It's Time To Pull the Plug On Pesticide Use

Court challenges by those who make a living from pesticides have already taken place. The power of the pesticide makers is considerable. Anyone who doubts it should check out the tragedy in Bhopal, India. To-date, Union Carbide has still not provided records of the pesticides that killed 5,000 people and injured untold thousands.

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Subject:   It's Time To Pull the Plug On "Registered" Pesticide Use----
Date:       Thu, 10 Aug 2000 19:27:15 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

Dear Mr. Helliker. I thought you might like to read an article from the North Shore News that was posted June 12, 2000 entitled: It's Time To Pull the Plug On Pesticide Use.

Dear Editor:

There are several inaccuracies in Roy Jonsson's June 7 News Sow it Grows column ("It's time to update pesticide legislation") that we would like to address.

1)     Pesticides currently being sold in Canada have not been subjected to "strict" testing procedures as stated in the article. To the contrary, they haven't even been tested by an independent source, let alone the government.

Rather, it is left up to the pesticide manufacturer to provide certain test results prior to registration. These tests are conducted either in their own laboratory, or are farmed out to a lab of their choosing.

During one four-year period in the United States, 82 pesticide testing companies were under investigation for fraudulent or careless testing work.

Further, we are not allowed to know all the chemicals the pesticides contain. This is "proprietary" information, protected by the Trade Secrets Act.

2)     Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which is advocated in the article, includes the use of pesticides. It is, therefore, unacceptable. For instance, the annual pesticide spraying for Gypsy moth, which aerial sprays hundreds of hectares to try and kill a few moths is (incredibly) part of an IPM program!

Pesticides were discovered while developing chemical warfare agents in the Second World War.

There is no place on our planet for these dangerous neurotoxic chemicals. Their widespread use has contaminated our water, air, soil and food. Even polar bears living in the Arctic are not immune. Their livers have become so polluted with pesticides that they may not survive as a species. The breast milk of Inuit women is in a similar condition.

It is time to stop.

Currently, 37 municipalities in Canada have banned the use of pesticides.

Court challenges by those who make a living from pesticides have already taken place. The power of the pesticide makers is considerable. Anyone who doubts it should check out the tragedy in Bhopal, India. To-date, Union Carbide has still not provided records of the pesticides that killed 5,000 people and injured untold thousands.

3)     Btk was recommended in the article as a "safe" pesticide. To claim a pesticide is safe is an oxymoron. If a pesticide were safe, it wouldn't kill.

Christopher Lewis
President 
Society Targeting Overuse of Pesticides (STOP)

Well Mr. Helliker, it certainly seems to me that the world has had enough of your "registered" POISONS. I want you to clearly state that you will or will not "legally" allow EVERYONE who wishes to use safe and far more effective unregistered alternatives to actually control pest problems in California. 

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten

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