Pesticides -
Dec 31, 2011 9:30:42 GMT -8
Post by aborto mundo on Dec 31, 2011 9:30:42 GMT -8
The maker of the controversial strawberry pesticide methyl iodide has stopped calling their product by its chemical name “because the public think methyl iodide means poison.” (What else do you call a chemical that causes cancer and late-term miscarriages?)
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Despite scientist concern and public outcry, in the final days of both the Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations, officials approved a new dangerous pesticide nationally, and in California in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Methyl iodide, "one of the most toxic chemicals on earth," was aggressively pushed by manufacturer Arysta LifeScience Corporation, the largest private pesticide company in the world. Reversal of these decisions lies in the hands of California Governor Jerry Brown and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. It's up to us to make sure that chemical industry influence doesn't overrule science as our government leaders decide.
Latest campaign news
On March 23, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown publicly stated that he would reconsider the decision to register methyl iodide in California.
Farmworkers and neighboring community members protested the first use of methyl iodide in California, sending a strong and clear message to regulators across the state - "Do your job, protect public health and support farmers' transition away from toxic pesticides" in the words of Sarah Sharpe of Fresno Metro Ministry.
U.S. EPA opened a public comment period on our legal petition to ban all uses of methyl iodide, and 200,000+ agreed.
More than 35 scientists from across the country, including three Nobel laureates, urged U.S. EPA on May 7, 2011 to cancel all uses of methyl iodide. From their letter, "This rigorously conducted analysis indicates that methyl iodide cannot be used safely as a soil fumigant and serves as a sound scientific basis for U.S. EPA to cancel all agricultural uses of methyl iodide."
More than 35 California legislators, including Speaker of the Assembly John Pérez, submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency urging policymakers to “suspend and cancel all uses of iodomethane (methyl iodide) in the United States…” on April 4, 2011.
About the strawberry pesticide
Methyl iodide is a known carcinogen and neurotoxin that causes late-term miscarriages. Scientists using this chemical in the lab to induce cancer in cells take serious precautions — using a ventilation hood and protective gear when handling small amounts. In California, methyl iodide would be injected into the soil as a gas at rates of up to 100 lbs per acre. In addition to the threat posed to farmworkers and communities living next to strawberry fields, methyl iodide would likely contaminate groundwater.
Methyl iodide: "Difficult, if not impossible to control"
Scientists from around the country are extremely concerned about methyl iodide use in agriculture.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first registered methyl iodide as a pesticide in October 2007, despite a letter from more than 50 scientists, including five Nobel Laureates stating that, "It is astonishing then that the Office of Pesticide Programs is working to legalize broadcast releases of one of the more toxic chemicals used in manufacturing into the environment." National approval came at the end of the Bush administration.
The California Scientific Review Committee (SRC), convened during 2009-2010, made its assessment of methyl iodide public on February 10, 2010, finding that "any anticipated scenario for the agricultural...use of this agent would...have a significant adverse impact on the public health." The scientists called methyl iodide "difficult, if not impossible, to control." John Froines, PhD, and chair of the SRC, put it bluntly during a 2010 Senate hearing on the issue, calling methyl iodide, "one of the most toxic chemicals on earth."
Corporate PR attempts to overrule the science
Arysta, for its part, hired Peritus Public Relations (and specifically, Peritus senior strategist J. Scott Jennings, former special assistant to President George W. Bush, deputy White House political director, and deputy to senior adviser Karl Rove) and the lobbying firm Patton Boggs to create and implement a strategy to persuade national and California government officials to approve the toxic chemical, despite the science.
More: www.panna.org/cancer-free-strawberries
---------------------------
Despite scientist concern and public outcry, in the final days of both the Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations, officials approved a new dangerous pesticide nationally, and in California in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Methyl iodide, "one of the most toxic chemicals on earth," was aggressively pushed by manufacturer Arysta LifeScience Corporation, the largest private pesticide company in the world. Reversal of these decisions lies in the hands of California Governor Jerry Brown and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. It's up to us to make sure that chemical industry influence doesn't overrule science as our government leaders decide.
Latest campaign news
On March 23, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown publicly stated that he would reconsider the decision to register methyl iodide in California.
Farmworkers and neighboring community members protested the first use of methyl iodide in California, sending a strong and clear message to regulators across the state - "Do your job, protect public health and support farmers' transition away from toxic pesticides" in the words of Sarah Sharpe of Fresno Metro Ministry.
U.S. EPA opened a public comment period on our legal petition to ban all uses of methyl iodide, and 200,000+ agreed.
More than 35 scientists from across the country, including three Nobel laureates, urged U.S. EPA on May 7, 2011 to cancel all uses of methyl iodide. From their letter, "This rigorously conducted analysis indicates that methyl iodide cannot be used safely as a soil fumigant and serves as a sound scientific basis for U.S. EPA to cancel all agricultural uses of methyl iodide."
More than 35 California legislators, including Speaker of the Assembly John Pérez, submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency urging policymakers to “suspend and cancel all uses of iodomethane (methyl iodide) in the United States…” on April 4, 2011.
About the strawberry pesticide
Methyl iodide is a known carcinogen and neurotoxin that causes late-term miscarriages. Scientists using this chemical in the lab to induce cancer in cells take serious precautions — using a ventilation hood and protective gear when handling small amounts. In California, methyl iodide would be injected into the soil as a gas at rates of up to 100 lbs per acre. In addition to the threat posed to farmworkers and communities living next to strawberry fields, methyl iodide would likely contaminate groundwater.
Methyl iodide: "Difficult, if not impossible to control"
Scientists from around the country are extremely concerned about methyl iodide use in agriculture.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first registered methyl iodide as a pesticide in October 2007, despite a letter from more than 50 scientists, including five Nobel Laureates stating that, "It is astonishing then that the Office of Pesticide Programs is working to legalize broadcast releases of one of the more toxic chemicals used in manufacturing into the environment." National approval came at the end of the Bush administration.
The California Scientific Review Committee (SRC), convened during 2009-2010, made its assessment of methyl iodide public on February 10, 2010, finding that "any anticipated scenario for the agricultural...use of this agent would...have a significant adverse impact on the public health." The scientists called methyl iodide "difficult, if not impossible, to control." John Froines, PhD, and chair of the SRC, put it bluntly during a 2010 Senate hearing on the issue, calling methyl iodide, "one of the most toxic chemicals on earth."
Corporate PR attempts to overrule the science
Arysta, for its part, hired Peritus Public Relations (and specifically, Peritus senior strategist J. Scott Jennings, former special assistant to President George W. Bush, deputy White House political director, and deputy to senior adviser Karl Rove) and the lobbying firm Patton Boggs to create and implement a strategy to persuade national and California government officials to approve the toxic chemical, despite the science.
More: www.panna.org/cancer-free-strawberries