| Pesticides Home | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Press Room | ||||||||||
| Resources |
June 4, 2009 R-G Editorial
Supporting SB637
Pesticides Campaign - EPA Action Alert
URGENT: Please send your comments to the EPA on the problem of aerial pesticide spray in Oregon's forestland and rural communities.Deadline: June 28
Residents of Lane County's rural Coastal Range have succeeded in petitioning the EPA to hold a public comment period on the issue of spraying pesticides on forestry lands by helicopter. These pesticide poisons are sprayed repeatedly year after year on thousands of acres in Oregon. This practice harms fish and other wildlife, families who live in rural areas or travel to these areas to picnic, hike, hunt, fish or gather mushrooms.
The petition-initiators, Pitchfork Rebellion, ask you to send your comments. The Oregon Pesticide Action Workgroup supports this petition because our members have experience with the dangerous and harmful and unnecessary effects of spraying pesticides by helicopter in Oregon's forests. In your testimony, describe your own experiences, provide facts or make recommendations. Talk about how pesticides do not stay in one place - they drift, run-off or volatilize, spreading their poisons to other sites.
The deadline is June 28.
Your comment will help and be the part of the change that will effect how
harmful pesticide /poisons are being regulated.
The petition asks for 3 things. You should respond to any or all of these 3 items in your comment.
1. EPA must conduct a study of pesticide drift using data from the specific geography and weather patterns in the Western Oregon bio-region taking into account steep mountain slopes, unprotected tributaries to protected waterways that traverse the landscape, heavy rains, salmon and other wildlife habitat, updrafts, rural residences and delivery by helicopter.
2. Use administrative procedures to provide an interim one mile buffer zone from aerial helicopter pesticide/poison sprays around schools and homes.
3. Commission a study on the influence of pesticide manufacturers and
pharmaceutical companies on EPA pesticide registration decisions.
The deadline is June 28.
Instructions:
1. Go to this page...
2. Submit your comments and make sure you identify the docket
identification (ID)
number [EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0265; FRL-8822-8];
3. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
* Alternate way to see other comments and submit your own comment:
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SENDING AN EMAIL PUBLIC COMMENT TO EPA
1. Go to www.regulations.gov
2. When it comes up, in the box where you are asked for the I.D., put
our docket number: OPP-2010-0265
3. Then click on the orange search button beneath the I.D. box.
4. When the docket page comes up, scroll down until you see a place
that says "View by Docket Folder". CLICK ON THAT.
5. When the next page comes up, find where it says, "Receipt of
Petition from Pesticide Poisoning Victims United; Notice of
Availability". CLICK ON THAT.
6. Next, a list of ten comments will come up on lower half of page;
again find where it says "Receipt of Petition from Pesticide
Poisoning Victims United; Availability";
7. To the extreme right of that, click where it says "Submit a
Comment." Your comment can be as simple as: "I support the three calls
for action by Pesticide Poisoning Victims United, as described in
their petition."
B . Mail: Make sure you identify the docket identification (ID) number [EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0265; FRL-8822-8]
Send your written comments via US mail to:
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP)
Regulatory Public Docket (7502P)
Environmental Protection Agency,
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460-0001
The deadline is June 28!
FOR FURTHER EPA INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jill Bloom, Pesticide Re-evaluation
Division, Office of Pesticide Programs,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington,
DC 20460?0001; telephone number:
(703) 308?8019; fax number: (703) 308- 7070;
e-mail address: bloom.jill@epa.gov
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON PETICIDES AND THE ENVIRONMENT CONTACT:
Oregon Toxics Alliance
PO BOX 1106
Eugene, OR 97440
www.oregontoxics.org
541-465-8860
---------------------------------------------------------
Resources
The Toxics Issue Relative to Invasive Species Eradication - What are the Concerns for Future Projects? by Lisa Arkin, Oregon Toxics Alliance (PDF file) - a lecture given during the annual meeting of the Oregon Invasive Species Council during a joint session with Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California Invasive Species Councils
 |
Pesticides in Our Schools (a special report prepared by Oregon Toxics Alliance) |
To learn more about our multi-faceted Pesticide Campaign, select your area of interest:
 |
Take Action! |
|
|
Volunteer |
|
|
Donate |
- Schools and Children’s Health
- Rural Rights and Roadside Spraying
- Human Rights
- Alternatives (IPM/IVM)
- Coalitions and Outreach
- Gypsy Moth Spraying in Eugene
(1) 2007 PURS Report
Multimedia Clips
Tom Kerns, PhD*
|
Hear Lisa Arkin, OTA Executive Director, interviewed about pesticides and environmental justice on
|
*Tom Kerns, PhD is a board member of the Oregon Toxics Alliance and Executive Director of Environment and Human Rights Advisory. Dr. Kerns is also Philosophy Professor at Seattle Community College and teaches online courses, including Introduction to Bioethics and Environment and Human Rights. He is author of Environmentally Induced Illnesses: Ethics, Risk Assessment and Human Rights (McFarland, 2001) and served as commissioner on the New Zealand People’s Inquiry in 2006.