Pesticides killed the
birds, not West Nile - Audubon Learns Pesticide Is Leading Cause of Bird
Deaths in New York - Audubon Calls on Other States to Test for Pesticides,
Release Data
[ More Bird
Deaths ] * [ 27,000 Birds Die ] * [ Seagulls
Die ]
[ Pesticides
found in Dead Birds ] * [ Pesticide kills
Pelicans ]
Subject: Pesticides killed the birds, not West Nile,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001 10:54:00 -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
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker,
I thought you might like to read an article entitled: Pesticides killed
the birds, not West Nile - Audubon Learns Pesticide Is Leading Cause of Bird
Deaths in New York - Audubon Calls on Other States to Test for Pesticides,
Release Data.
NEW YORK, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- A New York State wildlife
official has discovered that of birds collected for a study on West Nile Virus,
more died from pesticide poisoning than from the virus itself.
In response to this early data, the National Audubon Society is calling
upon Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia to
begin testing dead birds for pesticide poisoning, if they have not already, and
to publicly release their findings.
"This data is very troubling," said John Flicker,
President of National Audubon Society. "States
owe it to their residents to get to the bottom of this."
Last year, prompted by concern about the spread of West
Nile Virus, New York State asked counties to report dead birds to its wildlife
pathology laboratory. After
receiving more than 80,000 birds, Dr. Ward Stone discovered that while the virus
was a factor in some of the deaths, the leading cause was pesticide poisoning.
Common lawn care chemicals were among the most common toxins.
"Millions of us use pesticides like Diaznon and
Dursban at home," said Frank Gill, Audubon's Senior Vice President of
Science. "We deserve to know
as much as possible about their effect on us.
Like canaries in a coalmine, birds warn of danger in our environment.
If these chemicals kill birds, what are they doing to our kids?"
In addition to threatening wildlife, pesticides are
believed to harm humans. According to Pesticide Watch, pesticides have been
linked to a wide range of human health hazards, from short-term impacts such as
headaches and nausea to chronic conditions like cancer, reproductive harm, and
endocrine disruption.
"State governments are responsible for protecting the
public's health," said Audubon President John Flicker. "We think it's
important for them to find out what these bird deaths mean."
Founded in 1905 and supported by 600,000 members in 510
chapters throughout the Americas, the National Audubon Society conserves and
restores natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife, and their
habitats, for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.
Well Mr. Helliker, David
Mahoney once said: "You'll never have all the information you
need to make a decision. If you
did, it would be a foregone conclusion, not a decision. " But, the current "science" of using dead birds as
indicators of West Nile Virus so that "decisions" can be made to spray
more of your "registered" POISONS, is insanity! This
"science" only guarantees us that you will be "using" more
and more of your "registered" POISONS! The result will always be more and more pollution and more
and more dead "birds". A
friend once showed me some medicine that was prescibed for his nausea.
When I looked up the "medicine" in my Physician's Desk
Reference, I found that one of its side effects was "nausea".
What some people will do in order to make a profit!
Protect the people and not the profits!
Respectfully,
Stephen L. Tvedten
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