202-225-5801

aisha.morris@mail.house.gov

Here’s one very effective way to have a grassroots impact on federal policy:  hold meetings with key decision-makers right in your state (Senate) and congressional district (House).  It makes sense.  You don't have to fly constituents out to Washington, D.C.; they're nearby. The winter recess is coming up - January and February offer many opportunities to schedule a meeting (See the schedule below).

Why meet this winter? With Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow saying she wants to pass a Farm Bill by spring, this is the perfect time to set up meetings with House and Senate Agriculture Committee members. And with the annual agricultural appropriations process ready to start in early February for Fiscal Year 2013, it's also a strategic time to set up meetings with House and Senate Agricultural Appropriators.  And it is useful to meet with your own representative/Senators, even if they're not on those committees or subcommittees, to urge them to sign onto marker bills (such as the Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Act) and familiarize them with who you are and why good food and farm policy matters. 

A few basics tips to achieve successful meetings:

1) Set up your meetings early. Start now; it often takes weeks. Visit the Congressional Dictionary to find your legislators' district office phone numbers. Call and ask for the district scheduler.  When they ask you about the topic, it's fine to keep it general: "2012 Farm Bill" or "Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations."  Be prepared to nudge the scheduler every week or so until the meeting is set.

2) When they ask you who will attend the meeting, be clear, especially with House members, that these will be constituents.  You may not know the names of everyone you will ask at the time you talk with the scheduler, and that's OK, but later you will have to tell them who will be there.  

3) Try to meet with the member himself/herself if possible.  Members' district staff are not as influential on policy issues as their Washington, D.C. staff, and as constituents, you are who your legislator wants to know.  

4) Keep your numbers small (4-6 people) and choose your participants carefully to reinforce your message, dispel stereotypes, and demonstrate that important and varied groups of constituents care about your agenda.

5) Participants' power lies in their short, brief stories, illuminating key points of your agenda; you can be responsible for providing any reinforcing numbers, data, and one-pagers.  Set up a quick call or pre-meeting ahead of time to identify who will cover which parts of your message.  

6)  See the attached sheet - A Few Lobbying Tips.

7) Let us know! If we at NSAC know you've had a successful meeting, this helps inform our work in DC! A simple email or phone call letting us know the meeting has been scheduled, and a quick recap after it occurs, is great.

8) Send a thank-you note. Thank your legislator for meeting with you, and restate your key message one last time.

Dates when members are likely to be in their state/district:

House:  January 1-16, February 10-13, March 9-18

Senate:  Jan 1-22, February 20-24, and weekends and Mondays in March

Keeping your plants healthy (and happy) is a great way to avoid pests and pesticides. Just like a healthy person, a healthy plant has a stronger immune system making them less susceptible to diseases and pests. It’s important to know then, that when it comes to plant health, it’s really all about the quality of the soil. That’s where composting comes in.

Composting is an easy, economical, and earth friendly way to get your plants the nutrients and organic matter they need to thrive. There are many books and online resources for starting and maintaining a compost bin.  It can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like it to be.  It’s important to choose a good site; out of the way, but easy to get to.  I’ve found a homemade 3-sided wooden bin works best for me.  This makes turning piles much easier.

My compost recipe is basic and I liken it to my mom’s pancake batter - 3 main ingredients.  For good compost you need carbon (brown material), nitrogen (green material) and bacteria (kitchen scraps).  What is important though is the ratio: 2 parts carbon, 1 part nitrogen.  A good source of carbon is leaves.  Right now they are in abundance making this a great time of year to collect materials!  Oaks are especially high in nutrients, but any kind works. For your green material use grass clippings, vegetable vines, garden debris.  Your kitchen scraps (cantaloupe rinds, banana peels, etc…) become your beneficial bacteria.  No meat or dairy though.  Many composters recommend breaking down your materials. This makes more surface space available for the bacteria.  Mulch up your leaves first or blend your kitchen scraps.  I also add well-rotted manure (good source of Nitrogen) to my compost pile from time to time.  You can buy this cheaply at most garden centers or get to know your local farmer. 

The other 2 important ingredients are water and air.  Your pile needs to be kept wet, but not dripping and air is absolutely necessary for the aerobic (oxygen-using) bacteria doing the hard composting work.  This is where the fun begins.  Once you’ve begun your pile, make sure to keep it moist and turned.  A good turning fork is vital, and maintaining your pile’s temperature makes for quicker compost.  This also helps with keeping out critters.  If you’re worried about attracting rodents a few good tips include placing ¼” galvanized wire beneath your bin, turning your pile often, or adding alfalfa which helps with heating and breaking down materials.  

There’s nothing more exciting then digging into your pile to find it alive with worms and your leaves have turned to crumbly black material.  It’s magical (and addicting). Some folks cover their piles in winter to keep the temperature up (an old carpet works well, or a large tarp).  If you don’t the pile will probably cool down and take longer to decompose, but once the summer heat kicks in and you start turning it again, it heats right back up.

As I work in my fall garden I become a part of the cycle.  Leaf piles get raked up and dumped on my newly forming compost pile.  I leave the small leaves and pine needles for my acid loving plants.  I burn or toss out any diseased or infected plants and put a fresh cover of mulch or compost on my beds to tuck them in for winter. This gives my soil and plants a healthy, head start for the coming growing season. 

Stepping back, the whole thing looks a bit like tug of war. On one side there are groups like NCAP demanding that the environment, wildlife and human health be protected. On the other there are pesticide manufacturers working constantly to undermine environmental laws and threaten the governmental authorities that attempt to enforce them. In the middle are groups like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), overworked, seemingly well intentioned, weakened by budgetary shortfalls, intimidated and swayed by political and corporate interests, and thus persistently unable to achieve real health standards or even meet the minimums required by law.

Failure to meet one such legal requirement – checking with wildlife experts before approving pesticides that could be harmful to endangered fish and wildlife -  is what led us to first engage the EPA in a lawsuit years ago. We knew that certain pesticides threatened the survival of endangered salmon and we knew that consultations on the matter had not taken place as a part of EPA’s registration process. Demanding that the consultations be carried out, as the law requires, seemed a good strategy to call attention to the impacts of these chemicals and perhaps change how they are used. That was ten years ago.

Now, after much back and forth and dragging of feet, the first of these consultations have happened. The results: wildlife experts found that many common pesticides threaten the survival of endangered salmon. It’s been a long time coming, so here’s our requisite, “We told you so.”

The struggle became more compelling in 2011 as wildlife scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) entered the fray. In evaluating 12 pesticides, NMFS went beyond the comparatively superficial pesticide review conducted by EPA by also examining the risks of inert ingredients, synergistic effects from various pesticide combinations likely to occur in the environment, endocrine disrupting effects, and more. It was rigorous science, and promised to restore some faith in the integrity of the process.

Enter Goliath: pesticide manufacturers proved that they would stop at nothing to maintain sales of their products, no matter how harmful they proved to be. Throughout 2011, they stalled the process, flouted government attempts to limit how certain pesticides are used, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying Congress to create new loopholes in several major environmental laws, and attempted at every turn to invalidate the scientific findings that revealed how harmful their products were. When that all failed, they sued NMFS.

Thankfully, we shut them down there as well. With help from partner groups and very dedicated lawyers at Earthjustice, we refuted their untruths, protected good science, and successfully fought to protect an important process from overt corruption. On October 31, 2011, a federal judge ruled to uphold the new scientific findings, tossing out the claims made by companies who would sacrifice anything but their profits.

On behalf of the staff at NCAP, thank you greatly for supporting our work in this critical area. We couldn’t have done it without you. We urge you to continue with us as we move forward to help craft better policies that reduce the use of these toxic pesticides.

Times of relative hardship underscore the very reason why sustainable agriculture is important. Food systems that are environmentally responsible, local, and independent are better able to endure. That’s why it’s sad that programs designed to help farmers and communities achieve sustainability - conservation and organic programs - have been among the most heavily targeted recipients of budget cuts. Why throw the lifeboats of our country’s farming future overboard?

Thankfully, there are those out there who know how to swim.

Jim Bronec is a certified organic farmer from Canby, Oregon. His farm, named ‘Praying Mantis Farm’ after a friendly encounter with the namesake insect, has been in his family for three generations.

Like many organic farmers, Bronec got his organic certification with help from a USDA cost sharing program. He also does cover cropping studies with researchers from Oregon State University thanks to grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (SARE). Since he uses some of the very programs at stake, Bronec knows firsthand how important they are.

That’s why last spring, when Northwest farmers were hitting the spinach fields, Bronec was on his way to Washington, DC to sow seeds of a different kind.

Working with our partners at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, NCAP sent Bronec on a Mr. Smith mission to help save organic and conservation programs. Bronec was eager for the opportunity.

 “There are cuts happening all over the place,” he said. “So I wanted to make sure my legislators knew how people depended on these programs. I wanted to put a human face on it,” Bronec says.
 
In the months since his trip, he’s continued working with NCAP to reach out to other farmers and give them a voice on the issue. He spoke to one group of Oregon farmers in September at NCAP’s first ever Food and Fun in the Field event, and will present in February at our annual Grower’s Own conference in Twin Falls, Idaho.
 
“It’s all about priorities. What are we going to prioritize? Sustainable agriculture and land conservation? Poor farming techniques? War? The only way to set our national priorities straight is to contact your lawmakers. You don’t have to go to DC to do it, you can catch their ear any way you can, but they need our input.” -- Jim Bronec

Among the many responsibilities of managing multiple, high occupancy apartment buildings, there is the constant task of looking out for rodents, roaches, and the like. It goes beyond complying with health and safety codes, it’s a matter of maintaining healthy spaces and keeping residents happy. A big job.

This job got a lot harder for Jon Wild and other property managers when bed bugs moved into major cities all across the country.

They aren’t known to carry diseases, but most folks have a justified knee-jerk reaction when faced with the prospect of sharing their beds, and blood, with these pillaging creatures. This fear, coupled with the intense itching and burning that can result from bites, makes it easy to grasp why the tolerance level for bed bugs is low. So what are property managers to do?

Some of them start spraying. But the infrastructure of an apartment building allows bed bugs to move from unit to unit, escaping pesticide treatments. Pest controllers are then forced to chase them unit by unit, spraying all the while and to no avail. It’s a bit like Ahab in pursuit of the whale, and about as unhealthy for everyone involved. Since apartment buildings are densely populated, pesticide exposure is virtually certain.

That’s what sets Jon apart. 

As the proud ‘Bed Bug Czar’ for Home Forward, he’s exploring a range of options for bed bug control that are both safer and more effective. This includes heat and cold probes that shock bed bugs with temperature extremes, heating rooms to prevent importing bed bugs on incoming furniture and personal items, and a least toxic cedar oil product that stops bugs on contact.

Jon’s approach is creative, safer, and more effective.Through work with NCAP and our partners, Jon is not only reshaping how Home Forward deals with bed bugs, he’s demonstrating to property managers everywhere that urban pest management is completely possible, even preferable, with alternatives to pesticides.

Protecting the environment is hard. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Working to stop pesticide use and reform farming systems gets a lot of wealth and power rallied against you. Agrochemical companies go to great lengths to perpetuate the pesticide treadmill and protect their profits, which are considerable. But we are richer. The advocacy world is full of dedicated, inspiring people who have a talent for speaking truth to power. In March, NCAP visited with one of the best, internationally renowned scientist and activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva.

Shiva’s work casts pesticide use and exposure as environmental justice concerns that are tied to a lack of food sovereignty. She sees this problem in her home country of India, where farmers have suffered physically and economically as the practice of input intensive, mono-crop farming has been increasingly imposed.
 
“The pesticide industry has pushed green revolution practices everywhere to make farmers feel they are backward. Even when there isn’t a problem, they start promoting pesticide use. Once there is pesticide use, the beneficial species go. You actually start to get pests so you have to use more pesticides,” Shiva explains.

This dependence leads to increased pesticide pollution, exposures, and associated health problems. It has also created insurmountable debt for many farmers.

This is exacerbated by the use of expensive, genetically engineered crops which prevents the traditional process of seed saving and reduces biological diversity in the region. Now, many Indian communities face a dearth of food and resources along with increasing pollution and pest problems.

Shiva has written books, organized communities, and fought court battles to help solve this issue. What’s more, she works directly with Indian farmers to develop alternatives to pesticides through the organic farm and educational center, Navdanya.

Using the same peer-to-peer model that drives NCAP’s Organic Field Days, Navdanya brings farmers together to share organic farming methods. The center also hosts a seed bank that has conserved more than 5,000 crop varieties to date…much to the chagrin of large agrochemical and biotech companies seeking to dominate seed markets with genetically engineered breeds.

Shiva’s vision for the organic movement is perhaps the clearest embodiment of that ‘think globally, act locally’ mantra which is so popular in the advocacy world. While working in India requires a different approach than it does here in the Northwest, she is quick to acknowledge the inherent similarities that unite us:

“It would be wonderful to have some of your farmers visit us in India, to see how agricultural systems that are being promoted here are also being promoted there, and through that solidarity build this movement to a higher strength,” Shiva says.

Watch the Full Interview

About six years ago, Maya moved from Chicago to Blachly, a small town in the Coastal Mountains of Oregon. She was looking for an opportunity to live closer to the land: “I wanted to observe nature,” she says. “To learn from nature, and to appreciate the intelligence behind nature.”

Since then, Maya has channeled her passion for the natural world into a successful organic farm, where she grows apples, pears, cherries, plums, blueberries, and root vegetables.

But Maya was saddened when she learned that, near her home, toxic pesticides were being used by the timber industry. When she began to notice a correlation between the pesticide spraying and her health, Maya started taking action.

“There’s a lot of false science out there,” she says, “but I know when pesticides are affecting my health”

She started asking questions about local pesticide spraying, going to public meetings, and working with other activists to stop the spraying. That’s when Maya discovered NCAP. She’s been a supporter ever since.

In spite of the challenges she’s faced, Maya remains optimistic. She’s confident that local activists and organizations like NCAP can overcome the pesticide industry and create a safer, healthier world for future generations. But she also knows that change doesn’t happen overnight: “Activists need to have faith in their vision, and they need to keep focused on their goals. We can prevail, but it will take patience and perseverance.”

Help Prevent Head Lice

The most common way for children to come in contact with head lice is by sharing hats, headphones, combs and brushes, sleeping bags, stuffed animals, clothing and even helmets. Talking to your children about not sharing these items with others can go a long way to prevent your child from getting head lice. 

Lice can travel from one child's jacket to another. One mother who has avoided head lice suggests having children store their jackets inside their backpacks instead of hanging them on school hooks.  

Early Detection 

Early detection for lice is far easier to deal with than an advanced infestations. If possible try to set up a routine to check your children weekly. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes even if your child has thick hair 

Unhatched eggs (nits) are generally easier to spot than adult lice. Look for nits at the nape of the neck and behind your child’s ears. Nits are small white specks stuck to hair and viable nits are generally very close to the scalp. If your child has long hair braiding it can keep lice from jumping on.

If your child does get head lice, don’t panic, it can happen to anyone! Many families with young children have at least one encounter with head lice. Head lice are not a sign of uncleanliness and do not vector disease organisms.

Check NCAP's toolbox for tips on how to treat lice without pesticidal ointments.

Organic farmers storm congress, courtesy of NSAC

In the blink of an eye, Congress appeared to be on track to write the next Food and Farm Bill.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership announced they would write a Farm Bill in November. This fast track Farm Bill came out of the debt super committee process. While the ag committees were asked to provide funding level recommendations to the super committee, the ag committee leadership took the opportunity to prepare the next Farm Bill.

NCAP jumped into action to engage farmers and others in shaping our federal food and farm policy. As a member of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, we focused on our key decision makers in the Northwest: a House Agriculture Committee member and Debt Super Committee co-chair.

We organized a meeting of farmers with Congressman Kurt Schrader (OR-D), our only member on an agriculture committee in the Northwest, to highlight important conservation, research and organic programs that advance alternatives to pesticides. We also reached Senator Patty Murray (WA-D), the co-chair of the debt super committee. We helped coordinate organic and sustainable agriculture organizations in Washington, presented to organic farmers at the Tilth Producers of Washington Conference, and sought organizations to sign onto a letter asking Senator Murray to make key changes to the expected Farm Bill proposal.

Despite recent rumblings that Congress would soon be announcing the 2012 Food and Farm Bill, the process is not over. It appears the debt super committee process is about to fail, so the urgency to include a Farm Bill in the process is fading.

So stay tuned and look for more opportunities to speak up for conservation, research, and organic farming programs that reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture. The Farm Bill is not a done deal.

As you know, the farm bill normally is a year or year and a half long process fashioned through extensive hearings, markups, and floor consideration. Due to the unique process being used this year to potentially pre-empt normal consideration of the bill in 2012, the current consideration of the farm bill as a Joint Select Committee is the one and only opportunity to amend and revise the five-year farm bill proposal. Thus it rests in the Joint Select Committee’s hands to rectify any major problems with the bill.

In our view, the farm bill – which is the primary federal policy mechanism to establish this country’s food policy and also plays a major role in the nation’s conservation policy and rural development efforts – is extremely important legislation that would benefit from more complete and more public consideration. We recognize, however, that the major decisions on farm and food policy for the next five years will be set by the Joint Select Committee members in the course of just the next five days. Hence we have joined with sustainable agriculture partners to provide recommendations for the needed fixes to the proposed farm bill, based on our best available information.

First, amend the farm bill to place real caps on the amount of taxpayer-provided production subsidies any one farm can receive on an annual basis. Sadly, based on the best information we have, the bill does not do that. It leaves in place current loopholes that allow the nation’s largest farms to collect hundreds of thousands and in some cases even millions of dollars a year in subsidies. The bill does reportedly include an “adjusted gross income” eligibility measure that would prevent individuals with adjusted gross income of over $1 million ($2 million for married couples) from qualifying, but this measure, while supportable, is largely ineffective. We need actual limits on actual payments and they need to apply to all program crops, without exception. We urge the committee to include the language proposed by Senators Grassley and Johnson. Their proposal to set hard caps, with no loopholes, is good for family farmers, is good public policy, and saves real dollars. Without the Grassley-Johnson language, there is no reform of the out-of-control subsidy system, period, regardless of any other bells and whistles the bill’s promoters may point to in an attempt to convince the public they have provided a measure of reform.

Second, amend the farm bill to require all farms receiving commodity or crop insurance taxpayer-provided subsidies to comply with soil erosion and wetland protection requirements. Forcing the taxpayer to subsidize the destruction of the basis of our long-term food security – the soil -- and the draining of ecologically-critical wetlands is indefensible. Yet, according to our best information, the bill to be presented does not tie “conservation compliance” requirements to crop insurance nor does it apply conservation compliance to all of the land that is eroding at unsustainable rates within the commodity subsidy program. The bill that will be presented reportedly also does not end commodity and crop insurance subsidies to those who would destroy native grasslands for the purpose of bringing them into crop production at public expense. The so-called “sodsaver” protection should be added to the bill to ensure the taxpayer is not being forced to subsidize the destruction of our remaining native grasslands. Adding “conservation compliance” and “sodsaver” to both the commodity and crop insurance titles of the farm bill is a simple, straightforward fix that will help protect the environment and our future food security.

Third, include the important policies from the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act and the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act which are not included in the bill that will be presented. We are thankful the leaders of the authorizing committees plan to include a few small pieces of these two important bills, but we cannot stress enough that this is the farm bill, our only chance in the next five years to enact reforms to support the next generation of American farmers and to foster job-creating local farm and food efforts. There is real opportunity in agriculture today, and we believe it is possible to reverse the steady aging of American agriculture and also to create greater rural prosperity and improve access to healthy food, but only if we act with the smart policies incorporated in these two bills, introduced by Senator Tom Harkin and Senator Sherrod Brown, respectively. Agriculture would benefit enormously by the adoption of these two bills by the Joint Select Committee. We therefore urge recommend adding these two critical bills to the farm bill section of the overall package. Failure to act would mean no progress on these critical issues until the 2017 Farm Bill. If we want to improve economic opportunity and job creation in the food and agricultural sector around the country, we cannot wait.

Finally, resist any attempts to increase the size of the proposed cuts to conservation and nutrition. Farm conservation support has been cut disproportionately relative to production subsidies. We do not believe that is fair, and want to be sure the cuts are not deepened. We also do not believe food assistance for low-income people should be cut and certainly should not be cut any more than proposed by the Agriculture Committee leaders.

Contact Your Legislators

You have an important opportunity. By contacting Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), who is a co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, you have a chance to impact the final Farm Bill.

By Phone: (202) 224-2621

Supporting Organizations:

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Cascade Harvest Coalition

Crossroads Farmers Market

Full Circle

Kirkland Wednesday Market

Lake Forest Park Farmers Market

Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides

Northwest Farm Bill Action Group

PCC Farmland Trust

Pikku Farm

Rutabaga Ranch

Seattle Tilth

Sno-Valley Tilth

Terry's Berries LLC

The Seattle Urban Farm Company

Tilth Producers of Washington

Vashon Island Growers Association

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network

Washington Tilth

Washington Young Farmers Coalition

Waterworks Division - Washington State

One of my favorite methods for combating pests in my own backyard is cultivating an environment that supports and encourages natural predators.  Most people have heard of or used ladybeetles or preying mantises, however one of my favorites  (and just as cool) is the lacewing. The common species is the green lacewing or Chrysoperla rufilabris.

Lacewings belong to the family Chrysopidae and are sometimes referred to as Golden Eyes.  Find an adult and look into its eyes and you can see how they got their name.  One entomologist friend described it like looking into another universe. 

There are around 1600 species of lacewings and they go through complete metamorphosis.  The adult female lays her eggs in groups.  These hatch out into hungry larvae.  The larvae go through 3 stages of development over a couple of weeks, and then spin a spherical cocoon.  After about 5 days the adults emerge.

I love lacewings because they are interesting in almost every stage of development, starting with their eggs.  When I first learned what the egg sacs looked like, I began to see them everywhere.  I had never seen anything like it before.  They are laid on thin threads of mucus, which harden as it contacts air.  There can be a single egg per strand or a group bunched together.  This gives the eggs the appearance of floating and protects them from predatory insects such as ants.  I’ve seen them on the underside of leaves (such as clover) or along the inside of a wooden trellis.

The larvae are called “aphid lions” which seems appropriate for both their brown coloring and voracious appetite.  They can be identified by their prominent pincher-like mouthparts, which resemble a tiny alligator.  Along with aphids they prey on many soft-bodied pests such as mites, thrips, mealybugs, immature whiteflies, and small caterpillars.  It’s said that one hungry lacewing ‘larva lion’ can consume over 300-400 aphids before pupating.

Adult lacewings are mainly nocturnal and can be seen at night, often around front-porch lights.  Though their role in pest reduction is minimal, but they are general pollinators, adding to the overall benefit of this interesting and unique insect.

As an environmentally conscious gardener (and frugal one at that) I derive great pleasure from knowing what insects look like at different stages of development.  It is possible to buy lacewing larvae in a bottle (and they are fun to watch as they crawl around) however better still is to recognize them in your own yard.  I now notice the egg sacs when I’m weeding or pruning and take care not to disturb them. Recently I was watering a heuchera in a container when 3 or 4 adult lacewings crawled out.  I gently finished watering and let them be.  Through insect knowledge and conservation it’s possible (and fun) to practice your own form of predator protection and natural pest control right in your own backyard.

The story of GE sugarbeets in recent years is pendulumic. They've been regulated, deregulated, planted, uprooted and destroyed, re-regulated, and re-deregulated (partially). Our partners at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition offered a brief recap of the situation earlier this year, and last month, Beyond Pesticides issued a call to action.

Now, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is vetting its draft environmental impact statement (EIS), something that should've been done long before any of these things ever went into the ground, and GE advocates are pushing for total deregulation. The second of three public hearings on the draft EIS is set to take place in Oregon on Nov. 17th.

So what does it all mean?

Glyphosate tolerant 'Roundup Ready' crops are those that have been genetically engineered to withstand applications of the popular herbicide Roundup (glyphosate). The commercial use of such crops on farms throughout the US has increased glyphosate use by 318.4 million pounds over the last 13 years.¹

Such drastic increases in use amount to drastic increases in human health and environmental impacts. Glyphosate is toxic to people and animals, causing genetic damage in humans, fish and frogs. It has also been linked to attention deficit disorder and increased risk of cancer (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma). ² 

This toxicity concern alone is enough to underscore the the need to proceed with caution when it comes to GE crops. However it is only one of a host of issues surrounding this particular brand of biotechnology. For a sampling of the others, see Organic Seed Alliance's Five Reasons Why GE Sugar Beets Threaten Organic, or the Just Label It Campaign's critical look at the Science and PR surrounding GE commodities, or the Center for Food Safety's GE Crops Resources.

NCAP urges you to submit comments opposing the deregulation of GE sugarbeets. You can do this in person at next week's hearing, or through the online portal at regulations.gov.

Details:

GE Sugarbeet hearing

Thursday, November 17

4 pm - 7 pm

LaSells Stewart Center

Construction and Engineering Hall
875 Southwest 26th Street

Corvallis, OR 97331

1. Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Thirteen Years; Benbrook, Charles, Ph.D. 2009. pp3.

2. Herbicide Factsheet: Glyphosate. Cox, Caroline. Journal of Pesticide Reform: Vol. 24, No. 4. 2004.

Earthjustice, representing Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, and Defenders of Wildlife, intervened in the case to defend these important safeguards for west coast salmon and the fisheries jobs they support.

“The best available science shows that these toxic pesticides pose a major threat to Pacific coast salmon,” said Steve Mashuda, an attorney with Earthjustice representing the groups. “Today’s ruling is yet another reason why the government must move quickly to ensure that pesticides are removed from Northwest salmon waters.”

The Court’s ruling turns back industry’s efforts to undermine no-spray buffer zones and other measures required  to protect imperiled salmon from exposure to the organophosphate pesticides chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion.  These pesticides are known to contaminate waterways throughout California and the Pacific Northwest.

These pesticides harm salmon in a number of ways, including killing them directly, affecting their food supply and habitat, and interfering with their ability to navigate back to their home streams to spawn.  In addition to poisoning salmon, the class of organophosphate pesticides have been linked with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder  and  childhood developmental delays. 

“The Court’s decision is a victory for everyone’s health,” said Aimee Code with the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides. “It foiled the pesticide industry’s attempt to evade the laws that protect both people and wildlife.”

“This case was ultimately just a diversion from the main issue.  The fact is, many pesticides are getting into the nation’s rivers and poisoning fish as well as destroying fisheries jobs,” said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA).  “With this diversion behind us, the agencies can now turn to solving the real problem.” 

The case stems from a lawsuit originally filed by conservation and fishing groups represented by Earthjustice in 2001.  In response to that litigation, the fishery experts at NMFS evaluated these pesticides and determined that no-spray buffer zones next to streams and vegetated strips to catch pesticide-laden runoff from fields are needed to protect salmon.

NMFS handed off implementation of the pesticide restrictions to EPA, the agency charged with regulating pesticides, almost three years ago.  Yet, EPA has still not taken any actions to implement any of these measures. 

“EPA’s priority should be preventing the poisoning of America’s endangered wildlife, not boosting the profits of pesticide manufacturers,” said Jason Rylander, attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “Now that the court has ruled, hopefully the agency will get back to saving imperiled salmon and steelhead without further delay.”

Already numerous alternatives to these pesticides exist. Many farmers avoid the use of these heavy-handed broad-spectrum chemicals because they kill beneficial insects and can lead to greater pest problems over time. In addition, many growers already set back crops from streams – land enrolled in the USDA Conservation Reserve Program utilizes setbacks from waterbodies.

Today’s ruling was issued by Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Contact:        

Steve Mashuda, Earthjustice,

(206) 343-7340, ext. 1027;

Aimee Code, Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides,

(541) 344-5044, ext. 27

Glen Spain, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations,

(541) 689-2000

Jason Rylander, Defenders of Wildlife,

(202) 682-9400 

Congress now plans to complete the 2012 Food and Farm Bill by next week. It is critical that you call and urge them to defend organic programs that reduce pesticide use and protect our soil and water.

CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TODAY! Click here for phone numbers.

Talk to a person, or leave a message, BUT PLEASE MAKE CONTACT!

The Points to Make Are Simple:

• I am your constituent.
• I have heard the Agriculture Committees are trying to write the farm bill this week, behind closed doors.
• I urge Senator _____/Representative _____ to speak out and oppose any farm bill deal that makes big cuts to organic and conservation programs.
  

Every 5 years we have the opportunity to transform our food and farm system through the federal farm bill.

Last week, the Agriculture Committee leadership proposed to rewrite the food and farm bill in just 2 weeks. And behind closed doors! This is extremely fast – most farm bills take more than a year and involve public input.

Leaders of the Agriculture Committees have proposed wiping out more than 40% of the funding increases for conservation and environmental initiatives achieved in the last two farm bills.