Pesticides Used in Simulated Terrorist Attack
Subject: Pesticides Used in Simulated Terrorist Attack
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 14:50:47 -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 the following article entitled: Pesticides Used in Simulated Terrorist Attack - http://www.beyondpesticides.org/main.html - Updated on 2/28/02.
As Mile High Stadium in Denver, CO crumbled, emergency response crews arrived on the scene only to be overwhelmed by the second phase of the attack. Malathion, a highly toxic organophosphate pesticide, had been packed into the bomb that had exploded in the stadium. While this was only a simulation, set up by the city to test and train emergency response teams responding to a terrorist attack, government officials and others responsible for protecting the public realize the danger if toxic chemicals, such as pesticides, and the ease with which they can be obtained....
Similar events were staged in other cities around the country. In San Diego, the simulation involved smallpox. In Palm Beach County, Fla., it was nerve gas.
In South Bend, Ind., officials pretended that toxic chemicals were released in a government building. In the next several months, similar exercises are planned for places such as Baltimore, Richmond and Cheyenne, WY.
In Maryland, state Delegate Dan Morhaim has proposed legislation that would help prevent pesticides from being used as weapons. Restricted Use Pesticides -
Use and Access (HB#809), was introduced on February 6, 2002. The bill, which is supported by the Maryland Pesticide Network and Beyond Pesticides, requires anyone that has access to restricted use pesticides, including employees of certified applicators, employees of manufacturing and storage facilities, and pilots of crop dusters and pesticide spray truck drivers, to have a criminal background check. It also requires that applicators of restricted use pesticides act under the instructions and control and within visual or voice contact of a certified applicator.
Well Mr. Helliker, I gather that it will STILL be ok to POISON the people with your "registered" POISONS, as long as it is "within visual or voice contact of a certified applicator," and not in the hands of some "criminal or terrorist".
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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