Using Your Tax $ To Lie About Pesticides
Filed Under: Environmental News, Health Issues, Organic Gardening on May 19, 2011
Since 1991, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been testing fresh produce for pesticide residues and releasing the findings. Environmental Working Group analyzes these detailed technical reports to produce our Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides. But this year, the USDA may cave in to an industry campaign to alter the results and give consumers less information. That’s bad news for us all.
Chemical agribusiness interests have launched an expensive all-out campaign to silence EWG and deny you information you need to make healthy choices. Just last year, nearly $200,000 of taxpayers’ money was used to support a misinformation campaign run by the Alliance for Food and Farming, a pro-agricultural chemicals lobby dedicated to combating pesticide critics like EWG.
Chemical agribusiness interests want to suppress the truth about pesticides. We can’t let them get away with it. USDA officials need to hear that you want the truth, all of it and nothing but. Please join the more than 36,000 people who have called on USDA to not cave in to industry.
The evidence linking pesticides to health problems — such as increased risk of cancer — is overwhelming. New studies show that pesticide exposure may lead to developmental delays and lower IQs in children. Last year, the President’s Cancer Panel recommended that consumers avoid foods with pesticide residues.
Instead of kowtowing to industry groups like the Alliance for Food and Farming, the USDA and other federal agencies should compile and analyze more information about pesticides. Industry spin should not drive disclosure of critical information about pesticides in our food. If you want to know whether your kids’ lunch boxes contain fruits and veggies high in pesticide residues, take action today!
Thank you for standing with EWG against the pesticide lobby.
Sincerely,
Ken Cook
President, Environmental Working Group
