Cutting Carbofuran

EPA attempt to ban bird-killing pesticide runs into opposition

Posted at 4:54 PM on 03 Mar 2008

The U.S. EPA has proposed a ban on a pesticide lethal to birds, but is running into resistance from the company that produces the chemical. The pesticide, carbofuran, is typically used on crops such as corn, alfalfa, and potatoes, and has been linked to the dieoff of 558 separate bird flocks since 1972. A manager with pesticide manufacturer FMC Corp. says carbofuran, "when used according to its label, can be used without causing adverse effects." But the EPA says the chemical poses an avian threat even when used as directed, and that safer alternatives exist. Nonetheless, Congressfolk from agricultural states have also asked the agency to withdraw its proposed ban on carbofuran. Wrote Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in a letter to the EPA, "Utah farmers have expressed to me their mounting concerns over the reduction in the number of agricultural chemicals available to combat pests." Perhaps said farmers would like to get in on the organic market?

source: The Denver Post

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Comments: (2 comments)

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eliminating carbofuran

Don't worry. There are competing interests engineering plants so they are resistant to insect pests carbofuran is commonly used against. For example, aphids. The beauty of the engineered plants is that the genes are being moved from edible plant species or varieties naturally resistant to aphids to edible species or varieties that are not resistant. No new proteins are being added to our diet.

For example, there is a rice gene that is activated when aphids damage leaves. Moved to potato, the gene operates the same way and confers resistance to aphids. Moreover, it is expressed only in the leaves and only when the leaves are damaged. Aphid eats leaf... aphid dies. This is especially important in the case of aphids because aphids carry viruses from plant to plant.

Thus, no weird plant/fish hybrids are necessary. A gene from one edible plant is moved into another edible plant. Carbofuran will be history. And millions of birds will be saved.

I would encourage environmentalists to step up the demand for transgenic plants that eliminate ALL chemicals from agriculture and our environment.

by wiscidea at 10:44 AM on 04 Mar 2008

Technology v. Nature

The fact that humans use pesticides shows how little humans care about the natural world, generally speaking of course. While the organic market in the U.S. is increasing, so is use of pesticides. Unfortunately, the U.S. has the best government money can buy and big businesses like agribusiness (AKA "farmers") have illegitimate influence over policies that effect the environment. And Orin Hatch is probably the biggest jerk in the Senate and should be targeted by enviros for defeat, though it's unlikely that he'd be defeated in that awful anti-environmental state.

And sorry, Wiscidea, but genetic engineering is no answer and is just another environmentally harmful human technology. GE could be the most harmful thing humans have come up with yet, because humans can't possibly foresee all the potential harms it could cause. Humans are not gods and have no business altering basic building blocks of life. A little humility, please! No Frankenfoods or Frankenplans!

by Wolverine at 12:05 PM on 04 Mar 2008

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