| Dear Katy, Republicans are going to let the amount of toxic pesticides in our food and water skyrocket – unless we speak out now. Extremists in Congress are pushing through a new "Farm Bill" – the massive piece of legislation that regulates our food and farming system and provides nutrition assistance to needy Americans – that would roll back critical pesticide protections for farm workers, the environment and our food. This is a massive giveaway to chemical manufacturers like Monsanto and Dow Chemical who will profit even more from fewer restrictions on their toxic pesticides. We must speak out now to stop it. Tell Congress: Don't weaken pesticide regulations in the Farm Bill. Click here to sign the petition. The negative impact of pesticide exposure on human and environmental health is well-established and severe, including harm to the developing brains of children, a whole host of neurological disorders and even cancer. Farmworkers, particularly immigrant workers who apply millions of pounds of pesticides each year to American crops, are especially vulnerable, face higher rates of pesticide poisoning and have few legal protections.1 This Republican giveaway to multinational chemical giants is set to preempt local pesticide restrictions, roll back clean water protections, allow new pesticide approvals without proper safety reviews, weaken restrictions on the toxic, ozone-depleting fumigant methyl bromide and allow the EPA to approve new pesticides without assessing the impact to endangered species – an outlandish attack on fragile ecosystems and wildlife.2 It's not surprising why Republicans have stuffed these massive giveaways to chemical manufacturers like Monsanto and Dow in the Farm Bill: In 2017, Dow Chemical donated $1 million to Donald Trump, and over the last six years, the pesticide industry has donated more than $11 million to congressional campaigns and political action committees. And just in 2017, pesticide special interests spent more than $34 million on lobbying.3 The Farm Bill recently passed through the House Agriculture Committee on a party-line vote and will be taken up by the Republican-controlled House soon. It's urgent that we speak out now to demand that Congress prevent this giveaway to Monsanto and Dow that will severely harm public health and our environment. Tell Congress: Don't weaken pesticide regulations in the Farm Bill. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/farm_bill_pesticides?t=7&akid=28486%2E12967895%2Eg2w75T Thanks for all you do. Josh Nelson, Co-Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Farmworker Justice, "Pesticide Safety," accessed May 4, 2018.
- Colin O'Neil, "5 Ways House Farm Bill Would Roll Back Protections from Pesticides," Environmental Working Group, April 17, 2018.
- Center for Biological Diversity, "Unprecedented Farm Bill Provision Allows EPA to OK Pesticides Without Looking at Harm to Endangered Species," April 12, 2018.
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