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War: new restrictions of cholinesterase inhibitors



There is a real war going on across the U.S.  On one side is the USEPA
is actually attempting to better protect farm workers and our children's
health (while at the same time help the biotech industry).  And on the
other side the  American Crop Protection Association, which represents
about 90 major pesticide and chemical companies who manufacture
organophosphate and carbamate nerve gases are brainwashing reporters.

Is ACPA involved with the Texas A&M University Agricultural and Food
Policy Center?  AFPA has presented papers on the impacts of eliminating
organophosphates and carbamates from food production.  See:
<http://afpc1.tamu.edu/pesticides.htm>.

The American people need to hear both sides of the issues.  They need to
hear from you because you are growing safer, healthier food and soil!

 I've taken these snippets from the middle of a long article at the URL
of  <http://www.oregonlive.com:80/news/99/06/st062702.html> and the
author, Mr. Bernton left his telephone number and email address for you
to contact him...503-294-7689 or by e-mail at
<halbernton@news.oregonian.com>

I encourage organic farmers to share their side of the story regarding
the combating of these pests, lest the nerve gases stay on the market
and kill beneficial organisms, livestock, wildlife, domestic animals,
and children of all ages, alike.

~Bunny Snow
________________________________________________


Agencies prod farmers to cut chemical use on potatoes

An EPA review of the Northwest industry to gauge cumulative risks -- on
and off the farm --could lead to new restrictions
Sunday, June 27, 1999

By Hal Bernton of The Oregonian staff


**...To rid their fields of the worms, Oregon potato  farmers use a
high-volume mix of metam-sodium and 1-3 dichloropropene, fumigants that
penetrate the ground and extinguish most soil life. In 1997, they pumped
more than 8 million pounds of fumigants into the soil.

The chemicals appear to dissipate rapidly and don't show up as residues
in any of the federal sampling surveys. Nor do they appear to leach into
the groundwater. State officials have found serious nitrate pollution
from farm fertilizers but no significant ground-water pollution from
fumigants or other pesticides.

But the fumigants can drift into the air and off the fields. Each spring
and fall, air monitors around the U.S. Army's Umatilla Chemical Depot, a
nerve-gas storage site near Hermiston,  register readings of fumigants
for weeks.

The fumigants also pack such a powerful punch that they kill beneficial
organisms in the soil that would be a farmer's ally.

"Agriculture is a biological process, and if you  nuke all the
organisms, it slows down the  decomposition of organic matter and can
disrupt the recycling of nutrients and all sorts of things," said Chuck
Benbrook, an entomologist and former staff member of the National
Academy of Sciences board on agriculture.

Russ Ingham, an Oregon State University  nematologist, is trying to find
ways to reduce fumigant use. In 1997, he demonstrated that farmers could
cut back their use by 20 percent  annually and still achieve good
nematode control. This year, in a test plot above the Columbia River,
he's searching for new efficiencies, bagging dozens of soil-treatment
samples for analysis at his Corvallis laboratory.

He dreams of a day when fumigants no longer are needed. Toward that end,
he's trying to find crops that nematodes don't attack. Grown in rotation
with potatoes, such crops might knock back the nematodes to a safe
level.

For now, the crops most efficient at fighting nematodes aren't lucrative
enough to attract many farmers. The hottest prospect so far is the
humble lima bean.''... **






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