Daily News Archives
From April 21, 2005

Take Action Today! Call Bayer to Stop the Sale of All Lindane Products
(Beyond Pesticides, April 21, 2005) Join people across the country today in pursuading Bayer CropScience that the time has come to stop selling products containing the outdated toxic pesticide lindane. Your call will be part of an international week of actions celebrating Earth Day and stopping the worst of the worst persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

Lindane bioaccumulates in people’s and animal's bodies and in the environment. It also travels on wind and air currents to colder regions. Lindane has become a major problem in the Arctic, where marine animals and the food supplies of many indigenous peoples are highly contaminated. More than 50 countries have already banned lindane - and the U.S. is still not one of them.

Bayer needs to know that the U.S. public wants to join the international community that has quit using this toxic pesticide. It is unacceptable that Bayer continues distributing lindane for agricultural purposes - contaminating our bodies, environment and food supply.

An international meeting of the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from POPs (persistent organic pollutants - chemicals that persist in the environment, build up in living things, and are toxic to all forms of life) is taking place in May. A number of POPs in the treaty are being phased out internationally - and lindane will be at the top of the list of new chemicals considered for a global phaseout.

Lindane is on its way out - tell Bayer to move with the times and stop selling lindane.

For more information, contact Kristen Schafer, [email protected], Pesticide Action Network North America

TAKE ACTION: Call: Esmail Zirakparvar, President and CEO of Bayer CropScience's North American offices, Bayer Headquarters, North Carolina. Telephone: 1-919-549-2000
And say:
"Hi, my name is ________. I am calling from [organization/state] and would like to leave a message for CEO Esmail Zirakparvar regarding Bayer CropScience's distribution of lindane. As one of many concerned U.S.residents, I am asking that Bayer stop the distribution of lindane and withdraw the registration of this toxic chemical. Lindane is an old, dangerous pesticide - and is on it's way out! It's been banned in over 50 countries and is being considered for a global phase-out. Clearly, lindane is controversial - there's no reason for Bayer to keep distributing this chemical!"