Tell your Senators a pesticide executive has no business as Chief Scientist of the USDA

Now that Democrats have gained control of the House, major polluters are pushing for everything they can get away with in the time they have left. With this administration's attempts to sweep away ecological and public health protections, we need to be prepared for quick, sneaky moves to install environmental de-regulators like Scott Hutchins. Hutchins’ history indicates an agenda of intensive, toxic petrochemical agriculture with high external inputs rather than more sustainable, ecological, and non-toxic methods of growing food.

Stop industry attempts to install another toxic leader and take action now to tell the Senate: Absolutely no to Scott Hutchins being confirmed as Chief Scientist of the USDA.

Scott Hutchins is the third big pesticide player from Dow Chemical that Trump has nominated to the USDA.1 His career efforts to deregulate pesticides have left women, children, and farmworkers especially vulnerable to the impacts of his company’s products -- while exposing our food supply to even more toxins.

Dow even donated $1 million to Donald Trump's inaugural committee upon his election and then held a secretive meeting with Scott Pruitt. Shortly after, Trump's EPA reversed plans to ban Dow's neurotoxic pesticide, chlorpyrifos, despite the EPA's own scientists having concluded that "ingesting even minuscule amounts of the chemical can interfere with the brain development of fetuses and infants." 2

A hearing for his confirmation has just been announced for November 28, so we need all hands on deck.

Make it clear to your Senators: We will not let yet another major chemical company player be installed in a critical federal regulatory agency to the detriment of our food supply, public health, and the environment we share.

Tell your U.S. Senators to deny Trump's efforts to appoint the head of Dow’s pesticide division as Chief Scientist of the USDA. Scott Hutchins’ career advocacy for dangerous pesticides has left women, children, and farmworkers especially vulnerable to the impacts of his company’s products -- while exposing our food supply to even more harmful chemicals.

Pesticide pollution of our water, soil, and air is unacceptable and a toxic agrichemical executive is deeply inappropriate for a Chief Scientist role at our federal agricultural regulatory agency that is supposed to protect the public. This is Trump's third Dow Chemical nomination to the USDA and it must be stopped before the hearing on November 28!

- Nomi Carmona, National Online Organizer, Pollinators & Ethanol, Sierra Club

1. Mother Jones, July 18, 2018. Trump Just Nominated a Pesticide Exec to Oversee Science at the USDA.
2. The Los Angeles Times, June 30, 2017. EPA chief met with Dow Chemical before Deciding not to ban toxic pesticide.

**Add a personal message in your own words to strengthen your signature and show your Senators you are paying very close attention**

Here is my personal comment to be used as an example only:

It has been proven that Monsanto covered up data showing that Roundup causes cancer. Then the House passed a farm bill that allows companies to dump pesticides in our waterways without abiding by the endangered species laws. One amendment even dismantles the Clean Water Rule. It is obvious that the pesticide industry already has too much influence on our so-call representatives. There are other organic ways to grow crops. As more of our water is depleted from mining, droughts and contamination from storms, we need to do everything we can to safeguard the water we still have. We can't live without water. Please, don't give more power to an industry that is willing to poison us for profit.

Tell Congress: Ban all toxic nerve agents in our food

Organophosphates are in the same chemical family as sarin nerve gas.

The petition to Congress reads: "Organophosphates are extremely toxic pesticides linked to neurological disorders, long-term damage to children's brains and cancer. Pass Rep. Nydia Velázquez's Ban Nerve Agents in Our Food Act of 2018 to ban all classes of organophosphates." Add your name:

Rachel Carson called them "among the most poisonous chemicals in the world."1 They're linked to a whole host of debilitating neurological disorders, long-term damage to children's brains and even cancer. And they're in the same chemical family as sarin nerve gas.2 Yet, despite overwhelming evidence that organophosphates are extremely toxic and deadly pesticides, Trump's EPA continues to allow Big Ag to spray millions of pounds of the chemicals on our food and public spaces each year, posing a massive threat to consumers, children, wildlife and farmworkers, many of whom are immigrants.3 Rep. Nydia Velázquez has introduced legislation called the Ban Nerve Agents in Our Food Act of 2018 to finally ban all classes of organophosphates. We must demand that Congress pass this legislation immediately. Tell Congress: Ban all toxic nerve agents in our food. Click here to sign the petition. Worldwide, an estimated 3 million people are exposed to organophosphates, resulting in approximately 300,000 deaths every year.4 Chlorpyrifos, a popular organophosphate, is one of the most widely used pesticides in the United States, and people who have been exposed to the chemical have experienced permanent changes in brain structure, loss of IQ, an increased likelihood of children developing ADHD or other developmental and behavioral disorders, reduced lung function, asthma, and cancer.5 In 2015, President Obama's EPA proposed banning chlorpyrifos for all agricultural uses, but in March 2017, Trump's former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt reversed that decision, claiming the science behind the chemical's toxic effects were inconclusive.6 Media reports at the time suggest Dow Chemical, the major manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, significantly influenced Pruitt's decision.7 This past August, our allies at Earthjustice, which represents environmental and farm worker groups, won a huge victory when a federal appeals court reversed the EPA's decision not to enforce the ban and forced the EPA to comply within 60 days.8 But late last month, Trump's EPA filed a motion to rehear the case, further delaying the ban and putting more lives at stake. As Patti Goldman, Earthjustice managing attorney, put it, "Every day we go without a ban, children and farmworkers are needlessly eating, drinking and breathing this dreadful pesticide.”9 Tell Congress: Ban all toxic nerve agents in our food. Click here to sign the petition. Activism to force lawmakers to regulate and ban organophosphates is starting to work – but we can't let up. After massive pressure by CREDO members and our allies at the Pesticide Action Network, Friends of the Earth and other organizations, California regulators finally added chlorpyrifos to its "Prop 65" list of chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.10 However, California – where more than 900,000 pounds of the chemicals are applied each year to crops and fields affecting the lives of countless farm workers and children – has failed to ban chlorpyrifos and other deadly organophosphates. With insufficient action at the state level and Trump's EPA siding with the chemical industry over consumers, we must speak out and build public pressure to pass Rep. Velázquez's important legislation to protect children, farm workers and our food supply immediately. Tell Congress: Ban all toxic nerve agents in our food. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/ban_nerve_agents?t=8&akid=30497%2E3130208%2E5iVwki - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring," 1962. Zoë Schlanger, "The US government is ignoring its own scientists’ warning that a Dow pesticide causes brain damage in children," Quartz, March 30, 2017. Donald Atwood and Claire Paisley-Jones, "Pesticides Industry Sales and Usage: 2008 – 2012 Market Estimates," U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2017. Erika L. Robb; Mari B. Baker, "Organophosphate Toxicity," StatPearls, National Center for Biotechnology Information, Sept. 8, 2018. Pesticide Action Network, "Chlorpyrifos," accessed Oct. 15, 2018. Eric Lipton, "E.P.A. Chief, Rejecting Agency’s Science, Chooses Not to Ban Insecticide," The New York Times, March 29, 2017. Lorraine Chow, "EPA Chief Met With Dow Chemical CEO Before Deciding Not to Ban Toxic Pesticide," EcoWatch, June 28, 2017. Maura Dolan, "Appeals court orders Trump administration to ban pesticide harmful to children's brains within 60 days," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 09, 2018. Earthjustice, "EPA Again Drags Its Feet On Banning A Pesticide Linked To Brain Damage In Children," Sept. 24, 2018. Sammy Caiola, "Chlorpyrifos Makes California List Of Most Dangerous Chemicals," Capital Public Radio, Dec. 1, 2017.

Trump’s agenda: Poison in our food supply?

We'd never knowingly expose our children to a powerful chemical linked to reduced IQ, developmental delay, and increased risk of learning disabilities.

But Donald Trump's EPA would.

Led by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt — an ally of the billion-dollar chemical industry — the agency has abruptly reversed course on a proposed ban of the toxic pesticide chlorpyrifos.

This substance, made by Dow Chemical, belongs to the same class of chemicals that were developed as nerve agents in Nazi Germany.

NRDC is fighting in federal court to compel EPA to act now to ban this dangerous pesticide. We can't stay silent while our families and communities are exposed to poisonous chemicals.

That's why I recorded a short, powerful video with our friends at NowThis to expose the dangers of Dow's nerve gas pesticide.

I hope you'll watch the video now — then tell Trump's EPA to ban the nerve gas pesticide chlorpyrifos immediately!

The destructive qualities of chlorpyrifos (klor-PEER-a-foss) also make it great for killing insects, which is why industrial farmers spray millions of pounds of it every year on crops like apples, oranges, and broccoli.

Scientific research shows the devastating harm it can have on human health, especially to children: lower IQs, developmental delays, and serious neurological damage. Later in life, studies have found links to lung cancer and Parkinson's.

EPA scientists found the risks of chlorpyrifos to children to be so great that the agency recommended banning the pesticide from use on food last year. But then Trump and Pruitt immediately shot down the ban when they took office, siding with companies like Dow over you, me, and our families.

And Pruitt has stocked his EPA with chemical industry insiders, who are hard at work using their industry connections to make sure the ban never sees the light of day.

NRDC is fighting back hard in court, facing off against the EPA to compel the agency to follow through with a ban on this toxic pesticide. We're also prevailing on California Governor Jerry Brown to ban chlorpyrifos — a million pounds of which are used in California alone every year — on crops statewide.

We need your help to bolster our case by mobilizing a nationwide public outcry that will demonstrate to the Trump administration that when the safety of our children is concerned, we will not back down.

Please, watch my NowThis video now — and then help get this dangerous chemical out of our food and away from our children: Tell the Trump administration to ban the toxic pesticide chlorpyrifos today!

-Rhea Suh, President NRDC