Archives for 2017

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

'Ban all bee-killing pesticides!'

Petition to ask France not to approve a new neonicotinoid

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There is currently (November 2017) a campaign to ask for France to 'Ban all bee-killing pesticides!' Please consider signing and sharing. 

We’ve just learned that regulators in France have authorised the use of a new bee-killing pesticide called Sulfoxaflor. It’s a neonicotinoid -- the class of pesticides that is known to pose a deadly risk for bees and other pollinators.

We still can’t believe it!

France has been at the forefront of the battle to protect the bees: it is the first country to ever decide on an outright ban of all neonics starting in 2018.

great references on the page and entered  under fact-sheets

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Ban Glyphosate in British Columbia

Please consider sighing and sharing.

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Ban Glyphosate in British Columbia
Petitioning Minister of Agriculture, BC Lana Popham and 1 other

Petition on change.org

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Canada must ban neonics now

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Canada must ban neonics now

A David Suzuki letter campaign to the Minister of Health

Please consider sending your letter now. 

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Help Protect a Fragile Ecosystem from Being Contaminated by Neonics that Poison Aquatic Organisms!

US campaign but relevant because of the widespread use and distribution of imidacloprid

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  Help Protect a Fragile Ecosystem from Being Contaminated by Neonics that Poison Aquatic Organisms! 

'Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) needs to hear from you as it completes a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) on yet another application from oyster growers to poison Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor with the neonicotinoid imidicloprid. This is an unacceptable way to treat a critically important estuary, given what we know about the threat that neonicotinoid insecticides pose to aquatic organisms, in addition to their widely known adverse effects on pollinators."

 With imidacloprid being under review and its now known widespread water contamination, accumulation potential in sediments and effects on wildlife including invertebrates, it is folly to use it in a water environment. The last time I checked, oysters were also invertebates.... 

Please take a minute and consider sending a pre-written letter.
 

Friday, May 5, 2017

Contact SaskPower about the 2017 wood pole Maintenance Program

Ask they install steel or concrete power poles instead.

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re 2017 Wood Pole Maintenance Program blog post @ re 2017 Wood Pole Maintenance Program blog post

5 May 2017

To SaskPower

SaskPower is going on with business as usual by replacing toxic posts with more toxic posts because that is what they have always done. The difference between then and now is that NOW, we KNOW about the health and environmental risks of pentachlorophenol. In 2015, penta was added to Annex A (elimination) of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and, in three years, the chemical will be phased out. Poles are being planted now that are going to be giving off toxic penta for 50, 60 or 70 years to come. Is ths acceptable? Adding the cost of over $8000 of incinerating each post and the health and environmental costs to the purchase cost should make it obvious that new posts that SaskPower installs are either steel or concrete.

Thanks to Yvonne for putting this issue on the map.

More backgound information and SNAP's response to Sask Power's 2017 Wood Pole Maintenance Program blog post can be found at http://www.snapinfo.ca/issues/treated-wood

Please tell SaskPower to install posts made of steel or concrete rather than pentachlorophenol treated ones.

Sask Power's 2017 Wood Pole Maintenance Program blog post at http://www.saskpower.com/about-us/blog/5-questions-with-ming-qian-on-our-2017-wood-pole-maintenance-program/

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Will Your MP Vote To Label GMOs And Uphold Your Right To Know?

CANADA: Tell Your MPs To Support Bill C-291 to Label GMOs in Canada!

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Will Your MP Vote To Label GMOs And Uphold Your Right To Know? (HuffPost The Blog, 2 May 2017) A good review article on the issue with lots of linked references including the following: GMO Myths and Truths
An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety
and efficacy of genetically modified crops and foods                            which I found to be an excellent analysis of an important paper, the Nicolia review and the 1700 publications listed in the supplementary materials. "This analysis is not exhaustive, but focuses on the most important aspects of the review. A full analysis would take months and would result in an impractically long report. However, even this level of investigation reveals many shortcomings in the Nicolia review and supports the conclusion that it fails to provide convincing evidence of the safety of GMO foods and crops." 

There is currently a campaign to inform your MP of your wanting GMO labeling in Canada. CANADA: Tell Your MPs To Support Bill C-291 to Label GMOs in Canada! Please consider writing.