pesticides, birds & environmental groups

Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 12:56:34
To: sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca
From: Sharon Labchuk <slabchuk@isn.net>
Precedence: bulk
Return-Path: <sust-mar-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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EARTH ACTION
	81 Prince Street
	Charlottetown, PEI   C1A 4R3
	Phone: 902-621-0719 / 368-7337
	Fax: 902-621-0717 (call first)
	Email: slabchuk@isn.net

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

October 14, 1998

Dear Editor,

The Island Nature Trust has a couple of fundraisers this fall that
capitalize on our love of birds - the autumn bird count and the bird seed
sale.  I find it distasteful that this group would make money off the backs
of birds yet refuse to help protect these same birds from pesticide poisoning.

When asked to join other organizations  in a campaign to ban carbofuran,
one of the most notorious bird-killing pesticides on Earth,  the Trust
refused.  Earth Action is leading the efforts to have this "black plague of
pesticides" banned on PEI and has support from the PEI Humane Society and
the PEI Wildlife Federation.  Other groups seeking a ban are  World
Wildlife Fund Canada,  the Sierra Club of Canada, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and the American Ornithologists' Union, one of the world's
largest associations of bird scientists.  The Canadian Wildlife Service of
Environment Canada does not approve of the use of carbofuran on potatoes
because of clear evidence of bird kills. Birds exposed to carbofuran die
excruciatingly painful deaths.  In B.C., over 40 Canada Geese were found
dead or convulsing in a turnip field where carbofuran had been sprayed
after a rain. 

The Trust says it doesn't have the expertise to evaluate the evidence. But
the evidence is easily understood and it is damning. In my experience, some
environmental groups are more concerned about maximizing fundraising
profits by playing the middle of the road game than they are about
advocating for justice.   And nothing puts a muzzle on a group quicker than
government and corporate ties.

 Earth Action remains free to advocate on behalf of the Earth,
uncompromised by government and corporate funding.

Sharon Labchuk, Earth Action



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