GOP aims to stop states from passing tougher pesticides laws...

[marmar]

The party of states' rights? Bollocks.


Published on Thursday, July 13, 2006 by the San Francisco Chronicle
House Eyes National Toxics Law
GOP lawmakers would forbid states from passing tougher pesticide bills
by Zachary Coile

House Republicans are pushing new legislation that could wipe out the ability of California and other states to ban or strictly limit the use of pesticides and toxic industrial chemicals that can jeopardize human health.

The measure, approved by a House committee Wednesday on a mostly party line vote, is the latest effort by the Republican-led Congress to block states from enacting environmental, public health or consumer protections that are more stringent than federal standards.

The bill could override a new California law to ban the use of brominated fire retardants, which are believed to have some of the same neurotoxic effects as PCBs and have been found in high concentrations in fish in the San Francisco Bay.

The measure could also thwart new restrictions passed last month by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to restrict the use of certain chemicals in plastic baby bottles, pacifiers and toys, after studies showed they could pose a health risk.

California officials say the bill is part of a broader push by Republicans to aid their allies in industry with weaker national standards on issues from food labeling to fuel efficiency to consumer financial privacy -- although some of the efforts have been blocked in the Senate.

Sponsors of the new bill say it is aimed at implementing the Stockholm Convention, an international treaty signed by 127 nations to ban some of the world's most dangerous chemicals -- called persistent organic pollutants, or POPs for short.

The treaty was first negotiated by President Bill Clinton and signed by President Bush in 2001, but it has yet to be ratified by Congress.

The rest is at: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0713-01.htm

[whistle]

1. GOP backs pesticides which poison and kill children and...

...cause birth defects to fetuses of pregnant mothers exposed to everyday chemicals known to be toxic:

http://www.getipm.com/articles/letters/sitemap-ltrs.htm

[kwolf68]

2. States rights?

I didn't think they liked the ominipotent federal government over-stepping its bounds?

What hypocritical pieces of slime these people are. I will contact my reps, all of which are Republican ... SADLY.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. My understanding of the plasticizer scare...

was that it was mostly a public scare based on little scientific evidence. Sort of like the alar scare.