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Several QRN members have asked us to clarify our reasons for opposing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed study of the effects of household chemicals and pesticides on children. We issued an Emergency Action on this on Nov. 22, at the request of Pesticide Action Network and the Organic Consumers Association. Our message stated that the Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS) would intentionally expose low-income children to pesticides. That may be overstating the case. If the CHEERS study is approved, the EPA researchers would pay poor families to continue to use pesticides in and around their homes, exactly as they have used them in the past, and then monitor the effects on children under four years of age. The EPA would not directly expose the children; however it would in effect encourage their continued exposure to substances that are known to be toxic.
According to the Pesticide Action Network, scientific evidence already indicates, for example, that the risk of childhood leukemia is from 9 to 11.4 times greater for children who live in homes where pesticides are applied, compared to those living where no home and garden pesticides were applied. Another study found that home use of insecticide foggers results in a 10.8 times higher risk of brain tumors in children. Yet another found that children with early persistent asthma were ten times more likely to have been exposed to herbicides and insecticides before the end of their first year.
The CHEERS study, if we allow it to go forward, will last two years. Since many health problems have a lag time of 20 to 30 years before they appear after the original contamination exposure, the short-term results may not show any health problems. But that does not mean that the tested chemicals are safe. This is a very calculated move by the chemical industry, one of the funders of the study. Given that it is unlikely that negative effects will be observed during the course of the study, the chemical industry will be able to point to an EPA study that will be interpreted as giving the chemicals a clean bill of health. This is no doubt the goal of the American Chemical Council, which gave the EPA $2.1 million to conduct the study.
In a very informative Oct. 31st Washington Post article, reporter Juliet Eilperin quoted, among others, Troy Pierce, a life scientist in the EPA’s Atlanta-based pesticides section, who wrote in a separate e-mail: “This does sound like it goes against everything we recommend at EPA concerning use of (pesticides) related to children. Paying families in Florida to have their homes routinely treated with pesticides is very sad when we at EPA know that (pesticide management) should always be used to protect children.”
Protests by citizens and scientists have already succeeded in putting the CHEERS study on hold until 2005. The EPA invites comments and recommendations concerning the design of the study.
Again, we urge you to petition the EPA to cancel this study and to use taxpayers’ money instead to protect children from harmful chemicals.
To sign the petitions, and for more information, see: Organic Consumers Association at www.organicconsumers.org/epa-alert.htm and the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), at www.panna.org/
Global Response organizes effective international letter-writing campaigns to protect the environment and the rights of indigenous peoples. See action alerts for adults, teens and children at www.globalresponse.org.
TAKE ACTION - Completely new and updated! Oil Extraction and Protected Areas Do Not Mix http://forests.org/action/ecuador/ Despite widespread protests, the Brazilian national oil company PetroBras will soon begin building a 45 kilometer (28 miles) access road into the heart of the ultradiverse Yasuní National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The park contains one of the highest known levels of plant diversity per hectare in the world. Wildlife abounds as jaguars still roam, woolly and spider monkeys still swing through the trees, and harpy eagles patrol the canopy. In June, Forests.org with Rettet den Regenwald e.V. (Rainforest Rescue, a German NGO) brought the situation to a wide international audience. Despite our initial protests, in August the Ecuadorian government granted the Brazilian national oil company Petrobras a license to construct a new road into an undisturbed part of the park to facilitate oil extraction. Ecuadorian environmental and human rights groups immediately launched a lawsuit in Ecuador's Constitutional Court to halt the project. The groups lost the initial suit and are now appealing. The proposed road will be a completely new artery, opening access into remote, primary Amazonian rainforest relatively untouched by human activities, while transecting the territory of indigenous communities. As has happened elsewhere, it will trigger an irreversible wave of colonization and over hunting. In early December, fifty international rainforest scientists declared strong opposition to construction of the new oil road, calling for the government of Ecuador to enact a law prohibiting future road building in its national parks. Please support their call by taking action at http://forests.org/action/ecuador/ . Please forward widely. Networked by Forests.org, Inc., gbarry@forests.org
Action Deadline: January 18, 2005 Years of diligent effort by WWF activists like you to protect the spectacular Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have paid off in the past. But now we are facing what may be our toughest battle yet: a back-door maneuver that could succeed in opening the refuge to oil drilling. Early next year, drilling proponents in the House and Senate plan to push to include revenues from drilling in the refuge in the fiscal year 2006 budget bill, which would make it almost certain that Congress would then authorize development. A majority of Americans want the refuge protected. Conservation Action Network activists like you have spoken out repeatedly for the caribou, polar bears, wolves, grizzly bears, and many other creatures that depend on that special place. Now this majestic place needs your help again. Follow the steps below to urge your members of Congress to oppose any effort to open the refuge to oil and gas development. Tell them to cosponsor legislation adding the coastal plain of the refuge to the National Wilderness Preservation System instead. Act now because the budget bill proposal will be taken up early next year by the new Congress and because we want as many cosponsors as possible on board the wilderness legislation when it is introduced in January. RESULTS UPDATE: WWF activists recently sent 13,470 comments objecting to a Forest Service plan to poison and shoot prairie dogs -- the main food source for endangered black-footed ferrets. There will be another opportunity to weigh in before the government makes a final decision. **************************TAKE ACTION NOW!********************* POWERFUL OPTION: Personalize your letter. Go to http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=26681&l=70048 and follow the instructions for adding your own thoughts to your message. Decision makers pay much more attention to personalized messages. QUICK OPTION: If you only have a minute, send the message below, as is, by simply replying to this email. (This option works only if you received this email directly from the Conservation Action Network.) If you have any questions or problems with taking action, contact us at actionquestions@takeaction.worldwildlife.org for help. ***************************LETTER TEXT************************** Dear (your representative's and senators' names will be inserted here): I urge you to oppose any effort to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. Specifically, I ask you to contact the chairman of the Budget Committee to state your opposition to adding Arctic drilling language to the fiscal year 2006 budget bill. In addition, I urge you to become an original cosponsor of legislation to protect the coastal plain of the refuge as wilderness in the 109th session of Congress. Representative Markey and Senator Lieberman introduced such legislation in the 108th Congress (H.R. 770, with 145 cosponsors, and S. 543, with 24 cosponsors) and plan to reintroduce the bills in early January. If you have already committed to cosponsoring the wilderness bill, thank you for recognizing the value of protecting the refuge. Along with a majority of Americans, I strongly support protecting the refuge, particularly its biological heart -- the coastal plain. The coastal plain is one of the most important regions on the planet for conserving biological diversity. Unfortunately, oil drilling would subject this world-class resource to a spider web of roads, pipelines, drill pads, housing, and other infrastructure that would destroy the wilderness character of the land and limit the free movement of wildlife. Contrary to the claims of drilling proponents, drilling in the refuge is not the answer to America's energy problems. It would not appreciably reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and could not insulate the United States from short-term volatility in the world oil market. The government estimates that only six months of economically recoverable oil exists in the coastal plain and it would not be available for 10 years. A much better approach to managing our natural resources and securing our energy future would be to require our growing fleet of sport utility vehicles to meet the fuel economy standards now in force for passenger cars. Such a step would save us more oil over the next decade than would drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Please do all you can to protect this crown jewel of our natural heritage. Sincerely, Your name and address will be inserted here **************************END OF LETTER TEXT*************************
Americans have agreed for more than 30 years that dolphins, whales and other marine mammals deserve protection from being caught by commercial fishermen. Last month, however, saw Congress try to punch a hole in these protections -- a hole that would increase the number of killed and injured marine mammals by thousands each year. The indications are that they will try again next year -- and this time, they will do so from an even stronger position. We need your help to continue protecting dolphins and whales from this assault. Join our campaign today! * Contribute to protect dolphins and whales: http://takeaction.oceana.org/ct/c1zXrt61ZXq7/ We need to generate widespread public support for protecting dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals before Congress returns in January. To do that, we aim to take our "No Flip-Flop on Flipper" campaign (http://www.oceana.org/flipper/) to a wider national audience. To make that happen, though, we need your help. We have a goal of raising $15,000 to support this media outreach campaign. That's a big goal. But with your support, I know we can reach it. We've already made a strong start -- WaveMakers like you from around the country have contributed $6,800 to the cause so far. And even a small contribution makes a big impact! Now's your chance to stand up for dolphins and whales. Join the campaign. Give today. * Contribute to protect dolphins and whales: http://takeaction.oceana.org/ct/c1zXrt61ZXq7/ Thank you so much for your support! If you have questions, send them to me at wavemaker@oceana.org. For the oceans, Jason Lefkowitz Manager, E-Activism Oceana -------------------------------------------------- Tell your friends about our push to educate America about the importance of protecting dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals! http://takeaction.oceana.org/join-forward.html?domain=wavemaker&r=s7zXrt61yQV8 If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Oceana Action Center at: http://takeaction.oceana.org/wavemaker/join.html?r=s7zXrt61yQV8E
Tell USDA to Protect the Food Supply from New Gentically Modified Crops
Drugs hidden in your cereal bowl? Plastics in your taco shells? The
next wave of genetic engineering includes plants that have been altered to
produce pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. An ear of corn could
actually be a biological factory for substances never intended for the
food supply. A new UCS study finds that current production practices
and federal regulations do not protect against contamination from these
crops. Add your name to our petition to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to safeguard our food supply.
TAKE ACTION:
To automatically sign the petition below to the Secretary of
Agriculture, hit "Reply" and then "Send", in your email program.
If this message was forwarded to you, take action at
http://www.ucsaction.org/ctt.asp?u=44389&l=71393
LETTER:
Dear Secretary of Agriculture,
A Growing Concern, a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists
(UCS), documents the challenge of protecting the U.S. food supply from
contamination by crops that have been genetically engineered (GE) to
produce drugs and industrial substances ("pharma crops"). Based on the
report's findings, we, the undersigned, urge the USDA to halt the outdoor
production of pharma crops immediately, until a system is put in place
that can produce drugs and industrial substances without placing our
food system and food industry at risk.
The heart of A Growing Concern is a technical report written by six
agricultural experts commissioned by UCS to analyze the feasibility of
growing corn and soybeans as pharma crops while ensuring virtually zero
contamination of the food supply. They concluded that the current
production processes and production areas for corn and soybeans cannot be used
without substantial modification to completely protect human food and
animal feed supplies from contamination. Because changes on this scale
have yet to be implemented, UCS has concluded that contamination of the
food system by pharma crops may have already occurred and may become
more likely in the future.
The USDA should act immediately to ban the outdoor production of pharma
crops. We deserve the assurance that every possible measure has been
taken to keep unwanted drugs and chemicals out of our food.
Sincerely,
(your name and address will be inserted)
Here's what I've been thinking about lately: if people
around the country could actually witness the brutal
killing of a wolf by aerial gunning, I know they would
rise up and stand with us against this slaughter.
Don't you think?
But the Alaska Board of Game and Governor Frank Murkowski
don't want the media to spotlight this carnage. They know
that last time the national media covered such wolf
atrocities, public outrage caused the barbaric practices
to stop.
Your generous support in these past few weeks has enabled
Defenders of Wildlife to produce a powerful flash video
depicting the horror of aerial gunning, with a strong
warning to potential viewers because it graphically shows
wolves being killed from airplanes. This video depicts a
brutality that can no longer be ignored:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/19945
Now we need to spread the word. When people see what's
really happening in Alaska, I know they will join us in
opposing aerial gunning. I hope we can count on your
important help once again:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/19943
First, send an email to the major network news shows that
you watch. Urge them to send a reporter to Alaska to cover
the planned killing of up to 900 wolves from airplanes.
(To send an email, see the list of links below).
Second, make whatever year-end contribution you can to
help Defenders expand their media, grassroots and legal
efforts to stop the aerial assault on wolves. Our goal is
to raise $50,000 over the next 72 hours. Your
tax-deductible contribution of $25 or more would be
invaluable to our efforts.
http://www.care2.com/go/z/19943
I can't thank you enough for all you have done to help
stop the senseless killing of Alaska's wolves.
- Rebecca,
Care2 and ThePetitionSite team
P.S. Please take a moment to send an email to the major
news networks urging them to cover the planned killing of
900 wolves in Alaska. We need to generate as many emails
as possible to get their attention. Thank you.
National Network News Links:
ABC News:
NETAUDR@abc.com Subject: World News Tonight
CBS News: Go to CBSNews.com and click on contact us to
use their Feedback Form.
CNN: Go to CNN.com and click on contact us to use their
feedback form.
FOX News Channel:
comments@foxnews.com
MSNBC:
viewerservices@msnbc.com
NBC News:
Nightly@NBC.com
