[BCNnet] Re: Maybe An Article of Interest

[Gmurphy6@aol.com]

EPA TO ALLOW LOUISIANA TO USE BIRD KILLING PESTICIDE
Public Has Only 5 Days to Help Stop This From Happening!

         The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted an
emergency request by Louisiana rice growers to combat rice weevils by using
1,500 pounds of granular carbofuran - one of the world's most potent
bird-killing pesticides -- on 10,000 acres of rice fields.   An additional
4,500 pounds of the deadly pesticide may be produced to meet the rice
growers' demands.  Audubon and our partners in conservation are working to
see that they are stopped from rolling back bird protections to produce more
of this poison and apply it to rice fields as a bird-killing trap.

EPA initially intended to grant the rice growers an "emergency use"
application, without seeking public comment or alerting conservation groups.
However, after pressure from Audubon and other groups, EPA has agreed to
allow only enough pesticide to cover 2,500 acres immediately, and have
opened a five-day public comment period, beginning Thursday, June 27th,
before they decide whether to authorize carbofuran use, and give the green
light for more bird-poison production, to cover the remaining 7,500 acres.

Laboratory data verify that carbofuran is among the most highly toxic
pesticides to birds. One tiny granule can kill a songbird, and more than
fifty species, including Bald and Golden Eagle, Eastern Bluebird, Great
Horned Owl, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Pintail, and Blue-winged Teal, have
been documented as having died from carbofuran poisoning. EPA estimated that
prior to cancellation of the granular formulation, up to two million birds
were killed each year by carbofuran. No other substance listed under the EPA
's Ecological Incident Investigation System has killed more birds.  In
October 1999, for example, nearly 27,000 migratory birds, including
red-winged blackbirds and horned larks, were killed on a 13-acre plot when a
farmer illegally applied carbofuran to wheat seed and spread it between rows
of wheat crop intentionally as bait for the birds.

However, it does not require malice to kill birds with one of the world's
most dangerous bird-killing poisons.  Scientists at the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) stated that "there are no known conditions under
which carbofuran can be used without killing migratory birds. Many of these
die-off incidents followed applications of carbofuran that were made with
extraordinary care.". Scientists from around the country concur.   In
southwest Louisiana, where the rice farmers want to apply the poison,
hundreds of species of birds could be at risk, including the threatened bald
eagle.  The proposed carbofuran poisoning could have a particularly
devastating impact on bird species that are often found in large numbers in
rice fields, such as wading birds and neotropical migrant shorebirds.  A
single exposure to the deadly pesticide of a large group of Buff-breasted
Sandpipers or Short-billed Dowitchers, for example, could wipe out a
globally significant number of their remaining population.  Both species are
listed on Audubon's WatchList of birds that could be headed for extinction,
and would be migrating through southwest Louisiana at the time the
pesticides would be applied.


Four pesticides are registered for use against the rice water weevil that
are not nearly the potent bird-killer that carbofuran has proven to be.
According to Louisiana State University, these pesticides work as well or
better than carbofuran and for equal or lesser cost.

That's why 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 make their decision in
less than five days!

Please send a message to the EPA immediately and urge them to deny any
further use of carbofuran!  Click onto this link to send your message right
now - and please encourage your family and friends to do so as well!  The
clock is ticking...and thousands of birds are at stake!
http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon/contact/default.asp?subject=56
<http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon/contact/default.asp?subject=56>

>From Virginia Murphy
Belleville, Illinois
Gmurphy6@AOL.com