OK, we already knew. Big surprise that the administration that wanted to allow MORE arsenic in the water isn't great on clean water issues. He doesn't mind mercury in the water either. Here's his latest:
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration pleased farmers and frustrated environmentalists Monday by declaring that pesticides can be sprayed into and over waters without first obtaining special permits.
PLEASE write or call your Congresscritters over this one! More on the flip...
EPA officials also concluded that a pesticide, when it's deliberately applied, isn't a "pollutant" under the terms of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Consequently, after considering nearly 700 public comments, officials ruled that federal "discharge" permits aren't necessary when using pesticides to control waterborne pests.
I always wonder that we pay people to sit around and come up with reasons why acting against the public interest is okay. How long did it take someone to come up with this? It's not pollution if you mean to spray pesticide in water, therefore it's okay.
Looking back on the past century, we've done a lot of dumb things with pesticides. The earliest ones we used were arsenicals. Later, we thought DDT was GREAT! A little bit of DDT does the job and it sticks around for a long time so you don't need to go back and re-spray.
We also thought DDT was relatively non-toxic, but since it threw off the balance of any eco-system where we sprayed it, we often sprayed more toxic pesticides as a complement to DDT to restore nature's balance.
Listen, I know mosquitos are awful. I'm a mosquito magnet and I live in Wisconsin. I have to wear pants and socks and long sleeves to 4th of July barbeques and I still get eaten alive. But that doesn't mean it's okay to kill all the mosquitos. We've tried it before and it was a bad idea.
Furthermore, America (especially under Bush but even before him) has an attitude of profit first, deal with safety later. This is positively immoral.
Again, please write or call your legislators. Put 'em on speed dial in your cell phone.