Standing up to Corporate Bullies: Kauai Community Moves to Defend County's Pesticide Disclosure Law
February 24th, 2014
February 24th, 2014
A coalition of Kaua‘i residents and public interest groups, represented by Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Earthjustice, today filed papers in federal district court in Honolulu moving to intervene as defendants. The nonprofits seek to defend their interests by defending the County of Kaua‘i’s 2013 pesticide disclosure law from a legal challenge by multinational chemical companies.
Ordinance 960 (formerly known as Bill 2491) was enacted into law to protect Kaua‘i residents and the environment from exposure to pesticides applied to genetically engineered (GE) crops in the wake of repeated incidents of schoolchildren and other residents suffering symptoms of pesticide exposure, and inaction by State of Hawai‘i authorities. The GE industry grows experimental and other GE crops on thousands of acres on the small island, in many places close to schools, homes, and waterways, and is known to spray some of the most toxic pesticides still in use, such as the organophosphate chlorpyrifos. The law requires the disclosure of pesticide and GE crops used on the island, and establishes buffer zones around sensitive locations like schools and hospitals.
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/2930/standing-up-to-corporate-bullies-kauai-community-moves-to-defend-countys-pesticide-disclosure-#
Presence of neurotoxin should be ‘red flag’ in Hawai’i
In a review paper to be published next month in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet Neurology, researchers have raised concerns over the pesticide chlorpyrifos and other environmental contaminants that cause damage to the developing brains of children. Recent disclosures from Kauai’s voluntary reporting program confirm frequent usage of chlorpyrifos on the island, but fail to provide additional details about use.
After reviewing the data, Emily Marquez, PhD, staff scientist at Pesticide Action Network, released the following statement:
“A new paper identifies several developmental neurotoxicants, including the insecticide chlorpyrifos, which pose a serious threat to the developing brains of children. The pesticide, applied to genetically engineered (GE) seed test fields in Kaua’i, and likely other parts of the state, should be a red flag for Hawai’i public health officials.
Chlorpyrifos, known commercially as Dursban or Lorsban, is an organophosphate insecticide and a known neurotoxicant. At low doses, prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos has been linked to adverse impacts on neurodevelopment such as a 7-point decrease in IQ and alterations to brain architecture in 7-year-old children.
In 2001, in an effort to reduce human health risks — particularly to children — the U.S. EPA took an important step towards protecting human health by canceling indoor uses of chlorpyrifos. But agricultural uses of the chemical persist. And applications of chlorpyrifos to GE test fields on Kaua’i and elsewhere pose an unacceptable risk to the health of children and others living or working nearby.
On Kaua’i, chlropyrifos was found in air samples collected at Waimea Canyon Middle School, as reported in a March 2013 report by the University of Hawai’i. And voluntary industry reporting — through the Agricultural Good Neighbor Program — tells us that chlorpyrifos is being used by Syngenta, BASF Plant Sciences, and DuPont Pioneer on GE test fields across the island. Unfortunately, the voluntary program on Kaua’i fails to provide the level of details contained in the recently passed, but yet to be implemented, ordinance. And this program doesn’t provide mandatory reporting for the entire state.
Hawai’i isn’t the only state using chlorpyrifos. In the U.S., it is still widely used in agriculture at about eight million pounds annually, putting farmworkers, families, and agricultural communities. Low-dose chlorpyrifos residue is also found on fruits and vegetables grown with the pesticide, exposing people across the country. Recent monitoring of pesticide applications by PAN members near fields in Minnesota and Iowa has documented evidence of chlorpyrifos volatilization drift.
Due to concerns over chlorpyrifos’ tendency to volatilize and drift, EPA is currently requesting comments on risk to children and other bystanders from volatilization of chlorpyrifos from treated crops. EPA’s chlorpyrifos preliminary volatilization assessment is based on the fact that ‘the available data indicate that vapor phase chlorpyrifos may be emitted from treated fields at levels resulting in exposure to children and others who live, work, attend school or otherwise spend time nearby.’”
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GMO Free Kaua'i
--
Paul Towers
Organizing & Media Director
Pesticide Action Network North America
"Advancing alternatives to pesticides worldwide"
Pesticide Action Network North America
Main Office: 1611 Telegraph Ave, Suite 1200, Oakland, CA 94612
Midwest Office: 3438 Snelling Ave, Upper Level, Minneapolis, MN 55406 - (510) 788-9020
http://www.panna.org/
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/2930/standing-up-to-corporate-bullies-kauai-community-moves-to-defend-countys-pesticide-disclosure-#
Presence of neurotoxin should be ‘red flag’ in Hawai’i
In a review paper to be published next month in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet Neurology, researchers have raised concerns over the pesticide chlorpyrifos and other environmental contaminants that cause damage to the developing brains of children. Recent disclosures from Kauai’s voluntary reporting program confirm frequent usage of chlorpyrifos on the island, but fail to provide additional details about use.
After reviewing the data, Emily Marquez, PhD, staff scientist at Pesticide Action Network, released the following statement:
“A new paper identifies several developmental neurotoxicants, including the insecticide chlorpyrifos, which pose a serious threat to the developing brains of children. The pesticide, applied to genetically engineered (GE) seed test fields in Kaua’i, and likely other parts of the state, should be a red flag for Hawai’i public health officials.
Chlorpyrifos, known commercially as Dursban or Lorsban, is an organophosphate insecticide and a known neurotoxicant. At low doses, prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos has been linked to adverse impacts on neurodevelopment such as a 7-point decrease in IQ and alterations to brain architecture in 7-year-old children.
In 2001, in an effort to reduce human health risks — particularly to children — the U.S. EPA took an important step towards protecting human health by canceling indoor uses of chlorpyrifos. But agricultural uses of the chemical persist. And applications of chlorpyrifos to GE test fields on Kaua’i and elsewhere pose an unacceptable risk to the health of children and others living or working nearby.
On Kaua’i, chlropyrifos was found in air samples collected at Waimea Canyon Middle School, as reported in a March 2013 report by the University of Hawai’i. And voluntary industry reporting — through the Agricultural Good Neighbor Program — tells us that chlorpyrifos is being used by Syngenta, BASF Plant Sciences, and DuPont Pioneer on GE test fields across the island. Unfortunately, the voluntary program on Kaua’i fails to provide the level of details contained in the recently passed, but yet to be implemented, ordinance. And this program doesn’t provide mandatory reporting for the entire state.
Hawai’i isn’t the only state using chlorpyrifos. In the U.S., it is still widely used in agriculture at about eight million pounds annually, putting farmworkers, families, and agricultural communities. Low-dose chlorpyrifos residue is also found on fruits and vegetables grown with the pesticide, exposing people across the country. Recent monitoring of pesticide applications by PAN members near fields in Minnesota and Iowa has documented evidence of chlorpyrifos volatilization drift.
Due to concerns over chlorpyrifos’ tendency to volatilize and drift, EPA is currently requesting comments on risk to children and other bystanders from volatilization of chlorpyrifos from treated crops. EPA’s chlorpyrifos preliminary volatilization assessment is based on the fact that ‘the available data indicate that vapor phase chlorpyrifos may be emitted from treated fields at levels resulting in exposure to children and others who live, work, attend school or otherwise spend time nearby.’”
###
GMO Free Kaua'i
FROM PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK
For Immediate Release: February 24, 2014
For Immediate Release: February 24, 2014
Paul Towers
Organizing & Media Director
Pesticide Action Network North America
"Advancing alternatives to pesticides worldwide"
Pesticide Action Network North America
Main Office: 1611 Telegraph Ave, Suite 1200, Oakland, CA 94612
Midwest Office: 3438 Snelling Ave, Upper Level, Minneapolis, MN 55406 - (510) 788-9020
http://www.panna.org/
Video showing proximity of spraying to the school yard and building - at 1:36 you can see spray becoming airborne on video taken from a school classroom, and outside showing children playing adjacent to the field. These companies have sued Kauai for the right to continue spraying at this proximity to our children!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUHurog0AU
Waimea Canyon Middle School Pesticide Spraying
The Reaper is coming!
So shameful!
The kids at island school aren't allowed to go barefoot, even in the sports fields. They say its because of broken glass potentially being in the grass. I think it's because in the past kids have had allergic type reactions from playing in those same areas.
Got pesticide drift???
It's in bread too...Bromide. Causes IODINE DEFICIENCY.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUHurog0AU
Waimea Canyon Middle School Pesticide Spraying
The Reaper is coming!
So shameful!
The kids at island school aren't allowed to go barefoot, even in the sports fields. They say its because of broken glass potentially being in the grass. I think it's because in the past kids have had allergic type reactions from playing in those same areas.
Got pesticide drift???
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