Don't miss two opportunities to present your comments to the EPA and to Attorney General Holder on important issues concerning our food system and human health. Deadlines are December 31 and January 4. Read more...
The EPA is opening up the petition for public comment on the link between childhood cancers and pesticide exposure. You can sign the petition and read more about the issue on Earthjustice's website:
Take Action: Help Protect Children From Toxic Pesticides
The evidence keeps mounting connecting pesticide exposure (in the womb and out of the womb) to childhood cancers and illnesses including lymphomas, brain cancer, and autism. Whether the pesticides drift from agricultural fields or they're present in our homes, they pose serious risks to children particularly, as their immune systems are still developing. Here are several links to published, peer-reviewed studies:
Pesticides and Childhood Cancer
Exposure to pesticides and childhood cancer risk
Pesticide link to autism suspected (and the study the LA Times is mentioning can be found here.)
Childhood Cancer Cases And Common Household Pesticides Linked In Washington Area
While this is merely a petition, every bit helps, and Earthjustice is an effective organization with excellent follow through. They are working diligently against Big Coal and other major polluters. The EPA is already three years late in setting rules controlling pesticide drift. Outrageous, eh? The deadline for this petition is January 4, 2010.
The second Urgent Action is related to the first. Food Democracy Now has set up a page that makes it incredibly easy to submit a comment to Attorney General Eric Holder to ask that he enforce anti-trust laws when it comes to Big Agra, including Monsanto, the chemical company that is now in the food business. Here's the link:
Deadline tomorrow - End Corporate Ag's Monopolies
Our food system has been monopolized, which has led to more and more environmental degradation and more disease outbreaks. While this is not all that needs to be done, it is something. The deadline for submitting public comments is tomorrow, December 31, 2009.
Both of these actions take just seconds of your time. Thanks so much for helping out and have a wonderful New Year!