Steve Tvedten of Get Set, Inc.'s email to Lyndon Hawkins of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation .

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:

Lyndon, as I was sending out my last e-mail to you, I received this article from The Environmentel News Network.  It was so timely I thought you might like to read about another of Novartis "registered" poisons, if you want to read the full story - click below: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/1999/07/072999/atrazine_4656.asp.

Weed killer poses risks to infants - Thursday, July 29, 1999

A popular weed killer sprayed on Midwestern cornfields each spring contaminates drinking water and poses a serious health risk to infants and children, according to a report released Wednesday by the Environmental Working Group. The weed killer, atrazine, was classified in 1997 as toxic by the Environmental Protection Agency. In tests with laboratory rats, it has been found to cause certain cancers and birth defects.

Current EPA standards for atrazine exposure are too high for children, the EWG report says. In 40 Midwestern towns studied by the group, children receive their legal lifetime exposure to the chemical by their first birthday. Under the Food Quality Protection Act — a law that regulates pesticides— the EPA is supposed to issue revised health standards for pesticides that present the greatest risk to children's health by Aug. 3, 1999. Atrazine made this list in 1997.

The Environmental Working Group, the organization that issued the report, does not expect EPA to meet the Aug. 3 deadline for the regulation of atrazine. "Pesticide lobbyists have so completely hobbled EPA in this process that there is not much room for hope for pesticide control," said Mike Casey, an EWG spokesman.

EPA says that the administration is on schedule to meet all deadlines for reviewing pesticides under the new law and that the agency has been conducting a review of atrazine, which will be completed by next summer. EPA maintains that by conducting the review the deadline is being met.

EPA announced in the Federal Register in February that new regulatory limits for atrazine will not be proposed until 2001. No date has been set for implementing the new rules.

Atrazine, which is manufactured by Swiss chemical company Novartis, is applied to 50 million acres of cornfields each spring. It runs off cornfields, passes through water treatment plants and contaminates the tap water of 10.5 million midwesterners, according to the study.

While water utilities spend millions of dollars each year to lower the levels of atrazine in their water, the treatment does not remove it altogether and the contaminated water is passed onto their customers. "Water suppliers aren't at fault here. They are trying hard to suppress it, but it is so expensive to keep out of water that it gets into tap water," said Jane Houlihan, author of the report.

The Environmental Working Group is calling for a complete ban on atrazine. Several European countries, including Italy and Germany, have already banned atrazine. In Switzerland, where Novartis is based, the drinking water standard for atrazine is 30 times more protective than the U..S. "For infants there is no safe level (of atrazine) in tap water," said Houlian. "We would like to see EPA ban atrazine. We see this as the only solution."  "All public water systems are required to test regularly for atrazine, and 88 percent of Americans served by community water systems receive tap water that fully meets federal health standards," said EPA in a statement.

Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

Well Lyndon, the ball truly is and has been in your court -and I am still asking you one simple question - "when will it be "legal" (in your opinion) to wash your can in California?  and in so doing kill the enclosed flies and maggots with soap and water?"  Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten.