Nature Wars - People vs. Pests

American losses from ("registered") pesticide-contaminated livestock facilities and animal products are about $30 million annually. 

 

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[ MEMORIAL TO VICTIMS ]

Subject:   The Hidden Costs of Your "Registered" POISONS-----
Date:      Sun, 23 Apr 2000 13:53:37 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          Senior Research Scientist
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation - Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon, I thought you might be interested in some of the facts I just read in Mark L. Winston's 1997 book entitled Nature Wars - People vs. Pests.  

A 1989 World health Organization report estimated that there are about one million cases of ("registered") human pesticide poisoning world-wide annually, resulting in 20,000 fatalities.  A 1993 estimate by David Pimental of Cornell University put the cost of ("registered") human pesticide poisonings and pesticide-related illness at $787 million annually in the United States, with $707 million of that attributed to treatment costs for an estimated 10,000 ("registered") pesticide-related cancer victims.  

American losses from ("registered") pesticide-contaminated livestock facilities and animal products are about $30 million annually.  The removal of ("registered") pesticides from the groundwater and soil surrounding only one contaminated pesticide storage site, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver, cost $2 billion in the late 1980's.  

David Pimental and his colleagues have calculated that $520 million in annual crop losses are caused by ("registered") pesticide reduction of natural enemies in just the United States.  

("Registered") insecticide use in Indonesian rice production in the early 1980's destroyed natural enemies of the brown planthopper, and the populations of this pest then exploded.  The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimated that $1.5 billion in rice production was lost in just two years.  Fortunately, Indonesian President Suharto followed the advice of his specialists and ordered severe reductions in ("registered") pesticide use, which allowed the natural enemies to increase and brought the pest levels back below economically tolerable thresholds.  

Lyndon, it truly is unfortunate that you STILL will only allow the "legal" use of your "registered" POISONS to "control" pest problems in California.  Perhaps some day you will see (like many environmentalists) that your "registered' POISONS are actually destroying us more than they are "controlling" the pests!  

Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten

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