Stop farm workers, kids & pregnate women from being exposed to a toxic mutagenic pesticide

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/methyl_iodide_1007?rk=b7S3S571ak1sE

Take Action: EPA Approves Toxic Pesticide Despite Protests of 54 Scientists

Do you want to help pregnant women, farm workers, and young children from being exposed to a toxic, mutagenic pesticide? Well, you can.

We need you to contact the Environmental Protection Agency today and tell them to protect the public by immediately revoking the registration for the highly toxic pesticide Methyl Iodide. The EPA approved the one-year use of this dangerous chemical on Friday.

We cannot risk people's lives. Fighting this poison is no easy task--so far, the manufacturer Arysta has spent eight years and $11 million dollars fighting to get this poison registered. It also doesn't help us that Elin Miller, the current EPA North West Region Director was Arysta’s president and CEO, until she became a top official at the EPA.

According to the Los Angeles Times, approval happened despite the protests of 54 scientists--including five Nobel laureates in chemistry. The scientists had asked for an independent review by the National Research Council, but the EPA rejected that because its own scientific advisory panel already had reviewed it.

These 54 scientists warned that "pregnant women and the fetus, children, the elderly, farm workers and other people living near application sites would be at serious risk" in a letter they sent last month to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson. The article also pointed out that many chemists said they are shocked that the EPA is allowing its use as a pesticide because it can drift into neighborhoods and pollute groundwater.

"If < the EPA is> right, they shouldn't be afraid of an independent review," said one of the scientists Robert Bergman "I don't know what the motivation is to get this stuff approved so fast. If there is any possibility that it would be dangerous, do you not approve it, or do you approve it and then decide, after something happens, to change your mind? There is serious potential for accidents."

Please write to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson today and tell him to pull the registration of this toxic pesticide immediately. The EPA should not jeopardize people’s lives. Their job is to protect the public and they should live up to their responsibility.

Click the link above and fill in the blanks.