US Farmers May Face Crackdown on Pesticide Use

[depakid]

Workers survey orchards irrigated by the Yakima River in Washington.
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The nation's farmers could face severe restrictions on the use of pesticides as environmentalists, spurred by a favorable ruling from a judge in Washington state, want the courts to force federal regulators to protect endangered species from the ill effects of agricultural chemicals. The eight-year-old ruling by a federal judge in Seattle required the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Environmental Protection Agency to review whether 54 pesticides, herbicides and fungicides were jeopardizing troubled West Coast salmon runs.

The agencies moved recently to restrict the use of three of the chemicals, including a widely used one with the trade name Sevin, near bodies of water that flow into salmon-bearing streams, and they're considering restrictions on 12 additional chemicals. The Washington State Department of Agriculture says such restrictions would prevent pesticide use on 75 percent of the state's farmland.

A federal judge in California has issued a similar ruling that involves 11 endangered and threatened species and 75 pesticides in the San Francisco Bay area.

Rather than continuing to file piecemeal lawsuits, the Center for Biological Diversity says it will file a broader suit this summer that involves nearly 400 pesticides and almost 900 species that are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Washington state officials said the restrictions that could result from that lawsuit could affect agricultural production significantly in at least 48 states.

More: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/25-1

[gateley]

1. Wow. K&R nt

[handmade34]

2. back in the 70's

I was working on an organic farm in Eaton Rapids, Michigan. The Ag students from Michigan State University were always coming out to do studies... conclusion always was and still is that pesticides merely create resistant species or strains, and kill off the beneficial insects in the process. There are many tried and true methods of farming without use of harmful chemicals, but it takes the will to do it and the desire to see it through. ...monocropping and large argi-business do not lend themselves well to healthy farming... time to do a lot of thinking outside the box and for everyone to get a grasp on the reality of our earth and all the living things in it.

[xfundy]

3. Good.

Modern "Farmers" are not the men, women and families, actual people working the land for America's abundance, as many of us learned. They are most likely corporations who focus on the bottom line, use and abuse laborers, especially those from contiguous countries, and don't care at all if their policies and pesticides kill or infect millions as long as they, the fat cats and hopeful hangers-on, get rich.

Fuck the agribusinesses who have contributed greatly and gleefully to the epidemics/pandemics we face, whether diabetes, innumerable cancers, malnutrition, poisoned land, air, water, wildlife—they apparently figure they can move someplace else when they finally take all the cash out of this planet.