Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supposed to protect citizens from such hazards, during one 15 month period, the General Accounting Office discovered that half of all the imported food identified by the FDA as pesticide-contaminated was marketed without any warning to consumers, or penalty to importers. (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 4) The 10,000 - 40,0000 [pesticde] poisonings that are thought to result in death each year dwarf the 2,000 deaths caused by the toxic gas leak at the pesticide manufacturing plant in Bhopal, India. (Postel, 1987, p. 16) Scientists reported a sixfold increase in the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphomia among Kansas farmers using certain herbicides 20 days or more per year. (Postel, 1987, p. 25) By implementing Integrated Pest Management, Brazil decreased its pesticide use 80-90% on their soybean crops over 7 years. (Postel, 1987, p. 27) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Global Action Network (GAN) on.... =================== P E S T I C I D E S =================== - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --> [Send the 1-line message GET GAN-RSRC PESTICID ACTIV-L to] [LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET for a copy of this file. ] --> [Send GET ACTIV-L ARCHIVE ACTIV-L to above address for a ] [listing with brief descriptions of other files available] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _____________________________ | CONTENTS: | | | | Background Information | | Statistics | | References | | Resources | | - Books | | - Periodicals | | - Organizations | | - AudioVisual Materials | | - Electronic Resources | ______________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------ Topic 2 Pesticides Background & Stats gan gan.hazardous 8:55 am Feb 6, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------ ===================================== BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR PESTICIDES ===================================== In the 1940's when DDT appeared to be the miraculous solution to pest problems, little was known about the damage that this synthetic chemical compound, or others like it, could cause. Since that time the use of chemical pesticides to control insects, rodents, mites, weeds, fungi, bacteria and other pests, has increased ten fold, doubling in just the last 20 years. Traces of pesticides can be found in the body fat of virtually everyone in the United States; some pesticides are believed to remain toxic in the environment for 50 to 100 years. Despite these alarming implications for public health, the majority of pesticides on the market today have not been adequately tested and, at the current rate of evaluation, will not be in the near future. Many experts, after years of studying pesticides and their effects, have come to believe that sometimes the hidden costs of pesticide use may outweigh the benefits. Some pesticides have been linked to increased rates of cancer, birth defects, cell mutations, and sterility in humans; to massive kills of fish and birds; and to reproductive problems and ecological imbalances in the wild. In addition, some pesticides tend to become less effective over time, and greater quantities have become necessary to kill the same population of pests. This results from the rapid evolution of pest strains more resistant to a particular pesticide, and then the resurgence of pest populations after their natural competitors or predators are reduced in numbers by the same pesticide. Insecticides have been more prone to problems of these types than other classes of pesticides, but there have been some reports of resistance in weeds to herbicides. Human and environmental contamination from pesticides occurs in a number of ways, not all of them fully understood. Contamination with relatively large amounts of an acutely toxic pesticide may rapidly produce effects ranging from rashes and nausea to death. This acute contamination is seen most commonly among workers in forests, on farms or in factories who manufacture, apply or otherwise handle pesticides. It can also affect the public when pesticides are misapplied in parks, schools, or homes. Large numbers of dead fish or birds may be a result of acute contamination of the environment. A much more common problem is chronic poisoning from long- term exposure to low levels of pesticides. The sources may be food, drinking water, contaminated soil or airborne particles and gases as well as direct contact with the materials at work. Some pesticides bioaccumulate, meaning they persist in the body and concentrate in certain tissues. Stored pesticides can be released into the bloodstream during stress or be secreted in mother's milk. Possible consequences of chronic exposure to some pesticides include cancer, central nervous system disorders, and birth defects. Observed environmental consequences have included dramatic population declines in several bird species, including bald eagles and brown pelicans, due to reproductive problems caused by DDT. Information regarding the long-term effects of exposure to low levels of pesticides is woefully inadequate, possibly because it is difficult to pinpoint precise causes of chronic illnesses. The direct effects of high-level doses on laboratory animals are known for most pesticides, but a number of the oldest pesticides have still never been tested adequately to determine long-term and chronic effects. This is because the federal government has failed to demand that these tests be done. Additionally, almost nothing is known of the effects of interactions among pesticides and other pollutants within living organisms both because few studies have been done, and because the potential interactions are overwhelming in number and complexity. Some research that has been done on pesticide hazards is in the hands of chemical manufactures, who refuse to make their data public, claiming they are "trade secrets." The public has been persuaded that chemical pesticides are necessary for producing food, protecting health and eliminating nuisance pests, and that considerable risks are outweighed by benefits. What has been left out of this argument is that safe, viable alternatives have been available for many years, but have been neglected because chemicals seemed to be effective and their dangers were not well understood. In the final analysis, alternatives will not be fully developed and used until people decide that the extent of our current dependence on chemicals is unacceptable. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PESTICIDES: AN ALTERNATIVE: INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM) Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a relatively new type of pest control technology that will help reduce the use of pesticides. The goal of IPM is to manage pest populations, especially insects, at economically acceptable levels, rather than to achieve complete eradication. IPM is a combination of pest control methods, some as new as computer simulations, some as old as agriculture itself. The heart of IPM for controlling insect pests is reliance upon the insect's natural predators and parasites, plus genetic resistance in host plants. Chemicals are sometimes used, but only as part of an overall strategy and only when absolutely necessary. Studies have shown that IPM can reduce pesticide use by 30-75% while increasing yields and cutting costs. Most advances in IPM methods have been made in insect control, but adequate systems for some crops in specific localities still need to be developed. In addition, more research needs to be done on the full range of pest problems. IPM requires considerably more understanding of crop/pest interaction than simple use of pesticides alone. As a result, educational programs and support services need to be developed so that farmers and other pesticide users can adequately apply IPM methods. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PESTICIDES: IMPORTS/EXPORTS According to the World Health Organization, someone in the underdeveloped countries is poisoned by pesticides every minute. Dozens of pesticides too dangerous for unrestricted use in the United States are shipped to underdeveloped countries. There, lack of regulation, illiteracy, and repressive working conditions can turn even a "safe" pesticide into a deadly weapon. But we are victims too. Pesticide exports create a circle of poison, disabling workers in American chemical plants and later returning to us in the food we import. Drinking a morning coffee or enjoying a luncheon salad, the American consumer is eating pesticides banned or restricted in the United States, but legally shipped to the Third World. At least 25% of U.S. pesticide exports are products that are banned, heavily restricted or have never been registered for use here. The United States is among the world's top food importers and 10% of our imported food is officially rated as contaminated. We export our hazards and later import them after they have been sprayed on crops produced in the Third World countries. Worldwide pesticide sales are exploding. The amount of pesticides exported from the United States has almost doubled over the last 15 years. Corporate executives justify the pesticide explosion with what sounds like a reasonable explanation: the hungry world needs our pesticides in its fight against famine. But their words ring hollow: in Third World fields most pesticides are applied to luxury, export crops, not to food staples the local people will eat. Instead of helping the poor eat better, technology is overexposing them to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, sterility and nerve damage. Despite the widespread contamination of imported food, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors rarely seize shipments or refuse them entry. Instead, a small sample is removed for analysis while the rest of the shipment proceeds to the marketplace ... and the consumer. The rationale is that perishable food would spoil if held until the test results were known. But by the time the test results are available - showing dieldrin or parathion or DDT residues - the food has already found its way into our stomachs. Recalls are difficult. In a world of growing food interdependence, we cannot export our hazards and then forget them. There is no refuge. The mushrooming use of pesticides in the Third World is a daily threat to millions there - and a growing threat to all consumers here. Therefore, we and the Third World people are allies in a common effort to halt the production of hazardous pesticides and contain all pesticides use to safe levels. ################################################################## ===================== S T A T I S T I C S ===================== According to the World Health Organization, someone in the underdeveloped countries is poisoned by pesticides every minute. (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 3) The industry now produces four billion pounds of pesticides each year - more than one pound for every person on earth. (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 6) Each year, approximately 2.6 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the United States. (Mott and Synder, 1988, p. 22) Since 1945, pesticide use in the United States has increased tenfold, and at the same time crop loss from insects has increased twofold, from about 7% to 13%. (Mattes, 1989, p. 10) With the increased aircraft application, most pesticides are poorly targeted - only .1% of the chemicals applied reach their target. (Mattes, 1989, p. 10) The U.S. EPA has announced that at least 66 of the 300 pesticides used on food are potentially carcinogenic, but has not announced any action on restricting how these pesticides are used. (Garland, 1989, p. 24) The United States National Research Council (NRC) estimates that no information on toxic effects is available for 79% of the more than 48,500 chemicals (including pesticides) listed in the U.S. EPA's inventory of toxic substances. Fewer than a fifth have been tested for acute effects, and fewer than a tenth for chronic (ie. cancer-causing), reproductive, or mutagenic effects. (Postel, 1987, p. 15) Worldwide, pesticide imports have more than doubled (in real terms) between 1972 and 1984, to $5.3 billion. Imports quadrupled in the Soviet Union and more than tripled in Asia and North America during this period. (Postel, 1987, p. 10) At least 25% of United States pesticide exports are products that are banned, heavily restricted, or have never been registered for use in the United States. (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 4) Tens of thousands of pounds of DBCP, hiptachlor, chlordane, BHC, lindane, 2,4,5-T and DDT are allowed to be exported each year from the United States, even though they are considered too dangerous for unrestricted domestic use. (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 4) The amount of pesticides exported from the United States has almost doubled over the last 15 years. (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 5) Ten percent of the food imported to the United States is officially rated as contaminated. (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 4) Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supposed to protect citizens from such hazards, during one 15 month period, the General Accounting Office discovered that half of all the imported food identified by the FDA as pesticide-contaminated was marketed without any warning to consumers, or penalty to importers. (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 4) Between 400,000 and 2 million pesticide poisonings occur worldwide each year, most of them among farmers in developing countries. (Postel, 1987, p. 16) The 10,000 - 40,0000 such poisonings that are thought to result in death each year dwarf the 2,000 deaths caused by the toxic gas leak at the pesticide manufacturing plant in Bhopal, India. (Postel, 1987, p. 16) A 1985 study survey in one county of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro found that 6 out of 10 farmers using pesticides had suffered acute poisonings. (Postel, 1987, p. 19) Samples of breast milk from Nicaraguan women have shown DDT levels at an astounding 45 times greater than the World Health Organization's tolerance limits. (Postel, 1987, p. 17) The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to eight widely-used carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, pesticides in food. Because of their exposure to these pesticides alone, as many as 6,200 children may develop cancer sometime in their lives. (Garland, 1989, p. 19) Scientists reported a sixfold increase in the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphomia among Kansas farmers using certain herbicides 20 days or more per year. (Postel, 1987, p. 25) Iowa's surveillance efforts indicate that more than a quarter of Iowans use drinking water contaminated with pesticides. (Postel, 1987, p. 18) In the summer of 1985, nearly 1,000 people in several western states and Canada were poisoned by residues of the pesticide Temik in watermelons. (Mott and Synder, 1988, p. 20) According to a USDA study, nearly 50 million United States residents - most of them in rural areas - are potentially at risk of exposure to pesticide-contaminated groundwater. More than 17 million people get their drinking water from private wells in these high-risk regions. Very little of this private water is treated or monitored. (Postel, 1987, p. 18) Because of agricultural use, at least 46 pesticides - some of them cancer-causing - have been detected in groundwater in 26 states. (Garland, 1989, p. 18) A 1986 survey found wells contaminated with one of 60 different pesticides in 30 states. (U.S. EPA, 1988, p. 129) In the United States routine agricultural practices have contaminated groundwater with 17 different pesticides in at least 23 states. The nation's two most widely used herbicides - alachlor and atrazine - were among the pesticides most frequently detected. Tests have shown alachlor to cause cancer in laboratory animals, making it a probable human carcinogen. (Postel, 1987, p. 17) In the United States, pesticide use in agriculture nearly tripled between 1965 and 1985. (Postel, 1987, p. 9) Farmers applied 390,000 tons of pesticides to the nation's agricultural land in 1985, an average of about 2.8 kilograms (6.2 pounds) per hectare planted. (Postel, 1987, p. 9) In the United States, roughly 70% of all cropland (not counting land in alfalfa or other hay, pasture, or rangeland) receives some dosage of pesticides, including 95% of the area devoted to corn, cotton and soybeans. (Postel, 1987. pp. 9-10) Insects and weeds now reduce crop production by about 30 percent, apparently no less than before the chemical age dawned. (Postel, 1987, p. 19) In 1938, scientists knew of just seven insect and mite species that had acquired resistance to pesticides. By 1984, that figure had climbed to 447, and included most of the world's major pests. (Postel, 1987, p. 19) Resistance in weeds was virtually nonexistent before 1970. But since then, with the growth of herbicide use, at least 48 weed species have gained resistance to chemicals. (Postel, 1987, p. 19) By implementing Integrated Pest Management, Brazil decreased its pesticide use 80-90% on their soybean crops over 7 years. (Postel, 1987, p. 27) Based on survey results on nine commodities from 15 different states, and considering practices on only one crop per state, farmers using Integrated Pest Management collectively earned $579 million more in profits than they would have otherwise. Texas cotton farmers using IPM had net returns per hectare averaging $282 higher than other cotton farmers. (Postel, 1987, p. 29) Because of stricter regulatory requirements and the greater complexity of modern chemicals, industry now spends 20 - 45 million bringing a new pesticide to market, compared with about 1.2 millionin 1956. (Postel, 1987, p. 19) Waste streams from the organic chemical industry alone amounted to 47 million tons, 18% of the hazardous waste produced by chemicals and allied products, making it the largest single generator. (Postel, 1987, p. 12) The U.S. EPA ranks 80% of the organic chemical industry's waste streams as 9 or 10 on an increasing, relative toxicity scale of 1 to 10. Therefore, not only does this industry produce the greatest quantity of hazardous waste, but its waste is among the most highly toxic of all. (Postel, 1987, p. 12) DDT has been found in animals in the Antarctic and other areas where the pesticide was never sprayed. (Garland, 1989, p. 43) ################################################################## ======================= R E F E R E N C E S : ======================= Concern, Inc. PESTICIDES, A COMMUNITY ACTION GUIDE. Washington, DC: Concern, Inc. May 1985. Garland, Anne Witte. FOR OUR KIDS' SAKE. Foreword by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. New York, NY: Mothers and Others for Pesticide Limits, a project of the Natural Resources Defense Council, 1989. Mattes, Kitty. "Kicking the Pesticide Habit." THE AMICUS JOURNAL, Fall 1989, pp. 10 - 17. Mott, Lawrie and Karen Snyder. "Pesticide Alert." THE AMICUS JOURNAL, Spring 1988, pp. 20 - 29. Postel, Sandra. "Defusing the Toxics Threat: Controlling Pesticides and Industrial Waste." WORLDWATCH PAPER 79, September 1987. Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute. Sierra Club. "Action on Pesticides," brochure. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club, May 1984. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Policy Planning and Evaluation. ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES: EPA'S UPDATE. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, August 1988. Weir, David and Mark Schapiro. CIRCLE OF POISON: PESTICIDES AND PEOPLE IN A HUNGRY WORLD. San Francisco, CA: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1981. ################################################################## ==================================== RECOMMENDED RESOURCES FOR PESTICIDES ==================================== BOOKS: Americans for Safe Food. GUESS WHAT'S COMING TO DINNER: CONTAMINANTS IN OUR FOOD Washington, DC: Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1987. Antle, John M. PESTICIDE POLICY, PRODUCTION RISK, AND PRODUCER WELFARE: AN ECONOMETRIC APPROACH TO APPLIED WELFARE ECONOMICS Washington, DC: Resources for the Future,1988. Carlson, Rachel and Houghton Mifflin. SILENT SPRING New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1962. Concern, Inc. PESTICIDES, A COMMUNITY ACTION GUIDE. Washington, DC: Concern, Inc., May 1985. Hearne, Shelley. HARVEST OF UNKNOWNS: PESTICIDE CONTAMINATION IN IMPORTED FOODS Washington, DC: Natural Resources Defense Council, 1984. Marquardt, Sandra. EXPORTING BANNED PESTICIDES: FUELING THE CIRCLE OF POISON - A CASE STUDY OF VELSICOL CHEMICAL CORPORATION'S EXPORT OF CHLORDANE AND HEPTACHLOR Washingtion DC: Greenpeace, 1989. National Research Council. ALTERNATIVE AGRICULTURE Washington DC: National Academy Press, n.d. Postel, Sandra. WORLDWATCH PAPER 79, "Defusing the Toxics Threat: Controlling Pesticides and Industrial Waste," Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 1987. Weir, David and Mark Schapiro. THE CIRCLE OF POISON San Francisco CA: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1981. Witte, Anne Garland. FOR OUR KIDS' SAKE Washington, DC: Mothers and Others for Pesticide Limits, a project of the Natural Resources Defense Council, 1989. ORGANIZATIONS CONCERN, INC. - 1794 Columbia Road NW, Washington, DC 20009: (202) 328-8160. Established in 1970 as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization which provides environmental information to individuals and groups. Concern's publications give an overview of the issue and include guidelines to encourage and aid citizen participation in the community and in policy decisions at the local, state, and federal levels of government. INSTITUTE FOR FOOD AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY - 145 9th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103: (415) 864-8555. The Institute for Food and Development Policy is a nonprofit research and education center. The Institute works to identify the root causes of hunger and food problems in the United States and around the world, and to educate the public as well as policymakers about these problems. Publications: The Circle of Poison. For a complete list of publications, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the listed address. NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST THE MISUSE OF PESTICIDES - 530 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003: (202) 543-5450. Established in 1981 as a nonprofit membership organization committed to assisting individuals, organizations and communities with useful information on pesticides and their alternatives. NCAMP's information clearing-house provides material on a wide range of both agricultural and urban issues concerning farm workers' safety, lawn care safety, groundwater problems, and alternatives to pesticides as well as legislation. Publications: Pesticides and You. For a complete list of publications, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the listed address. NATIONAL PESTICIDE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM (NPIRS) - Purdue University - Entomology Hall, W. Lafayette, IN 47907: (317) 494- 6614. Established in 1983, NPIRS provides quick, current and factual information about pesticides by use of a computer based system. NATIONAL PESTICIDE TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK (NPTN) - Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, National Pesticide Telecommunications Network, School of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Lubbock, TX 79430: 1- 800- 858-7378. NPTN is a toll free telephone service available to provide a variety of impartial information about pesticides to anyone in the contiguous United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. NPTN operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The program is designed to provide accurate and prompt responses to requests for information. Answers are given on the telephone or in the next day's mail. Requested information that is outside NPTN's expertise or authority is referred to a more appropriate source. NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL (NRDC) - 1350 New York Avenue NW - Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005: (202) 783-7800. Established in 1970, NRDC combines legal and scientific expertise in monitoring government agencies, and lobbying the Congress, bringing legal action and disseminating citizen information. Publications: The Amicus Journal; For Our Kids Sake; NRDC newsline. A completed list of NRDC's books and reports is available upon request. SIERRA CLUB - 730 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109: (415) 776- 2211. Founded in 1892 by John Muir, Sierra Club has 57 chapters and 340 groups coast-to-coast. The club's nonprofit program includes work on legislation, litigation, public information, publishing, wilderness outings, and conferences. Publications: Sierra; National News Report; National Issue Committee Newsletter; Chapter and Group Newsletters. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (U.S. EPA) - 401 M St., SW, Washington, DC 20460: (202) 382-2090. Established in 1970 to permit coordinated and effective governmental action on behalf of the environment. Functions include: setting and enforcing environmental standards; conducting research on the causes, effects, and control of environmental problems; assisting states and local governments. AUDIO - VISUAL AGAINST THE GRAIN. Farming in Western Europe has been turned into a capital intensive industry, an industry much like any other. Generous subsidies, new hybrid species, crop and agro-chemicals have increased yields dramatically. Drawing on the UK experience, AGAIN THE GRAIN shows how the agricultural revolution is transforming the countryside. Remarks: AGAINST THE GRAIN documents a success story, but asks what price success? The countryside turned into an outdoor factory? The film shows that we need to give more consideration to the social, economic and ecological implications. Available on 16 mm, VHS and U-matic. English only. Available through Thames Program Service, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9LL, UK. Tel 1-387 9494. Telex 25286 or 22816. Cables Thamestel London NW1 Contact Alexa Dalbee. THE COST OF COTTON. In the fields of Guatemala in Central America, multinational corporations spray poisonous pesticides haphazardly and excessively. United States' corporations use Guatemala as a dumping ground for goods restricted in the United States. This film shows the consequences: poisoned workers, contaminated crops and water supplies and pesticide-resistant insects. Here, even DDT (now prohibited in many countries) is still widely used. Remarks: THE COST OF COTTON is a shocking film for the way it documents the hazards of chemical contamination. As the film's narration reminds us, "there is more to the cost of cotton than a pair of jeans". Available on 16 mm and all video formats. English and Spanish. Available through Cinema Guild, 1697 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, USA: (212) 246-5522. Telex 238790 NYK. Contact Laura Freidman. FOR EXPORT ONLY: PESTICIDES AND PILLS. This is a series of two films about double standards. Pesticides and drugs outlawed or restricted in the United States are produced for export to developing countries, where restrictions tend to be lax or nonexistent. Warnings on the products are often inadequate and are rarely translated into the local language. The United States has imposed stricter controls than most western European countries, but the chemical companies can overcome these barriers by manufacturing their goods in the developing nations. The policy has a boomerang effect, however, with harmful substances returning in imported foodstuffs. Remarks: Robert Richter is an investigative journalist who uses the film medium to the maximum effect. His approach is blunt and uncompromising. The chemical companies say that since FOR EXPORT ONLY: PESTICIDES AND PILLS was made many changes for the better have been made. Available on 16 mm, VHS and U-matic. English and Spanish. Available through Icarus Film Distribution, 200 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003, USA: (212) 674-3375.Contact John Miller. A GROWING PROBLEM. Kenya relies on cash crops - mainly tea and coffee - for export revenue. In order to maintain yields, Kenya has to import pesticides, some of which are banned for use in exporting countries. Now some insects are developing resistance while dangerous residues from the pesticides have been found in the blood of Kenyan farmers. Remarks: A GROWING PROBLEM raises some vital issues surrounding the cultivation of cash crops in the Third World. But without tea and coffee to export, how is a resource-poor country like Kenya to pay for its imports? The need is to create a balance between cash crops and domestic food production, and develop integrated pest control. Available on 16mm and all video formats. English only. Available through Channel 4 Televsion, 60 Charlotte Street, London W1p 2AX, UK. Tel 1-631 4444. Telex 892355. Contact Bill Stevens. THE LARCH SAW FLY. Czechoslovakia's magnificent larch forests, assualted by sulphur dioxide, fluorides and other pollutants, have been losing thier resistance to a major insect pest. Billions of saw fly caterpillars threatened to wipe out the larch trees in the Giant and Jizerske mountains. The forests were saved by an emergency insecticide spraying campaign. But the respite is temporary - the saw fly will be back. Remarks: THE LARCH SAW FLY is important for the way it demonstrates the cause and effect of environmental pollution. Pollution control, not insecticide campaigns are the long-term answer. Available on 16 mm. Czech, Slovak and English. Available through Telexport, Gorkeho Namesti 29-30, 11150 Praha 1, Czechoslovakia. Tel 2-22 95 59. Telex 121800. THE MILLION MURDERING DEATH. In the mid-1930s one third of the population of Sri Lanka was wiped out by the mosquito-borne disease, malaria. A massive DDT spraying campaign begun in the 1950s was so successful that by 1965 just 17 cases were reported. But there has been a resurgence: in 1982 a million sufferers were recorded. The mosquito has developed resistance to DDT and the malarial parasite has become resistant to certain drugs. The long- awaited malaria vaccine may be 10 years away. A fresh campaign has now begun, based on new insecticides and on the mobilisation of village people to combat the mosquito. Remarks: The film is invaluable for the thorough way it draws attention to the new breakout of malaria which threatens an estimated 1.9 billion people in the developing world. THE MILLION MURDERING DEATH shows how community action can help to keep the disease in check. Available on 16 mm, VHS and U-matic. English only. Available through BBC Enterprises, Education and Training Sales Dept, Woodlands, Wood Lane, London W12 OTT, UK. Tel 1-743 5588 and 1-576 0202. Telex 9346781. Contact Marion Cameron. NATURES REVENGE. Without ever greater infusions of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, world food production could not have kept pace with population growth. This film asks whether we are payingtoo high a price for success. Are we overloading nature's capacity to absorb chemicals? NATURE'S REVENGE uncovers disturbing evidence of links between agricultural chemicals and certain cancers and incidences of genetic deformity. Eventually, nature will take revenge on human beings.... Remarks: NATURES'S REVENGE is a compelling film combining first rate camera work and thorough research. Available on 16 mm, VHS and U-matic. Swedish and English. Film Centrum, P.O. Box 2068, 10312 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel 8-23 27 50. Contact Helen Aastrup. ELECTRONIC CONFERENCES There are a number of conferences available through the Econet conference system that provide more information on acid rain. They are easily and readily assessible to you similar to the GAN conferences. The following is a partial list of topics within the "conferences" index of Econet: data.farmnet -- Collection of information on sustainable agriculture, rural land degradation, positive solutions, and ideas on transforming rural land use which will eventually be part of the FarmNet concept. en.agriculture -- Discussion and news on current trends in alternative agriculture, rural sociology, agroeconomics, and politics of agriculture. en.bioconversi -- Discussion of use of wood & agricultural plants in energy production. en.foodirrad -- Information about the campaign to stop food irradiation. en.pesticides -- Information and discussion about the use of pesticides and their impact on health and the environment. hunger.general -- Issues, events and activities concerning world hunger. int.permacultu -- Forum to promote & inform users about the importance of permaculture, a system aiming to live in harmony with the planet, creating a sustainable regime, improving and repairing the land. ncsfi.foodirra -- Contains Food Irradiation News - information to assist in the movement to prevent the establishment of an infrastructure for nuclear food processing. norml.hemp -- Implications and possibilities of restoring C. Sativa (hemp/marijuana) to our agricultural base. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - See also ACTIV-L archives; use GET with ACTIV-L INDEX (see top of this file) for a listing of files; see also AMLDBASE DOC file (use GET command with that file name) for a tutorial on using ACTIV-L's database features to search thru megabytes of ACTIV-L articles for environmental articles on topics of interest. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ############################################################### # Harel Barzilai for Activists Mailing List (AML) # ################################################################ { For more info about ACTIV-L or PeaceNet's brochure send } { inquiries to harel@dartmouth.edu / mathrich@umcvmb.bitnet } To join AML, just send the 1-line message "SUB ACTIV-L " to: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET; you should receive a confirmation message within 2 days. Alternate address: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU Qs/problems: Rich Winkel, MATHRICH@UMCVMB.["MISSOURI.EDU" or "BITNET"]