using PAN's Drift-Catcher "to win changes that will protect the health of their families." California's Fresno County reported 273,000 pesticide applications in 2007 and Huron, one Fresno town, was sprayed with 32 million pounds of chemicals — "enough to fill nearly six Olympic-sized swimming pools." The Drift-Catcher is a "vacuum cleaner-like mechanism [that] sucks air into two glass tubes, each about the size of a cigarette." PAN scientists check the air samples for traces of pesticide residues. For regulators "to acknowledge there's a problem would mean doing something about it," PAN scientist Karl Tupper told Orion. "It's easier to assume that bystanders simply aren't exposed to the pesticides." With the Drift-Catcher, this kind of denial is no longer possible.
shareMORE – Read Orion's story on "Pesticide Drift." |
Toxic levels falling in Arctic
shareMORE – See PANNA magazine "Silent Snow: Arctic Paradox" |
U.S. exports tons of banned pesticides
According to U.S. Customs records, between 2001-2003, the U.S. exported nearly 1.7 billion pounds of pesticide products — 32 tons per hour. A study by the Foundation for Advancement in Science and Education (FASE), published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, notes that these exports included "27 million pounds of pesticides whose use is forbidden in the U.S.," including "500,000 pounds of known or suspected carcinogens." Endocrine disrupting pesticides were sent overseas at the rate of 100 tons a day. Most of the exports — including shipments of deadly persistent organic pollutants (POPs) — were destined for developing countries. Writing about these toxic exports in 2006, PAN Campaigns Director Kristin Schafer noted in a Foreign Policy in Focus essay: "Developing countries often lack the capacity to adequately evaluate and regulate highly toxic chemicals" and the tragic result is that "infants around the world are born with an array of POPs already in their blood." Schafer notes that as of mid-2008 the U.S. has failed to adopt the Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions — two international treaties now ratified by 156 and 122 countries respectively.
shareMORE – For more on the Stockholm and Rotterdam treaties. For the full IJOEH report. |
Endosulfan taints Oz’s tomatoes
shareMORE – See US coalition suit to ban endosulfan |
Maori Party calls for endosulfan ban
On July 24, the Maori Party demanded that New Zealand's Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) to ban endosulfan. ERMA is currently considering renewed approval for continued spraying of endosulfan on vegetables, fruit and flowers, golf courses, airports and other grassed areas. “This is a persistent poison,” said Ms. Tariana Turia, parliament member and co-leader of the Maori Party. “It affects birds that feed on poisoned worms, it gets into fresh waters systems, right to the sea, where it affects fish. The whole environment is affected.” Once this “hidden poison gets into the ecosystem,” Turia said in a speech to the New Zealand Parliament, “there’s no way to keep it out. So using this kind of poison is an attack on the mana [honor] of tangata whenua [“People of the Land”] and the traditional values of guardianship.” In a July 25 press release, the RESIST Agrochem coalition also called on the government to ban endosulfan. Dr. Romeo Quijano, Professor of College of Medicine in University of the Philippines, drew attention to "the extreme danger posed by hundreds of barrels of endosulfan still trapped inside the sunken vessel MV Princess of the Stars. Quijano criticized a government official for downplaying the risk of “massive marine pollution” by claiming that only a “very slight amount” of endosulfan would be dissolved in the seawater. “There is no question that a massive global environmental pollution (not only marine pollution) would occur if the 10 tons of endosulfan were released into the seawater,” Quijano stated. “Only shameless ignorance or cold-blooded vested interest could explain why one would callously ignore such a potentially catastrophic global disaster.” Dr. Giovanni Tapang pointed out that this “very slight amount” would be “sufficient to kill fish and cause adverse health effects in animals and humans.” Ironically, the Philippines banned endosulfan in 1994 but pressure from vested interests forced regulatory authorities to allow its continued use.
shareMORE – For more on the Princess of the Stars disaster, see PANUPS, July 3, 2008 |
Mustard to the rescue
The agricultural fumigant methyl bromide is being phased out worldwide under the Montreal Protocol for its damaging impacts on the planet's protective ozone shield. The Bush White House, rather than enforcing a US ban scheduled for January 2005, instead appealed for extentions every year since. The fumigant still is widely used in strawberry fields in California but, as Living on Earth Correspondent Amy Coombs reports, a company called Farm Fuel Incorporated (FFI), may soon have "a non-toxic option available — ground-up mustard seed." (See "Mustard Can Drive away Pests," PAN Magazine, Spring 2007.) The seeds contain glucosinolates and isothiocyanates, ingredients that give mustard and horseradish their tongue-searing kick and are the natural analogs of methyl isothiocyanate, another soil fumigant. According to Dr. John Kirkegaard, with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, "biofumigation" with mustard and other Brassica species can discourage weeds and soil-borne pests. Yields of "potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants can be increased by up to 40 percent in some cases," Kirkegaard adds. "Methyl bromide is a general biocide, so it kills pretty much everything," California Agriculture Commissioner Bob Roach told Coombs. But that's a problem because sterile soil becomes easy prey for new pathogens. By contrast, soils treated with mustard seeds maintain biodiversity and actually become healthier. "If tests go well," Coombs reports, "Farm Fuel will begin testing seed meal on large-scale farms next year." In addition to causing ozone depletion, methyl bromide poses substantial human health threats.
shareMORE – For Living on Earth's report on methyl bromide |
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