Subject: US EPA signs pesticide settlement with green group- - - - - -
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 14:58:13 -0500
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
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker, I
thought you might like to read an article entitled: US EPA signs pesticide
settlement with green group
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The Bush administration said Tuesday it agreed to a court
settlement with an environmental group that spells out how the Environmental
Protection Agency must review the impact of crop pesticides on childrens'
health.
The
agreement came after EPA attorneys reviewed a consent decree that was
negotiated with the Natural Resources Defense Council in the final days of the
Clinton administration.
EPA
Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said the agency had ``limited
flexibility'' to change or withdraw from the settlement, which has been
criticized by the pesticide industry.
The
EPA's review of pesticides used by farmers and consumers for everything from
cornfields to cockroaches has provoked a series of contentious battles since
Congress passed a 1996 law requiring the evaluations. Farm and chemical groups
contend that the agency's review threatens to eliminate some of the nation's
most popular and cheap insect killers.
The
Natural Resources Defense Council and other advocacy groups sued the EPA after
the agency missed deadlines set by Congress to review nearly 10,000 pesticides
and set safety tolerances for them in the U.S. food supply to protect infants
and young children.
On
Jan. 19, just one day before President Bush was sworn into office, the lawsuit
was settled by the Clinton administration which promised to have the EPA set
tolerances for a dozen chemicals seen as especially risky to children.
The
settlement requires the agency to set a timetable to evaluate 11 of the
most-hazardous pesticides, to find ways to protect farmworkers from three
dangerous pesticides, and to launch a program to test the effects of pesticide
on the human endocrine system.
The
U.S. pesticide industry and grower groups have complained that the agency was
moving too fast in assessing pesticides, and failed to consider the impact
stricter rules would have on farmers.
Whitman
said she negotiated some changes to the settlement, which would all more
``public participation'' in the agency's pesticide review.
``We
have set specific milestones for the review of certain pesticides, and EPA
will meet deadlines required by the Food Quality Protection Act to reassess
existing pesticides using current health and safety standards,'' Whitman said
in a statement.
``We
will do so using a rigorous scientific review process that will allow
extensive opportunity for public involvement and comment, to ensure that all
perspectives are heard,'' she added.
The
1996 law passed by Congress said that many pesticides could affect the
developing nervous system of young children unless EPA held the products to a
ten-fold safety margin above what is considered safe.
Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All
rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters Limited content,
including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the
prior written consent of Reuters Limited. Reuters Limited shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
Well Mr. Helliker, Betty
Mekdeci, Executive Director of Birth Defect Research for Children, Inc. has
said: "The chemical industry has set the standard for the types of
testing and proof of harm that is accepted by the courts.
This standard requires extensive and expensive testing that is beyond
the scope of community groups fighting for a safer environment.
It can take decades and countless injuries before enough acceptable
scientific information is available to force industry to restrict the use of
those products or take them off the market."
I would only add that "Those who think it is permissible to tell
"white lies" soon grow color-blind." How is your eye-sight?
What do you think -
should you just keep on "registering and/or extending" these
untested, dangerous POISONS or should you start to actually review the impact
of crop pesticides on children's health?
There are so many safe and far more effective (unregistered)
alternatives, when will they be "legal' to use in your opinion?
Respectfully,
Stephen L. Tvedten
(Editor's Note: Why do we have to sue
government to get them to do their jobs in the first place??)
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