----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy A. Payton" <fwf at peganet.com>
To: <FL-GENERAL at LIST.AUDUBON.ORG>
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 10:37 AM
Subject: Help Ban Bird-Killing Fenthion


Dear Friends,

Your and/or your organization's support is needed in the campaign to
stop the re-registration of fenthion, a poison used for mosquito
control. Deaths of hundreds of migratory birds at the Big Marco Pass
Critical Wildlife Area have been directly linked to fenthion spraying.

Florida is the only state where fenthion is still legal despite its
known toxicity to birds and that there are less harmful yet effective
alternatives available. Support from Florida organizations for banning
fenthion is critical to our campaign. Plus support from organizations
and individual birders around the country will let our state officials
know that public opinion is against them.

Please read the following letter drafted by the American Bird Conservancy
(ABC) and signed by Audubon of Florida, National Audubon Society, Collier
County Audubon Society, Florida Wildlife Federation, and many others. To
add your organization's name to this letter, PLEASE ACT QUICKLY. Contact
Linda Farley at ABC. Linda's email is lfarley at abcbirds.org and her
telephone is 202/452-1535. ABC is spearheading the campaign to ban
fenthion.

For more information go to ABC's fenthion fact sheet
http://www.abcbirds.org/fenthion_flyer.htm and read a recent EPA memo
on the bird kills at the Big Marco Pass Critical Wildlife Area linked
to fenthion spraying
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/op/fenthion/birdkills.pdf.

Thanks, Nancy Anne Payton (Secretary, Collier County Audubon Society)

> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Administrator------------------
> U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
> 401 M Street SW
> Washington, DC 20460
>
> Dear Administrator -----------,
>
> The undersigned groups urge you to deny re-registration of fenthion, an
> organophosphate pesticide used for the control of mosquitoes in Florida.
> The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has documented the recent deaths of
> hundreds of birds in Florida after aerial application of fenthion.
> Historically, thousands of birds, many of them migrants, have died
following
> the use of fenthion for mosquito control in the United States. Due to
their
> high metabolic rate and unique physiology, birds are particularly
sensitive
> to fenthion: so much so, that fenthion been marketed as an avicide.
Because
> of fenthion's toxicity, and the extreme avian mortality associated with
its
> use, no other U.S. state uses fenthion for any purpose.
>
> Florida's unique natural beauty is recognized by scientists and
> environmentalists as an outstanding example of biodiversity, on a global
> scale. Florida is home to vast numbers of birds, but perhaps more
> importantly, it is a key migratory stopover and overwintering site for up
to
> 75% of all the birds in eastern North America. The poisoning of these
birds
> on Florida's beaches and salt marshes concern people from the northern
> U.S. states of New York, Michigan and Minnesota, as well as Canadians,
> and, of course, Floridians. To date, over 5000 letters have been
submitted to
> your agency protesting the continued use of fenthion in Florida.
>
> Last year, a federally listed endangered species, the Piping Plover, was
> killed by fenthion use in Florida. All shorebirds utilizing coastal
habitat
> of counties where fenthion is sprayed are at risk of poisoning. Other
> endangered species, the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow and the Florida
> Grasshopper Sparrow, are threatened by the continued use of this
pesticide.
> These two sparrows - cryptically colored, inhabiting dense vegetation -
> could easily be exposed to pesticides, die, and never be noticed. The
Dusky
> Seaside Sparrow has been extirpated from Florida, due to habitat
> destruction and degradation, in part because of mosquito control measures.
>
> Alternatives to fenthion are available for the handful of Florida counties
> that continue to use it for mosquito control, even while their neighboring
> counties long ago ceased to use this pesticide. We do not oppose the use
> of fenthion during public health emergencies. We encourage the Florida
> State Department of Health to invest in more advanced disease surveillance
> protocols, as suggested by the Centers of Disease Control, and to explore
> new technology in controlling nuisance and disease vector mosquitoes.
>
> The Agency has relied heavily on industry studies in their human health
and
> ecological risk assessments for fenthion. Independent, peer-reviewed, and
> published scientific data exists that challenges industry-generated and
EPA
> accepted studies regarding issues of fenthion's persistence,
> bioaccumulation, toxicity (particularly through dermal exposure), and
> carcinogenicity.
>
> Mitigation measures, including new application methodologies proposed to
> lessen the exposure to relatively sedentary aquatic crustaceans (fiddler
> crabs, which suffered extensive mortality on the past after fenthion use)
> are not acceptable. This new methodology relies on the production of
> smaller-sized droplets of pesticide that remain in the air for longer
> periods of time, facilitating aerial drift, and increasing dermal and
> inhalation exposure to animals that fly amidst the toxic fog: birds.
>
> We ask that, based on scientific studies attesting to its toxicity and
> degree of environmental risk, an unsurpassed record of avian mortality,
and
> the availability of effective alternatives, the EPA deny the re-
> registrations of fenthion..
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> American Bird Conservancy
> Birds of North America
> Center for Avian Biology - U.C. Davis
> Collier County Audubon Society
> Defenders of Wildlife
> Environmental Defense
> Florida Audubon Society
> Florida Wildlife Federation
> Georgia Ornithological Society
> Hawkwatch International
> Houston Audubon Society
> Humane Society of the United States
> Institute for Bird Populations
> Madison Audubon
> Massachusetts Audubon
> National Audubon
> Nutall Ornithological Club
> Point Reyes Bird Observatory
> Quebec-Labrador Foundation
> Smithsonian Institution
> Tennessee Ornithological Society
> Trumpeter Swan Society
> Virginia Society of Ornithology
> Wisconsin Society for Ornithology
> World Wildlife Fund
>