Two Efforts Seek to Halt Pesticide Use

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Subject:  Two Efforts Seek to Halt Pesticide Use
 Date:     Fri, 19 Apr 2002 10:11:03 -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 April 18, 2002 article from Newsday entitled: Two Efforts Seek to Halt Pesticide Use By Dan Fagin, STAFF WRITER.

Long Island environmentalists and some key allies in the State Legislature this week launched a two-pronged assault on chemical weed-killers, including a far-reaching proposed state law that would ban many lawn chemicals that cause cancer in lab animals.

"What we're saying to homeowners is that if you care about your health you need to make a change," said Laura Weinberg, president of the Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition, part of an alliance that held a news conference yesterday in Mineola to push for the first-in-the-nation law, which is sponsored by Assemb. Thomas DiNapoli (D-Thomaston) and State Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson).

Meanwhile, in a second anti-pesticide campaign, another group of local activists plans to announce today that they are distributing 100,000 leaflets urging homeowners to stop using lawn pesticides because they can kill songbirds. "The conclusion is irrefutable that pesticides kill birds," said Adrienne Esposito of the Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment.

Another group that does door-to-door campaigning, the Long Island Neighborhood Network, said it is undertaking a similar effort on behalf of the DiNapoli-LaValle bill.

The groups said they timed both of the anti-pesticide campaigns to coincide with Earth Day, on April 22, and the start of the gardening season.

Pesticide applicators have long been on the defensive on Long Island , a hotbed of anti-pesticide activism. "Our industry has been targeted by a lot of people on Long Island who don't want to listen to what the industry has to say," said John Iurka, executive director of the Professional Certified Applicators of Long Island, a coalition of 180 pest-control companies. "There isn't a lot of real science behind these accusations."

The proposed law would have a drastic effect on the use of chemical pesticides. DiNapoli has been circulating the bill in Albany for more than five years and it has wide support in the Democrat-controlled Assembly. But the bill got a big boost this year when LaValle said he would sponsor it in the State Senate, where Republicans command the majority.

"There is a new sense of urgency on both of our parts that this is an important environmental bill, and we want to get it done," LaValle said.

The bill sets its sights on chemicals used purely for "aesthetic" purposes, which it defines as any chemicals used on turf or ornamental plants on lawns, golf courses, school grounds and around homes. It would ban the aesthetic use of any chemical found by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be a possible or probable human carcinogen based on evidence from tests on laboratory animals. The law also would ban aesthetic uses of compounds found to disrupt the way hormones function in test animals, or that pose special risks to groundwater or wildlife.

The bill casts its net so widely that it could cover close to half of the total volume of chemical pesticides used in the state, advocates said. They argue that effective, less-toxic alternatives exist for most of the products that would be banned by the measure.

But Iurka, of the applicators association, said that having a weed-free lawn "is very important to some people. ... It goes deep to the rights of the property owner."

Audio Environmentalist Neal Lewis on the need for the bill Apr 17, 2002 (RealAudio)

Joseph Gergela of the LI Farm Bureau on opposition to the bill Apr 17, 2002 (RealAudio)

Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.

http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/ny-lipest182674574apr18.story?coll=ny%2Dnews%2Dprint

Well Mr. Helliker, Margaret Mead once noted: "Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."  I would like to point out our small group of committed people is continually growing and we will change our world in order to make it free of your "registered" POISONS!

Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten

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