Controversial pesticide issue on primetime TV - FYI

[Guest guest]

TUES - Feb 6 - Environmental issue...

Watch Law & Order:Special Victims Unit

----- Original Message -----

From: Women's Voices for the Earth

wvenational@...

Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 2:32 PM

Subject: Controversial pesticide issue on primetime television

Dear Friends of WVE,

Our colleagues at Physicians for Social Responsibility- Los Angeles

and Pesticide Action Network informed us about this great show.

We're so pleased to see these important issues get taken on in prime

time! Hope you can tune in!

On Tuesday, February 6th, NBC will air " Loophole, " an episode on the

crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit an exceptional episode

that focuses on the controversial EPA rule allowing intentional

dosing of people with pesticides. Martha Dina Arguello of Physicians

for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, and chair of the steering

committee of Californians for Pesticide Reform, and Margaret Reeves

(and other staff scientists from Pesticide Action Network - North

America) consulted with Law and Order: SVU executive producer Neal

Baer and writer Greene. I encourage you to watch the

show, organize view parties. This episode is a great combination

of education and entertainment.

In the episode, a fictional chemical company tests several children

and their families with a dangerous organophosphate pesticide (a

class of acutely toxic chemicals). In real life, EPA's human testing

rule contains loopholes that allow chemical corporations to test

pesticides on women and children. A 2005 Congressional report

written by Senator Barbara Boxer's and Congress member Henry

Waxman's staff revealed human testing studies where pesticide

corporations told their subjects they were ingesting vitamins or

drugs. No study of the well-documented long-term effects of

pesticide exposures were conducted in follow-up of those test

subjects.

" Loophole " reminds the public of EPA's all too real life " CHEERS "

program, where the federal government proposed in 2004 to offer low-

income families in Florida $970, a camcorder, and some clothes if

they would record " routine exposure " of their infants to household

pesticides. The script is careful to point out the opposition of EPA

staff scientists to the human testing rule made by EPA political

appointees.

Dr. Margaret Reeves, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network -

North America was very pleased with the scientific accuracy of the

show " Even though they created a fictional pesticide for the

episode, it very much demonstrated the harmful health effects we see

with organophosphate pesticides. " Reeves heads up a campaign to ban

organophosphates. PANNA has partnered with EarthJustice and the

Natural Resource Defense Council to sue EPA over the human testing

rule.

The Law and Order: SVU episode highlights many regulatory problems

concerning pesticides, and the difficulty of linking exposure with

specific health outcomes. The show further reveals the many

environmental health threats faced by low-income children in their

own homes. Law and Order: SVU is doing a great public service by

raising awareness about how low income communities are more

vulnerable to environmental injustice.

On February 6th please watch the show. We really encourage you to

organize viewing parties in your community. Tell your friends and

family to watch the show. Let NBC know how important it is to do

more socially responsible television.

Pesticide resources

http://www.psrla.org

http://www.panna.org/

http://www.calisafe.org/

http://www.pesticidereform.org/

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