The agency prepared this draft EIS to comply with a February 2007 judgment and order by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in which Judge Charles R. Breyer found that USDA violated federal environmental law by failing to conduct an EIS on GE alfalfa seeds before deregulating them in 2005.

The lawsuit, originally brought on by The Center for Food Safety (CFS) and several other environmental and farming groups, including Beyond Pesticides and Sierra Club, led to a 2007 court order that the deregulation may have significant environmental impacts and issued a permanent order stating that the alfalfa is once again a regulated article. The court banned the planting of GE alfalfa until USDA completed a rigorous analysis of these impacts.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit twice affirmed the national ban on GE alfalfa planting, including earlier this year, determining that the planting of genetically modified alfalfa can result in potentially irreversible harm to organic and conventional varieties of crops, damage to the environment, and economic harm to farmers. Noting that contamination of natural and organic alfalfa by the GE variety has already occurred, Judge Breyer stated, “Such contamination is irreparable environmental harm. The contamination cannot be undone.”

“GE alfalfa threatens the very fabric of the organic industry. Organic consumers want seeds and products to not be polluted by GE,” explained George Siemon, one of the founding farmers and CEO of Organic Valley. “In order for dairy products to be marketed as organic, certified organic alfalfa must be used as forage. When contamination of GE alfalfa becomes widespread, organic dairy farmers will no longer be able to give that assurance.”

While USDA’s initial approval of GE alfalfa was found to violate environmental laws by failing to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa and the development of “superweeds” that are resistant to glyphosate; USDA once again dismisses the potential that organic and conventional alfalfa will be endangered due to biological contamination in their court-ordered EIS.

“USDA’s announcement is simply business as usual, once again catering to Monsanto’s corporate interests at the expense of farmers and consumers,” stated Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of CFS. “This is a huge disappointment coming from the Obama administration, which has repeatedly claimed to support family farms and consumers’ right to know what’s in their food.”

This draft EIS ignores the new reports and studies that demonstrate the many environmental and health consequences that GE crops cause. Earlier this year, Beyond Pesticides, joined by 32 other groups and individuals, submitted comments to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) showing new and emerging science which illustrates that glyphosate and its formulated products pose unreasonable risk to human and environmental health, and as such should not be considered eligible for continued registration.

Glyphosate poses unacceptable risks to humans. Due to such widespread use of the weed killer glyphosate and the prevalent myth that it is harmless, it has been linked to acute human health effects such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Another recent study found that Roundup kills human embryonic cells. Glyphosate is also harmful to the environment, particularly aquatic life and water quality and has been linked to intersex frogs, and is lethal to amphibians in concentrations found in the environment.

Furthermore, despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, a report by Union of Concerned Scientists found that genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase U.S. crop yields. Increases over the last decade are largely due to traditional breeding and agricultural improvements. In fact, a report published last month found that the rapid adoption by U.S. farmers of genetically modified corn, soybeans and cotton has actually promoted increased use of pesticides, an epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds, and more chemical residues in foods.

In this Fourth Report, 75 new chemicals were added. Chemicals in the Fourth Report include metals such as lead, cadmium, uranium, mercury, and speciated forms of arsenic; environmental phenols such as bisphenol-A (BPA); acrylamide; perfluorinated chemicals; polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs); polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); volatile organic compounds such as benzene, styrene and methyl tert-butyl ether; pesticides; phthalates; and dioxins, furans and related chemicals.

The data analyzed in the Fourth Report are based on blood and urine samples that were collected from approximately 2400 people who participated in CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2003 through 2004. NHANES is an ongoing national health survey of the non-institutionalized U.S. population that includes collecting and analyzing blood and urine samples to help further research involving exposures and health effects.

The types of exposure information found in the report can help physicians and public health officials determine whether people have been exposed to higher environmental chemicals as well as help scientists plan and conduct research about health effects. Much of the information has been previously published, but this is the first publication of all the data in one place. The report does not provide new health effects information. Research separate from that compiled in the Fourth Report is needed to determine whether higher levels of environmental chemicals in blood or urine are related to health effects.

Triclosan, a widely-used antibacterial pesticide found in products from countertops to toothpaste, is found in the urine of 75% of the U.S. population, with higher levels in people in their third decade of life and among people with the highest household income. Triclosan is shown to alter thyroid function, is linked to bacterial and compounded antibiotic resistance, dioxin contamination and contamination of surface waters and sewage sludge. Other studies have found that due to its extensive use in consumer goods, triclosan and its metabolites are present in, fish, umbilical cord blood and human milk.

Pesticides like synthetic pyrethroids were included for the second time. The report finds that exposure continues to be widespread, specifically for permethrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, and/or their metabolites which were all found in greater than 50% of the subjects tested. Exposure to synthetic pyrethroids has been reported to trigger asthma, lead to headaches, dizziness and nausea. There are also serious chronic health concerns related to synthetic pyrethroids. EPA classifies both permethrin and cypermethrin as possible human carcinogens, based on evidence of lung tumors in lab animals exposed to these chemicals. Many synthetic pyrethroids have been linked to disruption of the endocrine system, which can adversely affect reproduction and sexual development, interfere with the immune system, and increase chances of breast cancer.

According to a December 4 analysis by Environmental Health Sciences, a foundation-funded journalism organization, the researchers discovered that female rats fed atrazine at the time of ovulation released a flow of stress hormones that are known to interfere with hormones essential for reproduction. The findings reveal one way atrazine may impact female reproduction. Elevated stress hormones can disrupt the hormone signals that spur ovulation. Such a stress response to atrazine could partially explain why previous studies find that the herbicide inhibits reproduction. The stress reaction is similar to that seen when the animals are restrained against their will.

One of the most widely used agricultural pesticides in the U.S., atrazine can currently legally be applied before and after planting to control broadleaf and grassy weeds. Its increased use to manicure home lawns and gardens has become a serious environmental concern as runoff has had severe health and environmental consequences.

Even at low levels that are considered “safe” by EPA standards, atrazine is known to harm fish, and has been associated with reproductive and developmental effects as well as endocrine disruption. Research by UC Berkeley professor, Tyrone Hayes, Ph.D., demonstrates that exposure to doses of atrazine as small as 0.1 parts per billion, turns tadpoles into hermaphrodites – creatures with both male and female sexual characteristics.

As the most commonly detected pesticide in rivers, streams and wells, an estimated 76.4 million pounds of atrazine is applied in the U.S. annually. It has a tendency to persist in soils and move with water, making it a common water contaminant. Research found that intersex frogs are more common in suburban areas than agricultural areas. Another study suggests it as a possible cause for male infertility.

In October 2009, EPA announced that it will launch a new comprehensive evaluation of the pesticide atrazine to determine its effects on humans this fall. In EPA’s own words, “At the end of this process, the agency will decide whether to revise its current risk assessment of the pesticide and whether new restrictions are necessary to better protect public health.”

“Companies are working hard to convince consumers, and especially moms, that they need to regularly disinfect every surface in their homes to protect their families from illness. But that’s simply not true and it may not be healthy,” says WVE staff scientist and report author Alexandra Scranton. “We’re encouraging consumers to go back to basics for cleaning, with less of a focus on disinfection and more on non-toxic cleaners and a little elbow grease.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), frequent hand washing with hot water and regular soap is the best way to prevent infection and illness.

“Antimicrobial chemicals available in the home today were initially developed for hospital and clinical settings, but for the vast majority of people, the home does not need to be as sterile as an operating room,” Says Susan Luck, RN, director of the Integrative Nursing Institute.

Disinfectants tend to kill a wide variety of bacteria, reducing both “bad” bacteria associated with illness, as well as the “good” bacteria that perform useful functions in our environment and in our bodies. The overuse of antimicrobial chemicals has also been linked to the creation of drug-resistant bacteria, or “superbugs,” which are bacteria and viruses that have become resistant to the antimicrobial compounds and antibiotic drugs developed to control them.

“Even when used as directed, these chemicals inadvertently end up polluting our bodies and our environment,” says Ann Blake, PhD, University of California Berkeley Extension Instructor. The report cites a study that found that microbes in lake water adapted and became resistant to some ammonium quaternary compounds, a family of chemicals commonly found in disinfectant sprays and toilet cleaners.

Regulated by both the FDA and EPA, triclosan is an antibacterial used in hundreds of common consumer products such as soaps, cosmetics, deodorants, toys, and even clothing. According to the triclosan factsheet in the Fourth National Report and Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, released in December 2009, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES) finds triclosan in the bodies of nearly 75 percent of people tested. Studies show the two chemicals may have hormone-disrupting effects, which means they change the activity of hormones in the body. For example, triclocarban appears to amplify testosterone in the body, while triclosan has been shown to interfere with communication between cells in the brain and the heart.

A U.S Geological Survey (USGS) study found that triclosan is one of the most detected chemicals in U.S. waterways and at some of the highest concentrations, because it is so frequently used in households and washed down the drains.

Other studies have found that due to its extensive use in consumer goods, triclosan and its metabolites are present in fish, human milk, serum, urine, and foods. Further, the pesticide can also interact with other chemicals to form dioxin and chloroform, thereby exposing consumers to even more dangerous chemicals.

At its annual convention this past summer, the Canadian Medical Association called on the federal government to ban the sale of household antibacterial products such as those containing triclosan.

In July of this year, Beyond Pesticides and Food and Water Watch submitted an amended petition to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requiring that the agency ban the use of the controversial pesticide triclosan for non-medical applications on the basis that those uses violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act.

In addition, nanosilver has been promoted for its antibacterial properties and is used in many products such as sporting goods, band-aids, clothing, baby and infant products, and food and food packaging. However, very little is known about where these particles end up when such products are put to use. Many consider silver to be more toxic than other metals when in nanoscale form and that these particles have a different toxicity mechanism compared to dissolved silver. Scientists have concluded that nanoparticles can pass easily into cells and affect cellular function, depending on their shape and size. Preliminary research with laboratory rats has found that silver nanoparticles can traverse into the brain, and can induce neuronal degeneration and necrosis (death of cells or tissue) by accumulating in the brain over a long period of time.

Disinfectant Overkill also contains information on how to reduce usage of disinfecting products as well as suggestions for non-toxic cleaning alternatives. Disinfectants are a growing sector of business for cleaning product manufacturers. The industry has seen significant growth in recent years, and analysts project that the global disinfectant market will reach $2.5 billion by 2012.

“We would like to see greater conscience of the importance (of agriculture),” Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told Reuters in an interview this week at the Copenhagen climate talks. “Historically the discussion centered on the industrial aspects of climate change, be it in terms of factories, transport, but less on the primary sector of agriculture.”

FAO believes carbon sequestration, lower-input of fossil fuel dependant resources, and use of renewable energy all present opportunities for organic agriculture to lead the way in reducing energy consumption and mitigating the negative effects of climate change. Organic agriculture incorporates management practices that can help farmers adapt to climate change through strengthening agro-ecosystems, diversifying crop and livestock production, and building farmers’ knowledge base to best prevent and confront changes in climate.

FAO promotes organic agriculture as an alternative approach that maximizes the performance of renewable resources and optimizes nutrient and energy flows in agroecosystems. Life cycle assessments show that emissions in conventional production systems are always higher than those of organic systems, based on production area. Soil emissions of nitrous oxides and methane from arable or pasture use of dried peat lands can be avoided with organic management practices.

The agency points to many field trials worldwide that show that organic fertilization compared to mineral fertilization is increasing soil organic carbon and thus sequestering large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere to the soil. Lower greenhouse gas emissions for crop production and enhanced carbon sequestration, coupled with additional benefits of biodiversity and other environmental services, makes organic agriculture a farming method with many advantages and considerable potential for mitigating and adopting to climate change, says FAO.

Beyond Pesticides believes conventional agricultural practices have contributed to climate change through heavy use of fossil fuels–both directly on the farm and in the manufacturing of pesticides and fertilizers–and through degradation of the soil, which releases carbon. The herbicide use that conventional no-till depends on, is no exception. The adoption of organic methods, particularly organic no-till, is an opportunity for farming both to mitigate agriculture’s contributions to climate change and cope with the effects climate change has had and will have on agriculture.

Research from the Rodale Institute’s Farming Systems Trial (FST) has documented that organic, regenerative agriculture actually has the potential to lessen the impacts of climate change. This occurs through the drastic reduction in fossil fuel usage to produce the crops (approximately 75% less than conventional agriculture) and the significant increase in carbon sequestration in the soil (approximately 1000 lbs. of carbon per acre). The organic no-till methods they have developed produce comparable yields to conventional systems on average, and higher yields in drought years because of the greater water holding capacity of the organic soils.

The U.N. Climate Change Conference is taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 7-18, 2009. The conference includes the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 5th Meeting of the Parties (COP/MOP 5) to the Kyoto Protocol.

“Better information and applying these tools will strengthen EPA’s protections for farm workers exposed to these chemicals, and children living in and around the areas of highest possible exposure,” says EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “It’s essential we have the tools to keep everyone, especially vulnerable populations like children, safe from the serious health consequences of pesticide exposure.”

EPA licenses or registers pesticides for sale and distribution under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The agency establishes tolerances, limits for pesticide residues in or on food, under section 408 of FFDCA. In contrast to the risk/benefit standard for registration under FIFRA, FFDCA applies a risk-only standard for tolerances and explicitly sets certain approaches for assessing risks and establishes acceptable rates of harm. Critics of the risk assessment approach (as opposed to the precautionary approach) to toxics regulation have maintained that the methodology ignores data gaps on important health outcomes not evaluated (e.g. endocrine disruption), possible interactions, additive and synergistic effects resulting from chemical mixtures permitted to be released in the environment, effects of all the contaminants associated with a pesticide, and the availability of less or non-toxic approaches and products to the pesticide under evaluation. Health advocates have said that multiplying an uncertainty factor (called a safety factor by EPA) of ten times an unknown outcome (equivalent to zerio) does not necessarily improve the protection of children or others exposed. In simple math terms, ten times zero (knowledge) equals zero (knowledge). The best example of this are endocrine disruptors and sublethal effects associated with low dose exposure, where miniscule amounts of a chemical can induce serious health outcomes for a spectrum of disorders throughout ones life.

Under the policy, EPA risk assessments for children, farmworkers and others would consider aggregate pesticide exposures from all sources (which is currently done when there is a non-occupational food-related exposure) in addition to the cumulative effects from multiple pesticides that have similar toxicity (also done currently when there is food-related non-occupational exposure). The risk-only standard and the mandated risk assessment approaches were added to FFDCA by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA). However, FQPA explicitly did not require EPA to use these risk assessment approaches in assessing worker risks or non-food use pesticides that do not have any food uses. Also, historically, EPA has not considered children in assessing worker risks.

Specifically, the policy will include using an additional uncertainty factor for children, considering aggregate exposures to pesticides from multiple sources, and considering cumulative effects which may occur from exposure to multiple pesticides with a common mechanism of toxicity. Moreover, risks will be explicitly reported for individuals who had not been explicitly considered, specifically workers age 12 to 17 and children taken into agricultural fields. EPA also would apply the additional uncertainty factor for infants and children in cases where the agency has incomplete data.

This “safety” factor, as EPA refers to it, however, is merely the allowable margin of error or the uncertainty factor in risk determinations. FQPA mandates that an additional 10X safety factor be applied to protect infants and children “to take into account potential pre- and postnatal toxicity and completeness of the data with respect to exposure and toxicity to infants and children.” This additional factor can only be reduced or removed if there are reliable and sufficient data on effects in infants and children.

Beyond Pesticides has historically criticized the agency for what appears to be an arbitrary application of the FQPA 10X “safety” factor, for manipulating safety data and allowing hazardous pesticide uses to remain on the market. Despite these concerns, Beyond Pesticides believes that, in principle, expanding and increasing the uncertainty factor for some chemicals to protect sensitive populations will help reduce the hazards posed by pesticide use, but not eliminate the use of toxic pesticides that are not necessary given the availability of less and non-toxic methods and products. However, taking this step to eliminate the disproportionate risk to farmworkers and their children by equalizing protections across the population under risk calculations has important environmental justice ramifications, especially since occupational exposures were excluded from FQPA when it was passed in 1996. Additionally, advocates are asking EPA to evaluate the reasonableness of of any pesticide-related risks (especially given the unknowns) to children and workers when less and non-toxic approaches to agricultural land management are available and profitable.

TAKE ACTION! Tell EPA that you support their efforts for a more thorough assessment of risks to workers, including farmworkers and farm children, but that more needs to be done to restrict the availability of toxic pesticides on the market. Comments can be submitted to www.regulations.gov, docket number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0889 on or before February 8, 2010.

On November 24, Mr. Coronado, owner of Sel-Cor Bean and Pea Inc. pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings who ordered a pre-sentence investigation with a sentencing date to be set after that report is completed. Mr. Coronado ran and managed the operations of Sel-Cor and was responsible for purchasing and selling organic products and maintaining records related to the purchase and sale of organic products.

During an investigation by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) in late June 2008, Mr. Coronado furnished the TDA investigator with several false documents and statements relating to his source of organic commodities. These documents and statements were false in representing Sel-Cor as purchasing and selling large quantities of organic grain, beans, and peas, when, in fact, the products were not organic. Those documents included:

1) a document stating that Sel-Cor sold Edison Grain 1,187,000 pounds of organic milo in 2005, and 2,481,470 pounds of organic milo in 2006, when as Coronado well knew, only approximately 351,490 pounds of the milo sold by Sel-Cor to Edison Grain during 2005 and 2006 was actually organic;

2) a document stating that during 2005, Sel-Cor purchased from Houston Wall, in Causey, New Mexico, 1,144,380 pounds of organic milo, 396,120 pounds of organic pinto beans, and 60,410 pounds of organic garbanzo beans, when as Coronado well knew, in 2005, Sel-Cor had only purchased approximately 351,490 pounds of organic milo, and did not purchase any organic pinto beans or organic garbanzo beans;

3) a document entitled “New Mexico Organic Commodity Commission Certified Organic Product List,” which stated that Wall Farms, operated by Houston Wall, in Causey, New Mexico, was certified by the New Mexico Organic Commodity Commission as a producer of organic peas and beans during the time of September 1, 2005, through September 1, 2006, when as Coronado well knew, Houston Wall and Wall Farms were not certified producers of those crops during that time period; and

4) a false statement that the pinto beans being shipped to American Health and Nutrition were organic beans purchased from Houston Wall, Causey, New Mexico.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Sel-Cor cleaned, bagged and shipped conventional and organic produce. The company also negotiated the purchase and sale of various types of produce grown in Texas and New Mexico. Sel-Cor, registered as an organic distributor by the TDA, was authorized to represent products it distributed as organic if the products complied with all the National Organic Standards related to production and handling of organic products.

Organic food products are grown without synthetic pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, hormones, fertilizers or other synthetic or toxic substances for a three-year minimum. The food product may only contain organically produced ingredients, and no artificial flavors or colors can be included.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with assistance from the FBI and the TDA. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lubbock is prosecuting.

Acute poisoning from endosulfan can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, and in extreme cases, unconsciousness and even death. Studies have linked endosulfan to smaller testicles, lower sperm production, an increase in the risk of miscarriages and autism. Endosulfan is a potent environmental pollutant and is especially toxic to fish and other aquatic life. It also affects birds, bees, earthworms, and other beneficial insects. Endosulfan travels such long distances that it has been found in Sierra Nevada lakes and on Mt. Everest. This persistent pesticide can also migrate to the Poles on wind and ocean currents where Arctic communities have documented contamination.

“It’s time for the U.S. to step up to the plate and get rid of endosulfan,” notes Karl Tupper, Ph.D., staff scientist with Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). “EPA’s review of endosulfan has been dragging on for years. Since 2006 they’ve invited some 270 days of public comment on the issue. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is abandoning this old-fashioned poison. EPA action is long overdue.”

The letter from the coalition comes on the heels of the recent conclusion of scientific experts at the Stockholm Convention Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) that endosulfan “is likely, as a result of its long-range environmental transport, to lead to significant adverse human health and environmental effects, such that global action is warranted.”

The POPRC is the panel that evaluates chemicals for listing in the Stockholm Convention, a United Nations treaty that bans dangerous chemicals known as POPs including PCBs, dioxins, and many pesticides. Endosulfan is being considered for addition to the treaty due to the fact that it persists in the environment, is toxic, is transported long distances on wind and water currents, and builds up in the living tissue of animals, including humans.

“Endosulfan is one of the persistent pesticides that threatens the safety of traditional foods and health of Arctic peoples,” says Pamela Miller, Executive Director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics. “EPA has a moral obligation to protect the health of Indigenous communities of the north.” Endosulfan has become one of the most abundant pesticides in the Arctic air and is found in wildlife including fish, seals, and beluga whales. Long-term monitoring reveals that levels are not declining in the Arctic and will likely increase as a result of climate warming if actions are not taken to eliminate its use.

“As part of the global community, the U.S. has responsibility to eliminate the use of POPs that travel beyond its borders,” adds Joe DiGangi, Environmental Health Fund. “The consensus of the scientific committee means endosulfan cannot be used safely by any country. It’s time for the US to ban it.”

“We are pleased that justice has been served in the Promiseland matter,” said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. Scrutiny from Cornucopia, one of the industry’s most aggressive independent watchdogs, was part of the genesis for the comprehensive USDA investigation and subsequent legal proceedings.

Promiseland became the focus of Cornucopia’s investigation into giant factory farms, milking thousands of cows that were allegedly operating illegally. Promiseland sold thousands of dairy cows to giant factory dairy farms owned by Dean Foods (Horizon Organic), Natural Prairie Dairy in Texas and Aurora Dairy based in Colorado. Aurora and Natural Prairie supply private-label, store-brand milk for Wal-Mart, Costco, Target and major supermarket chains such as HEB, Safeway and Harris Teeter.

Image by Environmental News Network

“It appears that it was the investigation into improprieties by Aurora that finally led to the hammer coming down on Promiseland,” Mr. Kastel observed. Aurora operates five dairies in Texas and Colorado and was found by USDA investigators to have “willfully” violated 14 tenets of federal organic regulations in 2007. However, Bush administration officials let the $100 million corporate dairy continue in operation under a one-year probation.

“It’s sad that the civil servants at the USDA, who had recommended Aurora be decertified, were overruled,” Mr. Kastel lamented. “They should have been banned from organic commerce the same way Promiseland, and its owner Tony Zeman, now have been.”

Although Cornucopia has praise for the professionalism of law enforcement agents at the USDA, and the career staff at the National Organic Program (NOP), who carried out the Aurora and Promiseland investigations, the farm policy research group has harshly criticized past management at the USDA which allowed Promiseland, and Aurora, to operate illegally for years.

“From formal legal complaints that we filed, Bush Administration officials at the USDA were alerted, starting in January 2005, to the alleged improprieties by massive factory farms masquerading as organic,” said Will Fantle, Research Director for The Cornucopia Institute.

Documents secured under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by The Cornucopia Institute indicate that the initial investigation was squashed for political reasons by Barbara Robinson, Ph.D., who until recently directed the USDA’s organic program.

“It is inexcusable that these improprieties took place for so long and that justice was delayed,” said Gary Cox, an attorney who represents Cornucopia. “Ethical organic dairy farmers have been placed at a distinct competitive disadvantage and consumers were obviously taken advantage of.”

An investigation by the Office of Inspector General at the USDA, focusing in part on the relationship between Dr. Robinson and prominent agribusiness lobbyist and lawyer Jay Friedman, was profiled in a July 3, 2009 Washington Post story. Mr. Friedman, in addition to representing Aurora and Dean Foods, also was the lawyer for Promiseland when they were targeted by the USDA for investigation.

New documents made public have prompted Cornucopia to prepare additional legal complaints asking the USDA to focus attention now on Quality Assurance International (QAI), the certifier for Promiseland when many of the alleged abuses took place.

“This is not the first time QAI has been suspected of incompetence or improperly accommodating corporate agribusiness,” said Mr. Fantle. The Robinson, Friedman and QAI connection is part of an investigation by the USDA’s Inspector General. QAI also certifies portions of Aurora’s operation and Dean Foods’ corporate-owned industrial dairies.

“However grim it sounds, this investigation and the legal proceeding illustrate that if organic stakeholders are persistent, the system works,” Mr. Kastel said.

Cornucopia and other organic policy groups have been delighted by what they have called a “decisive shift” that has taken place since Obama administration officials have taken over at the USDA and its organic program. At a recent industry meeting in Washington, D.C., Miles McEvoy, USDA Deputy Administrator and the new director of the National Organic Program, stated emphatically that we were now entering the “age of enforcement” at the NOP.

“We started asking for new management at the organic program in 2004,” said Mr. Kastel. “We had suggested that they go outside of the Department to gain the needed expertise from someone who was universally respected by participants in the organic industry. We couldn’t have asked for a more qualified candidate than Mr. McEvoy.”

In addition to investigating QAI, Cornucopia has formally asked USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to reopen the Aurora matter, alleging that the consent agreement allowing their probation included illegally favorable provisions. The farm policy group also asked that complaints involving Dean Foods and its Horizon label, which had languished under the Bush administration since early 2005, now also be actively investigated by the new administration.

“We think that organic consumers and the family farmers who have built this industry have good reason to be optimistic and confident that from this point forward, when they see the organic seal on a product, they know that the public servants in Washington share their steadfast desire to maintain the integrity of the organic label,” Mr. Fantle stated.

Beyond Pesticides is a member of the National Organic Coalition (NOC), and recently, Jay Feldman, director of Beyond Pesticides, was appointed to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Organic agriculture embodies an ecological approach to farming that does not rely on or permit toxic pesticides, chemical fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, antibiotics, sewage sludge, or irradiation. Instead of using these harmful products and practices, organic agriculture utilizes techniques such as cover cropping, crop rotation, and composting to produce healthy soil, prevent pest and disease problems, and grow healthy food and fiber.

Beyond Pesticides supports organic agriculture as effecting good land stewardship and a reduction in hazardous chemical exposures for workers on the farm. The pesticide reform movement, citing pesticide problems associated with chemical agriculture, from groundwater contamination and runoff to drift, views organic as the solution to a serious public health and environmental threat. For more information on organic agriculture, see Beyond Pesticides’ Organic Program page.

Source: The Cornucopia Institute

According to a Reuters piece on the anniversary of Bhopal, “India’s “death factory” leaves toxic legacy 25 years on,” there are still 40 metric tonnes of chemical waste stored in a warehouse inside the plant that still needs disposal. Dow Chemical, which now owns Union Carbide, denies any responsibility saying it bought the company a decade after Union Carbide had settled its liabilities to the Indian government in 1989 by paying $470 million for the victims.

“After the disaster, Union Carbide did this botched site remediation and created a massive landfill,” said Rajan Sharma, a New York-based lawyer demanding that Dow Chemical clean up the site and purify the water supply.

“There are thousands of tons of toxic chemical waste which have been not been properly disposed inside and just outside the factory site, which have been seeping into the ground for years,” Mr. Sharma said.

Delhi-based think-tank, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), reports that samples taken around the factory site in Bhopal contain chlorinated benzene compounds and organochlorine pesticides 561 times the national standard. Samples taken as far as 1.9 miles away have toxic chemicals 38.6 times more than the standard. The report says that there could be no other source of these chemicals than Union Carbide.

Earlier this year, a U.S. District Court Judge denied a request for remediation in resolving the on-going lawsuit between the victims in Bhopal, India and Union Carbide, after Union Carbide objected to the victims’ request for remediation. Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide in 2001 and with it the liabilities for the chemical plant disaster involving the production of MIC which is an intermediate chemical used in the production of aldicarb, carbaryl, carbofuran, methomyl and other carbamate pesticides. Dow Chemical has refused to clean up the site, provide safe drinking water, compensate the victims, or disclose chemical information to physicians; claiming that the Indian government is responsible for the environmental cleanup.

After Bhopal, other plants around the world eliminated large-scale MIC storage. The Institute facility in West Virginia, which Bayer took over in 2001, is the only one in the U.S. that continued to store large amounts and remains the only one nationwide that trips a 10,000-pound threshold for the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Management Program, according to the Coalition against BAYER Dangers (CBG).

On the night of August 28, 2008, a pesticide waste tank containing MIC exploded at Bayer’s Institute, West Virginia plant. Two workers were killed, and the blast was heard in Mink Shoals, more than ten miles away. Despite individual accounts of the resulting air pollution, Bayer officials assured the public that no chemicals had escaped the plant; however an investigation of Bayer’s safety history and the area’s emergency response revealed a shaky safety record.

Congressional investigators reported in a hearing last April that debris from that explosion could have easily hit and damaged an MIC storage tank, causing a disaster that “could have eclipsed” Bhopal. The explosion was “potentially a serious near miss, the results of which might have been catastrophic for workers, responders and the public,” explains the federal Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Chairman John Bresland.

Bayer CropScience announced its plans to reduce the storage of MIC at Institute by 80 percent in August””one year after the Institute facility’s explosion. According to CBG, a board spokesman said this week that Bayer has briefed the CSB on the project, however the board did not answer other questions about how the work was progressing. The inventory reduction is purported to take about a year, cost $25 million and not result in any lost jobs at the Institute plant.

While this is a step in the right direction, many advocates point out that even if Bayer follows through with its 80% reduction promise, it would still allow up to 50,000 pounds of MIC to be stored on site.

Photo gallery:

West Virginia

August 2008 explosion at the Bayer CropScience plant in WV

Photo of the gate closing off the Institute community's evacuation route. By Maya Nye, 11/08

Bhopal

Bhopal plant control room. (Photo by Jay Feldman, Beyond Pesticides)

Bhopal procedures for an emergency. (Photo by Jay Feldman, Beyond Pesticides)

Hypospadias is the condition where the opening of the penis is in the wrong place – usually back from the tip and on the underside – and often requires corrective surgery. The condition is thought to affect around one to two baby boys in every 500. According to a report published online November 30 in Occupational and Environmental Medicine and entitled “Use of biocides and insect repellents and risk of hypospadias,” infants born to mothers who used insect repellent during the first trimester of pregnancy are more likely to have hypospadias (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.06 to 3.11) after adjusting for other factors.

The research includes 471 babies with hypospadias and 490 acting as a comparison group. Their mothers were asked a series of questions, including whether they had been exposed to insect repellents and biocide chemicals, such as pesticides or weedkillers. They were asked about their own use of fly sprays, repellents, animal poisons, pet flea treatments and nit shampoos and asked geographical questions, for example if they lived less than a mile from an agricultural field. Exposure levels were then calculated using a score from 0 to 8.

A high total pesticide exposure was associated with an increased risk (73%) for hypospadias. Insect repellent use in the first three months of pregnancy was linked with an 81% increased risk of hypospadias. The researchers found no significant links between the birth defect and individual pesticides.

“We found a significant association for risk of hypospadias with the use of insect repellents and total biocide score, but not with the use of individual biocides or indicators for its use,” Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, MD, of the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology at Parc de Recerca Biomedica de Barcelona, and colleagues wrote.

“Further work should be conducted on the possible reproductive effects of insect repellents, with consideration of the type, content, and mechanisms of action of specific formulations, and the current findings need to be replicated before firm conclusions can be drawn.”

A number of studies have also found associations between pesticide exposure and risk of hypospadias, but none had explored whether the use of insect repellents increased the risk. While the researchers found no direct link between individual pesticides and hypospadias, they theorized that association between total pesticide exposure and the birth defect might indicate exposure to some other toxic compound.

Scientists describe a group of impacts on the male reproductive system under the term Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome (TDS). TDS includes the birth defects cryptorchidism and hypospadias, as well as poor semen quality (i.e. reduced sperm count, abnormal sperm), decreased fertility and perhaps also testicular cancer. Scientists suspect chemical exposures during pregnancy, specifically during the time when the male reproductive system is developing, may be causing these related impacts. Scientists suspect that TDS results from chemicals that can disrupt hormones, known as endocrine disruptors, and include chemicals such as PCBs, dioxins and some pesticides.

The researchers in this study note that insect repellents can contain compounds such as N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide, better known as DEET, which can cross the placental barrier and can be toxic at high doses. For years scientists have raised concerns about the use of DEET and seizures among children, even though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims that there is not enough information to implicate DEET with these incidents. DEET is quickly absorbed through the skin and has caused adverse effects including severe skin reactions including large blisters and burning sensations. Laboratory studies have found that DEET can cause neurological damage, including brain damage in children.

DEET’s synergistic effect with other insecticides is also a major health concern. DEET, when used in combination with permethrin – a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide, likely facilitates enhanced dermal absorption of permethrin and induces symptoms such as headache, loss of memory, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and ataxia, which causes an inability to coordinate muscular movements.

There are many least-toxic options for repelling insects that include the use of citronella and other essential oils, like oil of lemon eucalyptus, which has been recommended as an efficacious alternative by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For more information on safer methods to protect yourself from insects, please visit Beyond Pesticides’ fact sheet on repellents.

Pesticide exposure and rhinitis were assessed at enrollment using two self-administered questionnaires. The first, completed at enrollment, obtained detailed information on use of pesticides on the market at the time of enrolment as well as smoking history, current agricultural activity and demographics. The second questionnaire, sent one month later, more detailed information on the pesticides, as well as medical history, including rhinitis, conjunctivitis, sinusitis and asthma.

Respondents reported using 16 herbicides, 11 insecticides, five fungicides and two fumigants in the past year. Five of the pesticides were significantly positively associated with current rhinitis: the herbicides 2,4-D, glyphosate and petroleum oil (inert), the insecticide diazinon and the fungicide benomyl. Diazinon and petroleum oil herbicide showed the most consistent association. The association for 2,4-D and glyphosate was limited to individuals who used both in the past year, suggesting a possible synergistic effect.

The authors hypothesize that exposure to pesticides may contribute to rhinitis by a number of mechanisms. First, organophosphates (OPs) inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, leading to an accumulation of acetylcholine, which stimulates nasal mucosa resulting in increased nasal secretion and congestion. Previous research has linked both petroleum and mineral oils to respiratory symptoms in metal workers and animal studies have shown respiratory impacts in the lungs, but not in the nose. Further research is needed to determine a mechanism or mechanisms, as well as to determine whether a synergistic effect occurs in the upper airway with use of glyphosate and 2,4-D.

Jane Hoppin, Sc.D. of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle, NC, one of the researchers who contributed to this study, has conducted previous research that links AHS applicators with higher rates of wheeze. In this study, published in the June 2006 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, eight of 16 herbicides (strongest association with chlorimuron-ethyl) and the organophosphate insecticides terbufos, fonofos, chlorpyrifos and phorate, were significantly associated with wheeze.

The Agricultural Health Study is a prospective study of licensed pesticide applicators from North Carolina and Iowa recruited in 1993-1997 at the time of license renewal. The cohort includes 4,916 commercial applicators from Iowa and 52,395 private applicators, mostly farmers, from both states. More than 75% or 32,347 spouses of married private applicators also enrolled in the cohort. The study is a collaboration of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).