Here's an interesting Press Release fpr all of you in NC.
Alex
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Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 09:35:44 +0000
From: john johnson <johnjgb@mindspring.com>
Reply-To: johnjgb@mindspring.com
Organization: Katuah Earth First!
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Subject: SOUTHERN CLEAR CUTS & AERIAL SPRAYING
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(***Senders's note - please see the last section of this press release
about spraying in Tennessee - this is soon to be a hot issue!)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS: Josh Abrams, 828/883-5889
Thursday, October 14, 1999 Trevor FitzGibbon, 202/332-0319
NEW STATE REPORT: HERBICIDE USE DOUBLES ON N.C. PINE PLANTATIONS,
THREATENING HEALTH & WILDLIFE
Agency Wants to End Property Tax Break Unless Land is Managed Safely;
Residents Complain that Airborne Poisons are Raining on Their Homes
Citing a sharp increase in the use of toxic herbicides on the state's
rapidly expanding pine plantations, the North Carolina
Wildlife Commission this week called for dramatic steps to protect the
environment and natural resources. The most startling measure would
revoke the lucrative agricultural (or "present use") tax status for
foresters whose practices threaten wildlife.
A new report by the commission says more than 64,000 acres were sprayed
with the chemicals in 1997 — nearly twice as many as the previous year.
The drastic increase follows the rapid conversion from natural forests
to pine plantations. Growers use a cocktail of powerful chemicals to
kill young hardwood trees in monoculture pine farms. Formerly applied by
workers on foot, the herbicides are increasingly being sprayed from
aircraft. The report says that chemical spraying and other intensive
management practices on the softwood plantations threaten songbirds,
deer and small mammals, and notes that the monoculture plots often
cannot support wild turkey populations in numbers large enough to hunt.
The recommendations were welcomed by the Dogwood Alliance — a coalition
of 55 local groups working to protect Southeast forests — but the group
says the measure does not go far enough.
"Citizens are outraged that big timber companies are spraying poison in
our air and water," said Danna Smith, the group's executive director.
"Replacing native forests with rows of pine trees has been a disaster
for wildlife, local economies and communities; the aerial spraying
of toxic chemicals rubs salt in the wound. The commission
recommendations are a good first step, but they won't come close to
eliminating the problem."
Citizens Worry About Human Health Impacts:
The North Carolina wildlife commissioners did not address the possible
human health impacts of the increased chemical use, but residents
throughout the Southeast pine country are growing increasingly outraged
at the aerial assault on their homes and communities.
"They spray straight up to the creeks and right over the ponds," said
Gordon Hobbs, a hunter and landowner living near an International Paper
pine plantation in Leland, N.C. "It is immoral for International Paper
to poison and kill so much wildlife habitat."
Two of the herbicides most widely used on the plantations are Garlon
(generic: triclopyr) and Arsenal (generic: imazapyr). Used together,
they wipe out virtually everything that isn't a pine tree. Much remains
to be learned about their human health effects. Lack of safety
information prompted regulators in Vermont to impose a moratorium on
aerial herbicide spraying in 1997.
Most health studies on Garlon, for example, were funded by the
manufacturer, DowElanco. Studies have shown that female rats exposed to
Garlon had a significant increase in mammary gland carcinoma — breast
cancer. It has also caused birth defects. In one study, Garlon turned up
in 6 percent of subjects tested from the general U.S. population. While
it can linger in treated soils for as long as two years, it also washes
easily into lakes and streams. Ironically, Garlon is highly toxic to the
soil microbes that help pine trees grow.
Chronic exposure of lab animals to Arsenal has caused kidney cysts and
increased cancers of the brain and thyroid. It can persist in soils for
up to a year and has been shown to contaminate ground and surface water
after forest application. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has
identified 100 counties east of the Mississippi where endangered plant
species may be threatened by the chemical. Meanwhile, half a dozen
target species have grown resistant to Arsenal, meaning foresters are
getting less bounce for the ounce.
Herbicides are not the only chemical being dropped from aircraft onto
the pine plantations. Beverly Hicks of Sequatachie County, Tenn.,
recently experienced the effects of fertilizer spraying by Bowater
Timber Corporation on her home.
"You could hear the pellets hit our roof and splash in our pond," she
said. "My husband and I got terrible headaches and sore throats; my
sister had blisters inside her nose. My neighbor couldn't go outside.
She couldn't breathe."
The local poison control center told Hicks the pellets indeed caused
the reaction, but no one has yet been able to explain the
long-term effects.
• • • •
For More Information, Contact:
Josh Abrams, The Dogwood Alliance, 828/883-5889
Trevor FitzGibbon, Southeast Forest Project, 202/332-0319
-- Caveat: Modern Communication Technology is a double edged sword. If i don't return an email reply right away it is because i get too much damn email and i have taken a break to hike in the forest or work outside. Email can be overwhelming and alienating, but it is a tool isn't it? (let me know if you recieve too much email and want off my list!) ---------------------------------------- john johnson c/o KEF! P.O. Box 281 Chattanooga, TN 37401 ph. 423-949-5922e mailto:johnjgb@mindspring.com
technology is your friend! ---------------------------------------- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WORLD-WIDE GENERAL STRIKE! NEXT JANUARY 1-3 2000 why not? Workers of the World - Relax Take a Break - Break the $y$tem! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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