Take Action ! U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

[lighto]

http://action.panna.org/p/dia/action...ction_KEY=5370

[valleyman]

lighto,
Thanks for posting this. I signed it, and if you will just click on sending it from your own address book it is simple to send a request for your friends to sign it also.
Brent Cook

[Jaseemtp]

Signed it!

[bigbearomaha]

I'd rather use my dollar to tell farmers not to buy and use the stuff than to rely on a bloated, bureaucratic entity that has shown itself multiple times to not be acting in the people's best interest.

Bayer and Monsanto might sell this stuff, but it's the farmers who buy and apply it.

Tell the farmers you won't buy produce from them that contains these chem pesticides.

When the farmers quit using it, the y quit buying it from Bayer and company. They in turn realize "uh oh, our crap isn't selling anymore, maybe it's time to figure out something else".

Playing politics is something that corporations and government entities do best. Cut out the middleman and just keep the one thing they want out of their hands.

money.

[Pilgarlic56]

We don't buy from the farmers. Huge agribusinesses, food processors, fast food companies, brokers and coops buy from the farmers. And they don't care. Sign it.

[PCM]

We don't buy from the farmers. Huge agribusinesses, food processors, fast food companies, brokers and coops buy from the farmers. And they don't give a ****. Sign it.

? Run this by me one more time ??

That's right, meat comes out of a store along with eggs, milk, and all other food products, they magically appear there from no were !

Geeesh the thinking of today.

PCM

[bigbearomaha]

I am pretty sure the food at the grocery store and farmers markets come from farmers. although I have no doubt that those other places buy from farms too. Maybe you could just as easily not buy form those places as well.

[TWall]

I just read the mission statement on the linked website. There were some parts of the mission statement that raise concerns. First is the mention of "grassroots science." Just what is grassroots science? Why only grassroots science? The other phrase that bothers me is "socially just." That smacks of socialism to me.

This sounds like a good thing to the beekeeper. But, is it really? Regulations are not the solution to our problems. Agriculture is a very small community and it can be easy to pit one part against the other.

It is easy to make Bayer a villian. In the end it is other farmers trying to make a living that loose a crop production tool. I think it is better to work to develop IPM protocols that maintain productivity for all parties involved.

Tom

[NDnewbeek]

I just read the mission statement on the linked website. There were some parts of the mission statement that raise concerns. First is the mention of "grassroots science." Just what is grassroots science? Why only grassroots science?

I don't know - and I am a scientist!

It is easy to make Bayer a villian. In the end it is other farmers trying to make a living that loose a crop production tool. I think it is better to work to develop IPM protocols that maintain productivity for all parties involved.

Tom

Here here. There won't be a beekeeping industry if the herbicides and pesticides are simply banned. The vast majority of bees in the nation are kept by commercial operations. Those operations depend entirely on the monocultures to sustain their thousands of colonies. The monocultures can only exist and thrive as they do if the farmers use the chemical crop production tools that are available to them.

No monocultures and the commercial operations starve out. No commercial operations, no package bees for hobbyists or bees for pollination.

One could argue that with the chemicals, there won't be any beekeeping down the road either. Perhaps true - but whatever the solution is, it isn't going to be as simple as just 'regulating' the problem away.

If I had to guess, I would think that it would have to consist of a transition away from single crop agriculture as well as a paradigm shift in the way we view our food. Good luck with that!

For instance, nobody goes to the store and buys the apple with the worm hole in it - how do you suppose all of those 'perfect' apples are mass produced? I can tell you, they don't get that way without chemical help. Until we are willing to accept 'less than perfect' produce, vegetables, grains, etc., farmers will continue to be incentivized to use whatever tools they can to meet our demands.

I would imagine that the same can be said for bees. We all want almonds, apples, melons, blueberries, cranberries, etc. And collectively, we aren't tolerant of any shortages or imperfections. We also all want our package bees and nucs in the spring. Again, with little toleration for either price increases, delays or shortages. It isn't possible for farmers (either family or agribusiness) to meet those great demands without 'assisting' the natural process with chemical pesticides and herbicides.

[bigbearomaha]

you know what, I am going to just bow out of this discussion.

enjoy the bees

[Pilgarlic56]

The notion that "regulation" and "free markets" are inconsistent is a fallacy. "Free markets" require competition. Since the Reagan years, the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department has been gutted by those who see all regulation as bad. I don't need big government to "wipe my fanny" but unfettered markets often tend to become "unfree" due to concentration, oligopoly and monopoly power. Agribusiness has experienced just that kind of consolidation and concentration that are antithetical to free markets. To assume that markets will remain free without regulation to prevent concentration, oligopoly and monopoly is naive.

To suggest that environmental regulations that are on the books shouldn't be enforced because consumer actions can do the job is hogwash.

The welfare of the bees depends upon adequate environmental regulation, which is subject to politics. The politics of environmental regulation is a legitimate concern of beekeepers.

[RiodeLobo]

"For instance, nobody goes to the store and buys the apple with the worm hole in it - how do you suppose all of those 'perfect' apples are mass produced? I can tell you, they don't get that way without chemical help. Until we are willing to accept 'less than perfect' produce, vegetables, grains, etc., farmers will continue to be incentivized to use whatever tools they can to meet our demands."


Amen...

[Panhandle Scott]

I will stay out of this Bayer and farmers discussion but I did sign the petition.

If it helps to wake up some folks at EPA then it will be worth it.

[valleyman]

I for one will not demonize the farmer, albeit corperation farming in many cases. Most are just using whatever tool that is availible to them to make an honest hard earned dollar. they have the Goverment, the weather, insects, weeds, and an unsure market place to contend with. It is the chemical companys that are the villians here. they are the one who are buying our politicians, including the EPA, which is a politically appointed job. They are the ones that are feeding our agencys flawed and misleading information. The vast majority of family farmers are struggling to make it theirselves. Very few know of the affects of the chemicals that they are putting into the ground.
YES I signed it and sent it to every one in my address book. Will it do any good, probably no, but at least I tried.

Twall,
How much Bayer stock do you own anyway?

[bigbearomaha]

I wasn't trying to "demonize" farmers, just point out that they are susceptible to market pressure as much as any producer or manufacturer.

If you want something they do to change, you make that felt the strongest with the dollar.

it's not a good vs evil thing, at least not for me.

[tedw200]

Signed, ( seald, and delivered .)

[rrussell6870]

I usually stay FAR away from topics like this one... I get into enough contriversial arguements on my own. lol. But I would like to know what the actual percentages are for US grown produce that actually ends up in US grocery stores instead of grains, feeds, composts, and foreign markets...

From what I can gather, the vast majority of US sold produce comes from south america... And the majority of US farms produce grains or meats... Certainly not saying that I want chems in my grains or in the grains fed to my meats, but I will say that the US has Far more strict policies on chem use than South american countries have...

McDonalds for one has stopped purchasing beef from the US saying that the US can not supply enough beef to meet their needs, that is BULL and we all know it.. the reason they went to South America is simply price... The US restricts the use of many chems in beef production... The governments of South America allow just about anything... Our genetics produce bigger, better beef stock, but they can butcher cattle that has bot flies, diseases, and even ones that have been dead already for upto 48 hrs for whatever reasons...

Worried about chems... look more closely at the restaurants, canned, frozen, and pre-made foods... The "perfect" produce that suspiciously looks like it was just picked or cut... yeah, it has been shipped thousands of miles and changed hands several times over the course of two or more weeks and has been sitting on that shelf for way longer than it should have... Try that with natural produce... 2-3 days tops... Think the "perfect" stuff is safe??? The EPA says it is... in fact, they say that it is actually safer than organic produce because the treatments greatly reduce the growth of harmful bacterias (which is supposedly why they look so great for so long)... the EPA says the chems do not store in the human body and the levels are low enough that they cant even find traces of them in the produce most of the time... but that Organic farms are allowed to use copper as pesicide, which NEVER leaves the soil and creates toxic environments forever (not what you would expect to hear in the same sentence as the word "organic")... They actually say that the only good that organic produce does is to bring awareness and make more people consider what they are eating before they eat it, and it drives people to Want to live a healthy lifestyle by starting with caring more about their foods...

The question is... How much do we beleive the EPA??? I for one am one of those people that beleive that the government does more harm than good, and that the people of this nation care more about each others health than the greedy politicians that see every concern as a new way to get paid...

I could understand a sweeping chemical use if it were conducted in such a manner as to erradicate pests that cause farms to need to use chems every year... but it would have to be accompanied by a commercial greenhouse fall back and border closures to imports... "testing imports" is a joke... It has never worked and never will...

I have talked to my senate and conrgessman, I voted in the elections, but the bottom line will be that you have to hit them in the only thing they care about... the BANK! Trouble with that is... there are too many "cozies" out there that would never step out of their comfort zones and go without to do their part...

Is Bayer the enemy? No, they are in the chem business, thats just what they do... We can't blame car manufacturers because people die in wrecks, or Smith&Wesson because people get shot...

Are the Farmers the enemy? Shoot NO! They are just meeting the demands of their industry...

Is the Government the enemy? Kinda... they keep things from ever changing by wrapping everything in red tape and making sure that the entire world agrees 100% before ever doing anything (except spending all of the real victims money)...

So who is the real enemy here?? Our fellow americans that sit on their bottoms eating McDonalds burgers, shiny water melons in january, and tv dinners, and listening to all the garbage that Washington sells them...

So what is being done about it?? Nothing... We just sigh, then kick back to watch a Hollywood movie that was made in NZ with actors from Europe on our Japanese flat screan, while we snack on our chemically preserved processed cheese Queso from Argentina, and drink a soda that was created by mixing "whatever was laying around the lab at the time"... or maybe we just fire up a cigarette of fine Turkish tobacco where the fields are so full of rat poison that workers have to wear chem suit with resperators while driving tractors in them...

Wake Up America? Good Luck!

[Flyer Jim]

rrussell6870
My thoughts exactly. Spot on. Thank you for posting for me.

Jim

[lighto]

Pass this on ! We need more Signatures !

[Barry Digman]

McDonalds for one has stopped purchasing beef from the US saying that the US can not supply enough beef to meet their needs, that is BULL and we all know it.. the reason they went to South America is simply price...

To clarify this beef issue McDonald's issued the following in October of 2009.

...

•Due to a well-documented shortage of lean beef in the U.S. and to meet the needs of our customers, we do purchase a relatively small percentage of high-quality imported lean beef from New Zealand and Australia. We do this to supplement to our domestic beef purchases.
•McDonald's remains one of the largest purchasers of U.S. beef, and where possible, our preference is to always purchase locally and domestically.

http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/st...fhoaxinfo.html