Feds to Phase Out GMO Farms and Neonicotinoid Pesticides at Wildlife Refuges
http://truth-out.org/news/item/25384-feds-to-phase-out-gmo-farms-and-neonicotinoid-pesticides-at-wildlife-refuges
Feds to Phase Out GMO Farms and Neonicotinoid Pesticides at Wildlife Refuges
By Mike Ludwig, Truthout
Wednesday, 06 August 2014 12:42
United States Fish and Wildlife Service's William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge in Corvallis, Oregon.
(Photo: Wendell / Flickr)
After facing a series of legal challenges from environmental groups, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service will phase out the use of genetically modified (GMO) crops and controversial neonicotinoid pesticides at farming projects on national wildlife refuges.
National Wildlife Refuge System chief James Kurth has directed the agency to stop using GMO crops and neonicontinoids on refuge farms by January 2016, according to a
July 17 memo obtained by activists last week. The Fish and Wildlife Service is the first federal agency to restrict the use of GMOs and neonicotinoids in farming practices.
Neonicitinoids are a class of insecticides related to nicotine that act as nerve agents and are typically sprayed on crop seeds to kill insects. Scientists suspect that some neonicitinoids are responsible for declining populations of pollinating insects, and researchers in the Netherlands recently
linked neonicotinoids to deaths among farmland birds.
For over a decade, GMO crops and neonicotinoid pesticides were used on a regular basis at farming projects on national wildlife refuges across the country. Federal court rulings shut down GMO farming on refuges in several regions after
environmental and food safety groups spent years challenging the practice both in and out of court, arguing the crops and poisons threaten the same ecosystems that the refuges are supposed to protect.
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Repost from LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014865402
Other PEER work here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10407178