Some States Are Actually Trying to Protect The People

In a letter to major retailers, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said the voluntary pullback agreed to by the Environmental Protection Agency and chemical manufacturers doesn't go far enough in protecting children and pets.  

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Subject:   Some States Are Actually Trying to Protect The People---
Date:        Wed, 14 Jun 2000 08:16:55 -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 like to read an article entitled:  "State in Bug Killer Plea - Asks stores to pull 'em as feds plan phaseout" - By RICHARD SISK - Daily News Washington Bureau.  

New York State yesterday urged stores to stop selling roach sprays, flea collars and other products containing the household bug killer Dursban after the feds announced a nationwide phaseout of the pesticide.  

In a letter to major retailers, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said the voluntary pullback agreed to by the Environmental Protection Agency and chemical manufacturers doesn't go far enough in protecting children and pets.  

"The danger from this product is clear," Spitzer said in the letter to Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Ace Hardware and other stores. "We must do more to prevent exposure to this dangerous chemical" by yanking products with Dursban off the shelves immediately.  

Spitzer acted after EPA chief Carol Browner announced in Washington that the agency, Dow AgroSciences and other manufacturers had reached a deal on phasing out use of the pesticide.  

Under the agreement, the pest control chemical chlorpyrifos — sold as Dursban for household and garden use, and Lorsban as a crop spray — would be voluntarily yanked from store shelves, although it can legally be sold through 2001.  

Its use would be curtailed on some crops, including apples, but it still could be used through 2004 in agriculture.  

Dursban is the nation's most widely used pesticide, found in most popular roach, ant, mosquito and fly killers, flea and tick collars for pets and inlawn pest and termite control products.  

"Exposure to these kinds of pesticides can cause neurological effects," and environmental groups warned of possible brain and nerve damage, Browner said. Children "playing on the floor, playing in yards where pesticides have been applied" were most at risk, she said.  

More than 800 complaints of side effects ranging from nausea to headaches were filed last year with EPA centers nationwide, Browner said, and the agreement with the manufacturers would not shield them from lawsuits.  

In a letter to the EPA last year, attorney general Spitzer said there were 139 "acute chlorpyrifos poisoning incidents in New York State from 1991-99."  

Elin Miller, a Dow AgroSciences vice president, said the company had yet to be hit with any lawsuits "to my knowledge."  

She said the pesticide was safe "if used according to the label," but "we will stop sales by the fall of this year. We felt we had no choice but to reach the agreement" on phasing it out.  

Several industry groups charged that getting rid of Dursban would lead to more risk from diseases borne by pests, but environmental activists complained the ban should be immediate.  

Original Publication Date: 6/9/00  

Well Lyndon, are you going to protect the people from this dangerous/banned "registered" POISON or will you continue to protect the POISON "industry" profits?  How about at least one "regulator" pointing out that it is against the federal law to say that even the labeled use of any "registered" POISON is "safe"?  

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