Head of CA Department of Pesticide Regulation Leaves Post to Work for Chemical Giant

[marmar]

from Civil Eats:



California’s top pesticide regulator is leaving her job to work for Clorox. Mary-Ann Warmerdam, the director of the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), announced her resignation on Tuesday. Warmerdam’s departure was voluntary, but environmental and public health advocates have been pushing for her removal for months. They say she let the chemical industry’s influence trump science and the public’s health when her agency approved the use of methyl iodide—which causes cancer, nerve damage and miscarriage—for use in strawberry cultivation. (See more Civil Eats coverage of the issue here, here and here.)

While environmental health advocates say the move illustrates the coziness of government officials and the industries they are supposed to oversee, it may also be a step toward halting the use of the potent fumigant that UCLA chemist John Froines called, “one of the most toxic chemicals on earth.”

DPR spokeswoman Lea Brooks said Warmerdam’s departure was not related to the pesticide uproar. “Her decision had nothing to do with methyl iodide. It had to do with opportunity,” said Brooks.

Warmerdam’s departure to chemical-giant Clorox was no surprise to Kathryn Gilje, co-director of the Pesticide Action Network of North America. “Unfortunately, we see far too often this revolving door between people from pesticide companies and government regulators,” she said. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2011/03/18/head-of-ca-department-of-pesticide-regulation-leaves-post-to-work-for-chemical-giant/

[hobbit709]

1. The good old revolving door.

[disndat]

2. Under Schwarzenegger of course.