(Beyond Pesticides, December 2, 2009) Cancer causing pesticides ”¦ endocrine disruptors ”¦ pesticides linked to neurological and immune system problems ”¦ asthma and learning disabilities. Federal legislation, the School Environment Protection Act of 2009, was introduced yesterday in Congress to protect children from toxic pesticides and pest problems with safer alternatives. The sponsors seek to end unnecessary toxic pesticide use in the nation’s schools, replacing it with safe management techniques and products. When children attend school, it is assumed that they are going to a safe environment, free of toxic chemicals that could harm them. New legislation seeks to make this assumption a reality. With the introduction of the School Environment Protection Act of 2009 (SEPA), H.R. 4159, members of Congress and public health, school employee, children’s health and environmental groups are saying that it is time to stop the unnecessary use of dangerous chemicals and assist schools in the adoption of safer strategies to prevent and manage pest problems. U.S. Representative Rush Holt and 14 of his colleagues put the legislation forward with the foundation of more than a decade of state and local school pest management and pesticide use policies and on-the-ground experience from across the country. SEPA […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 10, 2009) Eight years after the September 11th attacks, the U.S. House of Representatives approved on November 6, 2009 the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009, (H.R. 2868) by a vote of 230-193. The legislation was led by Representatives Thompson (D-MS), Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Waxman (D-CA), Markey (D-MA), Oberstar (D-MN) and Johnson (D-TX). This is the first time either house of Congress has approved permanent and comprehensive chemical security legislation. “Although it’s a compromise, this bill represents a historic first step toward protecting the 100 million Americans living in the shadow of high-risk chemical plants,” said Rick Hind, legislative director of Greenpeace. Attempts by House Republicans to weaken the legislation were voted down. “The day after a terrorist attack at a chemical plant kills thousands of Americans, any suggestion that we should not require the use of safer chemicals at these plants will be considered totally crazy. Republicans should have been offering amendments to strengthen this modest legislation instead of trying to cripple it,” said Mr. Hind. The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act will require thousands of facilities where a toxic release endangers the surrounding community to assess their ability to “reduce the consequences of a terrorist attack” by […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 25, 2009) On September 24, 2009, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the appointment of five new members to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), including Beyond Pesticides executive director Jay Feldman. Beyond Pesticides thanks Secretary Vilsack, as well as the individuals, farm, health and environmental organizations and members of Congress that supported his nomination. “I believe that the environmental community must be at the NOSB table to advance the vision and core values of organic management practices, which replace unnecessary and polluting chemical-intensive farming methods that are linked to adverse health and environmental effects, including global climate change,” said Mr. Feldman. “I am honored to be named to the NOSB and will use my seat to represent the grassroots environmental community while ensuring the integrity and growth of organic practices.” USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service oversees the National Organic Program (NOP) and the NOSB. The NOSB includes four producers, two handlers, one retailer, three environmentalists, three consumers, one scientist and one certifying agent. The Board is authorized by the Organic Foods Production Act and makes recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture regarding the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances for organic operations. The […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 14, 2009) Following advocacy by the National Organic Coalition and others, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will subject its National Organic Program (NOP) to a stringent audit and continued oversight by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In a July 29, 2009 letter addressed to the National Organic Coalition, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan underscored the value of scrutinizing the NOP to strengthen the integrity of the program and the USDA organic seal. The NOP is USDA’s regulatory body that develops, implements, and administers the USDA organic seal and national standards for organic agricultural products sold in the U.S. It accredits domestic and foreign certifying agents who inspect organic production and handling operations producing organic food sold in the U.S. as compliant with USDA organic standards. NIST’s National Voluntary Conformity Assessment Systems Evaluation (NVCASE) program reviews accreditation programs such as the NOP to assess their ongoing conformity with international standards for management of accreditation program through onsite audit, evaluation of office system, and oversight of record keeping, enforcement, and corrective actions. “Third-party recognition is important for many of USDA’s audit-based programs,” Ms. Merrigan said in her letter to the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 14, 2009) With language to exclude farmworkers from coverage, on July 10, 2009, Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) introduced Senate Amendment 200 to the Affordable Health Choices Act, the health care reform bill being considered in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). According to the advocacy group Farmworker Justice, her amendment would exclude from the definition of “employees” any “temporary or seasonal agricultural workers ”¦ for the purposes of determining the size of an employer.” Agricultural employers of seasonal farmworkers would not be required to participate in the system because they would be considered to be too small. Seasonal farmworkers would be denied health care coverage. “There can be no good explanation for why Senator Hagan thinks it would be a good idea to exclude seasonal farmworkers from access to affordable health care coverage, other than that she is pandering to agricultural employers and upholding the long tradition of excluding some of America’s lowest paid and hardest working employees from the benefits that other workers receive,” said attorney Kate Woomer-Deters of the North Carolina Justice Center. Farmworkers in the U.S. earn an average of $12,500 to $15,000 per year. They work in some of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 30, 2009) How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? In Food, Inc., producer-director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) lift the veil on the U.S. food industry — an industry that has often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihoods of American farmers, the safety of workers, and our own environment. The movie reveals how a handful of corporations control our nation’s food supply. Though the companies try to maintain the myth that our food still comes from farms with red barns and white picket fences, our food is actually raised on massive “factory farms” and processed in mega industrial plants. The animals grow fatter faster and are designed to fit the machines that slaughter them. Tomatoes are bred to be shipped without bruising and to stay edible for months. The system is highly productive, and Americans are spending less on food than ever before. But, the film asks, at what cost? Cattle are given feed that their bodies are not biologically designed to digest, resulting in new strains of E. coli bacteria, which […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 26, 2009) On June 23, 2009, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson reached an agreement to include language in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 that would put the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in charge of climate change programs and farmers and other landowners for certain practices. The deal would allow carbon-polluting industries that do not meet the greenhouse gas reduction requirements to buy credits from farmers and other landowners who plant trees, install methane capture systems or practice no-till farming, which is heavily reliant on herbicides and not considered by experts to be an effective carbon sequestration strategy. The amendment takes oversight of the programs away from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a move considered a major defeat to environmental groups. Environmentalists worry that because the role of the USDA is to promote U.S. agriculture – not to protect the environment or human health, it may fundamentally undermine the effectiveness of a carbon offset program. But, regardless of who administers the program, many are concerned that at least one of the strategies, herbicide-based no-till farming, just doesn’t work and instead should be replaced in the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 15, 2009) The Oregon House of Representatives has voted for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in schools by passing Senate Bill (SB) 637. The bill, which has already passed the Senate, needs only to pass a concurrence vote in the Senate and be signed into law by Governor Ted Kulongoski. Once passed, SB 637 will require all public and private K-12 schools and community colleges to adopt IPM plans. “The use of integrated pest management can help reduce pesticide exposures and also provide additional benefits by reducing pests and their associated allergens, possibly reducing asthma triggers. Many schools practicing integrated pest management have documented improved pest management, cost savings, and reductions in pesticide applications by as much as 90 percent,” said Senator Suzanne Bonamici. “Senate Bill 637 improves student health and achievement with cost-effective pest management policies for schools.” The bill states: “‘Integrated pest management plan’ means a proactive strategy that: (a) Focuses on the long-term prevention or suppression of pest problems through economically sound measures that: Protect the health and safety of students, staff and faculty; Protect the integrity of campus buildings and grounds; Maintain a productive learning environment; and Protect local ecosystem health; (b) Focuses on […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 15) At last week’s USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced $50 million for a new initiative to meet the Obama Administration’s promise to encourage more organic agriculture production. Funding for the initiative is being made available as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). “Assisting organic producers is a priority of the 2008 Farm Bill as well as for Secretary Vilsack and the Obama Administration,” said Dr. Merrigan. “The objective of this initiative is to make organic food producers eligible to compete for EQIP financial assistance.” The 2009 Organic Initiative is a nationwide special initiative to provide financial assistance to National Organic Program (NOP) certified organic producers as well as producers in the process of transitioning to organic production. Organic producers may also apply for assistance under general EQIP. Under the Organic Initiative required minimum core conservation practices will be determined by specific resource concerns. The practices are: Conservation Crop Rotation; Cover Crop; Nutrient Management; Pest Management; Prescribed Grazing; and Forage Harvest Management. States must consider using any appropriate practice that meets the resource concern on a particular operation. Applications received from organic producers or producers in transition to […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 10, 2009) In the U.S., lindane is a pesticide approved for use in children’s lice shampoo, but not on pets or plants. In much of the rest of the world, including Mexico, all uses of lindane have been banned for years. Parents, health professionals, and Arctic communities — whose food and breast milk are contaminated with a chemical they do not use — are urging US officials to close this loophole. Government delegates will gather in Geneva early next month to decide whether lindane will be added to a list of chemicals targeted for a global phase out under the international Stockholm Convention. In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Joshua Sharfstein, a coalition of groups are calling on the agency leaders to support listing of lindane under the international treaty without exemption for lotions and shampoos (“pharmaceutical uses”). The letter also urges FDA to “take definitive action in ending pharmaceutical use of lindane domestically, as has already been accomplished in California.” “These lindane shampoos and lotions have already been banned in California and in many countries around the world,” says Kristin Schafer, Associate Director for […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 9, 2009) On April 2, 2009, Greenpeace USA, joined by Beyond Pesticides and others, sent a letter (Senate, House) urging Congress to pass comprehensive chemical security reform. Beyond Pesticides believes chemical security is an important step, but only one piece of larger chemical reform, which would ban toxic chemical production when safer products and practices exist. According to the coalition, U.S. pesticide and other chemical plants remain one of the sectors of America’s infrastructure most vulnerable to accidents and terrorist attacks. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified approximately 7,000 high-risk U.S. chemical facilities. However, unless Congress replaces a flawed temporary law with a comprehensive chemical security program, millions of Americans will remain at risk. The statute Congress passed in 2006 temporarily authorized “interim” regulations that are wholly inadequate to protect communities. Furthermore these rules expire on October 4, 2009 leaving the 111th Congress only six months to enact truly protective legislation. Congress must pass comprehensive legislation before the temporary law expires. Among the fatal flaws in the “interim” statute: — It prohibits the DHS from requiring the most ironclad security measures. DHS cannot require any specific “security measure,” including the use of safer and more […]

(Beyond Pesticides, march 30, 2009) The burning of grass seed fields on more than 38,000 acres in Oregon has been a threat to public health for decades.

(Beyond Pesticides, March 26, 2009) Following safety concerns and recalls of peanut butter products and spinach, new food safety legislation has been introduced by the U.S. Congress. They have stirred fears that the future of food safety regulations will be designed for Big Agriculture, and will harm organic and small farmers, and even home gardeners. H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, and H.R. 759, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Globalization Act of 2009, are responsible for many of those fears. Due to growing concerns and rumors regarding these, and other, bills, Food & Water Watch (FWW) has summarized some of the chief points of each bill. FWW explains that H.R. 875 would turn FDA into two agencies: one that regulates food, and another for drugs and medical devices. It increases processing plant inspections, as the latest peanut butter recalls were traced to one terribly mismanaged plant. It requires farms to write a “food safety plan,” and extends FDA authority to include farms. It also requires imported food to meet the same safety standards as domestic products. It does not, however, establish mandatory animal identification, like the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), nor does it regulate backyard […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 23, 2009) With the beginning of Spring, students from Washington, D.C.’s Bancroft Elementary School have joined First Lady Michelle Obama on the White House’s South Lawn to start an 1,100-square foot kitchen garden that will provide food for family meals, formal dinners and local D.C. soup kitchens. Over the coming months, the students, whose school has had a garden since 2001, along with the Obama family and the White House grounds crew, will help with the organic garden from planting to harvesting. Many hope that this move is more than symbolic, that it will transcend to better agricultural and pesticide-reform policies, invigorate homeowners to convert some of their own lawns to an organic garden, and educate the consumers on the importance of eating healthy locally-grown organic food. The garden will contain 55 different vegetables, as well as berries, herbs and two beehives. According to the New York Times, the White House has spent $200 for organic seeds, mulch and dirt for the raised garden plot beds that will be “fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.” “I’m thrilled for the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 9, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently soliciting comments on Monsanto’s second application to extend its experimental use permit for soybeans genetically engineered (GE) with the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This will be the new administration’s first test on how it handles the issues surrounding GE crops. Among a number of concerns regarding GE crops, crops engineered to contain Bt threaten the long-term efficacy of Bt, which is an approved insecticide in organic farming. Monsanto’s permit on these GE soybeans was first granted by EPA in September 2007 and then extended in April 2008. Under the permit, plantings are permitted through July 31, 2009. Monsanto is requesting to extend the experimental program until December 31, 2010 and amend it by conducting tests with up to 0.466 pounds of Bt Cry1Ac protein in soybeans on 1,362 acres, according to the February 4th Federal Register notice. The testing trials will take place in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Virginia. Following the review of the application and any comments and data received in response to this solicitation, EPA will decide whether to issue or deny the EUP request, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 6, 2009) President Obama’s new administration has introduced changes across the federal government, and those at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been on display with the confirmation of new Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. In her recent testimony at her Senate confirmation hearing and open letter to EPA employees, Ms. Jackson pledges a return to scientific integrity and agency transparency. “Science must be the backbone for EPA programs,” she says in a memo to EPA staff. “The public health and environmental laws that Congress has enacted depend on rigorous adherence to the best available science. The President believes that when EPA addresses scientific issues, it should rely on the expert judgment of the Agency’s career scientists and independent advisors. When scientific judgments are suppressed, misrepresented or distorted by political agendas, Americans can lose faith in their government to provide strong public health and environmental protection.” This promise contrasts the previous administration’s strained relationship with EPA scientists, which resulted in last spring’s report entitled, “Interference at EPA: Science and Policies at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.” Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’s Scientific Integrity Program, said at the time, “Nearly 900 EPA scientists reported political […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 30, 2009) In a report released last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) added the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to its list of agencies in most need of reform. EPA appears in GAO’s High Risk Series: An Update, alongside the newly added U.S. Financial Regulatory System and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Reasons for EPA’s addition include a lack of transparency and information needed to limit potential health risks caused by chemicals under review, echoing testimony given to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last spring. “EPA does not have sufficient chemical assessment information to determine whether it should establish controls to limit public exposure to many chemicals that may pose substantial health risks,” the report states. “Actions are needed to streamline and increase the transparency of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) and to enhance EPA’s ability under the Toxic Substances Control Act to obtain health and safety information from the chemical industry.” New EPA administrator Lisa Jackson responded to the report with a prepared statement. “It is clear that we are not doing an adequate job of assessing and managing the risks of chemicals in consumer products, the workplace, and the environment,” […]

Transforming Government’s Approach to Regulating Pesticides to Protect Public Health and the Environment is a document drafted by Beyond Pesticides and Pesticide Action Network North America that captures grassroots pesticide priorities for the Obama Administration. While we have already submitted these priorities to the Obama transition team, we ask for your support and suggestions because we will continue to use this document as we begin to work with the new administration. To sign on to the document, follow the link above and include your name, organization/company affiliation (if any), city and state in the comment field. The document identifies what the Obama administration can/should take on under existing authority/statutory responsibility, with a specific focus on the first 100 days. Most of the comments in our document focus on pending regulatory actions and pending petitions before the government, either because of ongoing chemical reviews, pending rulemaking, or petitions. While we incorporate big picture thinking, we are focused on specific actions that the relevant agencies could take now. We plan to meet and communicate with the Obama administration to put these suggested actions in place. Issues covered in the document include, but are not limited to: Promoting organic agriculture; Protecting sensitive species; […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 25, 2008) A new report on U.S. chemical security, which includes two pesticide and 30 bleach manufacturing plants on its list of 101 most dangerous chemical facilities, was released November 19, 2008 by the Washington-based think tank Center for American Progress (CAP). The report, Chemical Security 101: What You Don’t Have Can’t Leak, or Be Blown Up by Terrorists, calls on chemical plants to substitute for their most hazardous chemicals and processes to protect the lives and health of 80 million people living near the 101 worst facilities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and numerous security experts have repeatedly warned that terrorists could use industrial chemicals as improvised weapons of mass destruction. However, according to CAP, current chemical security efforts are inadequate to protect workplaces and communities. “Indeed, temporary standards enacted two years ago (and set to expire in 2009) focus almost entirely on physical security measures, such as adding gates and guards,” say report authors Paul Orum and Reece Rushing. “These measures, however worthy, cannot assure protection against a concerted attack, insider sabotage, or catastrophic release. Nor do they protect communities along chemical delivery routes. More than 90 percent of the 101 most dangerous facilities […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 4, 2008) As voters across the country make their way to the polls today, the pundits and we here at Beyond Pesticides, are thinking about the new President’s possible cabinet picks that will affect pesticide policy. Who will serve as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency responsible for regulating pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as well as enforcing the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and other environmental laws? Who will serve as Secretary of Agriculture, heading the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department which regulates organic food and textile production? Before the presidential votes have been tallied, many experts have already made their predictions. Obama EPA With climate change a top priority, an Obama Administration EPA Administrator would most likely have a background in carbon emissions and global warming. Organic advocates will be pushing to include organic agriculture and carbon sequestration in any new cap and trade emissions program. The online environmental magazine Daily Grist predicts Mary Nichols, a former Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer and senior official in the Clinton EPA who currently chairs the California Air Resources Board; Kathleen McGinty, former Al Gore aide and first […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 8, 2008) In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) abruptly halted its program that tracks pesticide usage in fruits, vegetables and field crops, only to have the U.S. Senate in July put the program back in the 2009 Senate budget bill. USDA cited the $8 million program expense as the reaon for the reports’ demise, however the move left scientists, public advocates and even industry groups surprised and concerned about carrying out their work without this information. The Agricultural Chemical Usage Reports, launched in 1990 and administered by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), issues pesticide usage data on crops, having been initiated in response to public concerns over the contamination of apples by the pesticide Alar.The information was also widely used by universities and food industry researchers to help farmers monitor and reduce the amount of pesticides they use. “We looked at the budget and said, “We can’t do everything we have been doing, and what are we going to get rid of?” said Mark Miller of NASS. However, a coalition of public interest groups which included Beyond Pesticides, NRDC, the Center for Food Safety, and the Union of Concerned Scientists argued that the Agricultural […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 9, 2008) The U.S. Senate is proposing to cut $2 million per year from the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s premier organic research program, and the Bush Administration is threatening to cut a whopping $8 million, according to the Organic Farming Research Foundation. The move comes after months of grassroots pressure recently delivered a much-needed fivefold increase in mandatory OREI funding, from $15 to $78 million over the next five years, in the 2008 Farm Bill. Beyond Pesticides has long supported organic methods as the solution to pesticide pollution, with organic agriculture being the centerpiece of the conversion necessary to protect human health and the environment, including slowing global warming. Data shows that organic agriculture sequesters atmospheric carbon while chemical-intensive practices are a major contributor to carbon loading. In addition, the reduced pressure on global warming associated with organic agriculture occurs through the drastic reduction in fossil fuel usage (approximately 75% less than conventional agriculture) as well as the significant increase in carbon sequestration in the soil (approximately 1000 lbs. of carbon per acre). See Beyond Pesticides’ organic page. Let the Appropriations Committees Congress know that it is essential to […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 29, 2008) After repeated calls from parents, consumer groups and health experts to protect children from toxic chemicals, congressional lawmakers have agreed on statutory language that would prohibit the use of a family of toxic chemicals found in many children’s products, according to the Washington Post. Legislators are proposing to include this language to the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act (HR 4040 and S.2663). This new ban, set to take effect in six months, will have far reaching implications on the long-debated overhaul of U.S. consumer safety standards. On Monday, House and Senate lawmakers agreed to prohibit three types of phthalates from children’s toys and to outlaw three other phthalates from products pending an extensive study of their health effects in children and pregnant women. This measure aims to improve product safety and is part of popular legislation to reform the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversees more than 15,000 types of products. Phthalates are used to soften plastic and are found in homes across the U.S. in a wide range of products including shower curtains, shampoos, perfumes, toys and pesticides, to name a few. They are associated with adverse developmental and reproductive health effects, including […]