Pesticide Action Network Alert

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        Subject:     Pesticide Action Network Alert
            Date:     Thu, 5 Dec 2002 06:41:41 -0500
           From:     Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

P A N  A L E R T - Pesticide Action Network Alert
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December 3, 2002

In this Issue:

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* ACTION ALERT: Canada's First Province-Wide Ban of Cosmetic Pesticides Threatened Under NAFTA

Quebec's Minister of the Environment has called for new regulations to reduce pesticide use throughout the province. In July 2002, the Minister presented a new Pest Management Code that includes strict new regulations designed to "progressively institute a decreased and more prudent use and sale of pesticides." The Code would ban a number of pesticides for non-agricultural uses including the herbicide 2,4-D, and has come under sharp criticism by a group of 2,4-D manufacturers in the U.S. who have threatened to sue the Quebec government under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The movement to ban the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes has grown steadily in Canada since June 2001, when Canada's Supreme Court upheld the 1991 pesticide bylaws of Hudson, Quebec. Hudson is one of nearly 60 Canadian municipalities that ban cosmetic lawn pesticides. Many Canadian cities--including Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto--are also considering bans.

The Code is expected to be passed by the Quebec government by the end of 2002 and come into effect in early 2003. The Code states that synthetic pesticides will be prohibited in all daycare facilities and schools, and cosmetic pesticides will be banned from all public land; by 2005, the ban will extend to all private green spaces. The ban covers 23 pesticide active ingredients that--according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO)--are known or possible carcinogens or endocrine disruptors.

One day after the Code was presented, the U.S.-based companies that manufacture 2,4-D threatened to sue under Chapter 11 of NAFTA. The industry group, funded by 2,4-D's largest manufacturers, Dow Agro-Sciences, BASF, Nufarm and Agro-Gor SA, is spending US$30 million on tests intended to show that 2,4-D is not carcinogenic.

The Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (CAP) has called for international support for the Quebec government to stand against the pesticide manufactures' lawsuit.

**Action: Send a letter to Canadian officials supporting the ban on cosmetic pesticides.

Addresses and sample letter available at: http://www.panna.org/resources/documents/QuebecLetter.dv.html

For more information, visit CAP's web site at:  http://www.cap-quebec.com/.

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* UPDATE: Today is the International Day of No Pesticides!

December 3rd is both Pesticide Action Network's International Day of No Pesticides and the 18th anniversary of the explosion of the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. The Day of No Pesticides is held to commemorate the thousands who died immediately following and the tens of thousands who still suffer and die from effects of the 1984 Bhopal disaster, as well as the millions of people who suffer from pesticide poisonings every year as the manufacture and use of chemical pesticides continues to devastate people and the environment.

PAN is working to have the Day of No Pesticides recognized by governments and United Nations agencies that deal with pesticide regulation. On this day, PAN and partner organizations around the world draw attention to public opposition to pesticides through a range of actions and information. Visit our Web site for more information.

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* ANNOUNCEMENT: Witness for Peace (WFP) Sustainable Agriculture delegation to Cuba, May 25 - June 5, 2003

As the rest of the hemisphere struggles with the impacts of globalization, Cuba is making its own way. Agricultural production in Cuba provides a vivid example of alternatives to chemical-dependent, corporate-controlled farming we see elsewhere in the world. Since the break up of the Soviet Union, Cuba has undergone the largest conversion to organic farming in world history. Cuba's radical changes and experiments in sustainable agriculture production offer the rest of the world unique insights. Cuba's widespread use of organic gardens, soil conservation, biological pest control and reincorporation of rural populations may have a lot to teach us, before environmental realities mandate the rest of the world embark on a sudden, wholesale switch to sustainable agriculture.

This WFP delegation will travel to both rural and urban areas to look at the role of the U.S. embargo and the global economy in agricultural production and food security. Participants will visit organic farms, urban gardens, produce markets, rural co-ops, farmers and government officials from both the U.S. and Cuba, as well as participate in the 5th annual International Conference on Organic Agriculture in Havana.  The delegation will also explore some of the other things that Cuba prides itself on: health care, education and culture, not to mention the wonderful people.

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