John,
For more than 50 years, the law that’s supposed to regulate pesticides in the United States has allowed industry to spew hundreds of millions of pounds of dangerous and destructive poisons into our environment.
These chemicals, including some known to cause neurological damage and debilitating conditions like Parkinson’s disease, are hurting people and wildlife alike. Their widespread overuse has put farmworkers and children at much higher risk of respiratory illness and cancer. Meanwhile they’re playing an outsized role in driving hundreds of endangered species toward extinction, including endangered pollinators like rusty patched bumblebees, Poweshiek skipperling, and Karner blue butterflies.
It has to change.
The broken pesticide regulatory system can only be fixed by groundbreaking legislation. Fortunately, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) have introduced the Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act, with commonsense solutions.
This bill would ban many of the most dangerous pesticides, introduce robust protections for farmworkers, and close loopholes that have allowed the pesticide industry to circumvent important safety reviews for decades.
It’s time for Congress to pass major pesticide reform: Ask your senators and representative to support the Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act. |
