Steve Tvedten of Get Set, Inc.'s email to Lyndon Hawkins of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation forwarding a press release on the CA DPR being under Court order because they violated state law.

Questions have been asked of the California Department of Pesticide Control since Fontana Unified School District declined to consider a pesticide free IPM program because of the Department of Agriculture's opinion about only utilizing registered pesticides to eliminate pests.  The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has remained silent and not responded to these issues:

Subject:   CA DPR ORDERED BY JUDGE TO ADOPT NEW METHYL BROMIDE REGS
       Date:  Sat, 20 Mar 1999 07:45:36 -0500
       From:   Rosalind Tvedten <stvedten@earthlink.net>
 Organization:  Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
         To:   Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
 

  Lyndon,  Your Department of Pesticide "Regulation" really amazes me.  Apparently the only way you "regulate" pesticide poisons is to fight for their continued use and the only time you ever restrict pesticide use in order to protect the public from these "registered" poisons is under court order!  Amazing!  Thought you might like to have this Press Release for your files.

  ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP * FRIENDS OF THE EARTH
  PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK * PESTICIDE WATCH
  WESTERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  March 19, 1998

  CONTACT:  Bill Walker, EWG: (415) 561-6698
                  Jessica Vallette, FOE: (202) 783-7400
                  Kristin Schafer, PAN: (408) 995-0926
                  Jeanne Merrill, PW: (831) 466-3310
                  Mike Axline, WELC: (541) 485-2471

  CALIFORNIA ORDERED TO ADOPT METHYL BROMIDE REGULATIONS
  Court Ruling: Lax Guidelines for Pesticide Violate State Law

    SAN FRANCISCO --  In a ruling with major implications for the continued use of one of California's most dangerous and heavily applied pesticides, a superior court judge has ordered the state to adopt regulations to protect the public from exposure to the fumigant methyl bromide.

    Judge David A. Garcia ruled Thursday in favor of four environmental groups -- Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, Pesticide Action Network and Pesticide Watch -- who filed suit in June against the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR).

    The decision marks a turning point in California environmentalists' long battle against methyl bromide, a highly volatile and acutely toxic pesticide that routinely drifts from farm fields into adjacent neighborhoods, and also depletes the ozone layer. The order requires DPR to adopt regulations for applications of methyl bromide -- which could result in significant reductions in use -- and calls into question the entire process the state has used to register methyl bromide.

    Garcia found DPR in violation of a 1989 state law requiring adoption of clear and enforceable statewide regulations for methyl bromide use by April of that year. Instead, DPR has only developed an internal set of use "guidelines" -- supposed safety measures that nonetheless allow applications of methyl bromide within 100 feet of homes and 30 feet of farmworkers. The guidelines are administered by county agriculture commissioners, vary from one county to another and are subject to change without public notice.

    Following Garcia's decision, the next step is for the successful plaintiffs to draft an order for DPR to comply with the ruling, which will at minimum include setting a date by which the state must adopt regulations. Communities threatened by methyl bromide drift, as well as public interest groups, will be able to participate in the process of setting the regulations.

    "Californians have fought for more than 15 years for protection from methyl bromide, but the state has repeatedly put the pesticide and agriculture industries' profits before public health," said Lynda Uvari of Ventura, a member of Pesticide Watch and a victim of methyl bromide poisoning. "Now the court has ordered the state to obey the law and protect the public. With a chemical this dangerous, that must ultimately mean ending methyl bromide use."

    Methyl bromide is classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a Category I toxic compound, a designation reserved for the most dangerous substances. It is known to cause nerve damage and birth defects in laboratory animals and even small doses are harmful to the lungs, kidneys, eyes and skin.    Methyl bromide is a potent destroyer of the Earth's protective ozone layer, and by international treaty will be banned in the U.S. in 2005. The U.S. deadline had been 2001, but was extended last year under a bill sponsored by now-retired U.S. Rep. Vic Fazio of California and allowed to become law with only token opposition from the Clinton-Gore Administration.

    Under the state Birth Defects Prevention Act of 1984, it was twice scheduled for earlier bans in California, but each time the agricultural industry successfully lobbied the Legislature to extend the California deadline. In the lawsuit, DPR argued unsuccessfully that the 1996 law extending the deadline superseded the 1989 law requiring adoption of regulations.

    In 1998, farm-district legislators defeated a bill by state Sen. Liz Figueroa of Fremont, then a member of the Assembly, to ban the use of methyl bromide within 1,000 feet of homes or schools. After the election last fall of Gov. Gray Davis and Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, the plaintiffs urged the new administration to drop the suit, filed during the administration of Pete Wilson,  but received no response

    "This ruling is a long-awaited victory for Californians who continued to demand protection even though DPR, the Legislature, Congress and the Clinton-Gore Administration refused to listen," said Mike Axline, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center of Eugene, Ore., a public-interest law firm that represented the environmental groups. Assisting WELC as local counsel were Aaron Isherwood of San Francisco and Vic Sher of Sacramento.

    In California, methyl bromide is injected into the soil before the planting of strawberries, almonds, wine grapes and other crops. California uses more methyl bromide than any other state, with more than 17 million pounds applied in 1995, much of it by Central Coast strawberry growers. It is also commonly used in Southern California to fumigate buildings for insects.

    In the last two decades, at least 19 people have died in California from exposure to methyl bromide in structural fumigation. More than 1,600 have been poisoned and hundreds evacuated from homes and schools after the toxic gas drifted from fields -- even when applied according to the state's guidelines. Children are particularly at risk: An Environmental Working Group study found that more than 2.4 million pounds of methyl bromide were applied near California schools in 1995, the latest year for which use figures are available.

Bill Walker, California Director
  Environmental Working Group
  P.O. Box 29201 * The Presidio
  San Francisco, CA 94129
  Tel. (415) 561-6698 * Fax (415) 561-6696
  www.ewg.org
 

 Lyndon,  What will you tell the Great Judge when you stand before Him?  How will you ever "justify" all of the deaths your "IPM" policy has caused?   Steve.