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EPA CONSIDERING EXPANDING THE USE OF POTENT BIRD-KILLING PESTICIDE!
Public Has Until June 12th To Weigh-In!
We need your help to ensure a deadly, bird-killing poison remains
controlled, and its uses restricted! The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) is considering - again -- whether to expand the use of carbofuran -
one of the world's most potent bird-killing pesticides! And they are
accepting comments from the general public on this subject only until
Thursday, June 12th!
Cotton growers from Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas are seeking EPA approval
to expand the use of flowable (or liquid) carbofuran - a controlled, highly
toxic insecticide, in order to control cotton aphids - a slow-moving,
soft-bodied, pear-shaped insect that feeds on and infests cotton plants. As
there are a number of economical and effective chemical and non-chemical
alternatives available to cotton growers to control aphid pests, there is
simply no need for the EPA to approve an expanded use of such a potent
bird-killing pesticide.
Carbofuran has been responsible for more avian deaths than any other
pesticide, and EPA has restricted and controlled its use for years. In
1989, the EPA estimated that 1 to 2 million birds were killed annually by
carbofuran. If EPA were to expand its use of this potent bird-killing
toxin, hundreds of bird species would be put at risk. Birds utilizing field
edges near cotton fields, such as Blue Grosbeak, Painted Bunting, and
Indigo Bunting, as well as birds that may utilize the fields themselves,
such as the Horned Lark and Dickcissel, would be most at risk. If
carbofuran were to contaminate water and flow away from the fields, a much
greater variety of birds would be at risk, including wading birds and
neotropical migrant shorebirds like the Buff-breasted Sandpiper and
Short-billed Dowitcher.
Audubon and our partner organizations are committed to stopping any further
use of the bird-killer carbofuran - but we can't do it alone. We need your
help - and we need it now, as the EPA will cut off this comment period on
Thursday, June 12th! Click on this link now to send a letter to the EPA
urging them to deny any request to allow the use of carbofuran in any of
its formations! <http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon/summary.asp?subject=242>
If you have any questions or concerns, please drop me a note or give me a
call - the comment period ends TOMORROW!!
Desiree Sorenson-Groves
Audubon - Public Policy Division
1150 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 600
Washington, D.C. 20036-4104
phone (202) 861-2242
fax (202) 861-4290
cell (202) 549-1033
Deblyn Flack
Fairfax Audubon Society
www.fairfaxaudubon.org
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