EPA ANNOUNCEMENTS
(Profits Over People)
1) Genetically Modified StarLink Corn (found in corn chips) is going... going... gone. (Well okay, they can continue to sell it for animal feed until they deplete their current stock. But no one has explained how it got from animal feed to corn chips anyhow.)
2) Organophosphate pesticide ethyl parathion is "acutely toxic". EPA bans all uses but allows company to continue to sell for another 3 years until stocks depleted. (Profits Over People)
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Subject: Two Recent EPA Announcements---------
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 18:54:01 -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 two recent EPA Announcements:
1) STATEMENT
BY STEPHEN JOHNSON EPA DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR PESTICIDES REGARDING
STARLINK CORN (Note to Correspondents
10/12/00)
2) REMAINING
USE OF PESTICIDE ETHYL PARATHION CANCELED (Press Advisory 10/13/00)
At the strong urging of the Environmental Protection
Agency, Aventis is announcing today that they are canceling the registration of
StarLink corn. This means that
Starlink corn can no longer be planted for any agricultural purpose.
Today's agreement will ensure that in the future no new StarLink corn
will be grown and none will find its way into processed foods like taco shells.
The voluntary agreement represents far and away the fastest
tool available to EPA for quickly removing StarLink corn from being planted for
any agricultural uses. This action
will ensure the full protection of public health and continued consumer
confidence in the food supply.
EPA does not have any evidence that food containing
StarLink corn will cause any allergic reaction in people, and the agency
believes the risks, if any, are extremely low.
However, because Aventis was responsible for ensuring that Starlink corn
only be used in animal feed, and that responsibility clearly was not met,
today's action was necessary. The
remaining StarLink corn must be used only for animal feed or industrial uses
until existing stocks are depleted.
EPA commends both Kraft Food and Safeway for the quick
response they have taken to remove from sale taco shells suspected in containing
StarLink corn.
***********************************************************************
2) REMAINING
USE OF PESTICIDE ETHYL PARATHION CANCELED (Press Advisory 10/13/00)
EPA and the manufacturer, Cheminova, have signed an
agreement to cancel all remaining uses of the organophosphate pesticide ethyl
parathion. It is one of the most
acutely toxic pesticides still registered for use in the United States.
Ethyl parathion is also one of the most highly restricted pesticides on
the market today according to the agency's revised
risk assessments. The
agreement builds on an earlier one reached in 1991 between EPA and the
registrants which limited ethyl parathion use to nine crop sites and added
restrictions to the application and post-application work practices to reduce
acute toxicity risks. Despite the
restrictions, EPA's revised risk assessments for ethyl parathion released
earlier this year indicate that high risks may remain for workers and wildlife.
However, ethyl parathion residues in food crops grown in the United States and
drinking water do not pose significant dietary risk concerns.
The pesticide has no residential uses, though some exposure may result
from spray drift. The new agreement
immediately stops the use of ethyl parathion on corn grown for seed, which poses
the greatest potential risk to workers who re-enter treated fields.
It phases out use on other agricultural crops (alfalfa, barley, corn,
cotton, canola, sorghum, soybean, sunflower, and wheat) over the next three
years, ending all use of ethyl parathion in the United States by Oct. 31, 2003.
The agreement also halts the import of technical grade ethyl parathion
into the United States and cancels registrations of ethyl parathion used to
manufacture other end-use pesticide products.
The registrations of the end-use products will be canceled effective Dec.
31.
Well Mr. Helliker, First you "register" the
POISON active ingredient - then after the POISON ingredient is found to be
extremely harmful to man and the environment you get the POISON
"industry" to agree to only sell it for a little while longer ---- before they stop killing us with their/your
"registered" POISON - seems only "fair".
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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