From April 16, 2001
Concerned Citizens to Protest Bush's Assault on the Environment
President George W. Bush has been busy undoing some of the important, positive steps that have been taken by the United States in the recent past to protect our environment. You are invited to join with people on the Ellipse (the South side of the White House) at 8:30 am on Wednesday April 18 to send a clear message to the Bush administration that we need to protect the health of our children and our environment. Bring banners and signs that express your concern for the environment. For more information about the event visit the Greenpeace USA website.
Bush's failure to protect our forests from the timber industry, to protect our families from arsenic in our drinking waters and to protect our air from CO2 emissions is a travesty. His administration is considering opening the Artic National Wildlife Refuge for oil extraction. He has also decided to remove the United States from the Kyoto Protocol negotiations that set up a framework to protect the environment from the risks of global climate change.
Many scientists agree that global warming is occurring. Scientists also agree that a general increase in temperature will lead to a host of human health problems. Beyond Pesticides recently published an important article in our newsletter Pesticides and You by Dr. Paul Epstein that examines how global warming could effect the spread of insect-borne diseases. (Click here to read the article). This is a double whammy, as populations of insect vectors increase in size, the use of toxic pesticides will increase in an attempt to control those insects.
Mosquitoes are a particularly
important vector of many of the world's most devastating diseases, including
malaria, and dengue fever. West Nile Virus (WNV) became a major focus
of attention when it cropped up in New York City at the end of the summer
of 1999. Since then, the people of New York and up and down the east coast
have been exposed to a variety of health threatening pesticides including
malathion and synthetic pyrethroids. This problem could grow with an increase
in global temperature.