EPA pesticides alert!
st...@rosie.uh.edu
PESTICIDE ALERT
As reported in the media yesterday and today (August 19/20, 1993), the
Clinton administration is considering adopting a national pesticide policy
which would repeal the strongest federal anti-cancer law on the books (the
Delaney Clause of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act) and replace it
with a less protective policy based on controversial risk management
methodologies. The policy being considered would also fall far short in other
ways of what is needed to protect public health and the environment from
toxic pesticides. It would not, for instance, come anywhere near meeting the
clear recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences report released
last month showing that massive reforms are needed to protect children and
other sensitive populations from the residues of toxic pesticides in our
food.
LETTERS AND CALLS TO WHITE HOUSE NEEDED AT ONCE
The EPA plans to present its new policy to Congress the first week of
September. Letters are needed now telling President Clinton that:
o The pesticide policy EPA is considering:
- DOESN'T PROTECT CHILDREN FROM PESTICIDES
- JUST REHASHES OLD BUSH ADMINISTRATION POLICY
o The new Clinton pesticide policy must at a minimum:
- PROTECT OUR CHILDREN
- PREVENT CANCER by keeping cancer-causing pesticides out of
our food
- STRENGTHEN RATHER THAN WEAKEN EXISTING LAW:
Expand rather than repeal the Delaney Clause to ban residues of
0pesticides that cause birth defects, cell mutation,
immune-system disorders, nerve damage and other chronic disease
- REDUCE PESTICIDE USE by requiring use of least-toxic
alternatives where they exist and quickly developing least-toxic
alternatives where they are still needed
CALL OR WRITE:
o President Bill Clinton, The White House, Washington, DC 20500.
o Administrator Carol Browner, US-EPA, Washington, DC 20460.
o Send copies and call to your Senators and Representatives.
For more information, call:
Richard Wiles Environmental Working Group (202) 667-6982
Jay Feldman National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides
Erik Olson Natural Resources Defense Council (202) 824-9394
Monica Moore Pesticide Action Network (415) 541-9140
Michael Gregory Sierra Club (602) 432-5374
Polly Hoppin World Wildlife Fund (202) 778-9667
Kenneth R Foster
>PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS ALERT AS WIDELY AND RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE! .. AZTOXICS
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> PESTICIDE ALERT
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>As reported in the media yesterday and today (August 19/20, 1993), the
>
>Clinton administration is considering adopting a national pesticide policy
>
>which would repeal the strongest federal anti-cancer law on the books (the
>
>Delaney Clause of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act) and replace it
>
>with a less protective policy based on controversial risk management
>
Really? I should think that it is the other way around. I sense that
there is a strong consensus among regulators and risk managers that
the Delaney Amendment, with its absolutist prohibitions of carcinogens
at any level whatever, is unworkable and unwise.
As Bruce Ames has pointed out many times, it doesn't make sense to worry
about tiny amounts of synthetic chemicals in foods, when every day we eat
natural products that are chock-a-block with natural substances that are known
carcinogens. HOW MUCH to tolerate is of course an open question,
but tolerance, at some level, is a practical necessity.
Don Christie
[snip!! (unnecessary blather mercifully deleted!)]
Listen... if you seriously want support for your cause, the least you
could do is tell us what *exactly* is being proposed... not what is
*not* being proposed. This post is nothing more than sensationalist
propaganda... promoted by well-meaning but woefully underinformed
`environmentalists'. You want people to deluge the President of the
United States with your pleas for attention... but you can't even do
your readership the courtesy of providing details of exactly what it
is they are supposed to be opposing. You didn't forget to throw in
your keywords: cancer, children, alert!
BTW do you even know what `azotoxics' are? I frankly doubt it... it's
just a chemical term inserted into this article to make it sound
authoritative. I can understand your concern about the laws which
control pesticides, but IMHO unless you're willing to take the time
and effort to understand what the regulations are and what they are
supposed to accomplish, then a post like this one represents nothing
more than an insult to those who *have* taken the time.
//Don
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She was a French girl, and very pretty... I knew she was in love with me
when she started calling me pet names, like `salle cochon'... -- Herbie