Bog Gibbs
House of Representatives
329 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
VOTE NO ON H.R. 872: REDUCING REGULATORY BURDENS ACT OF 2011
The proposed bill on the regulated release of pesticides
will have a significant impact on our water systems. As a current health
education student I am quickly learning the impact pesticides have on our
environment and people’s health. From what
I am learning I strongly believe that not requiring a permit for the discharge
of authorized pesticides into navigable waters. I believe that instead we need to regulate the
use of pesticides so that they do not go into any water source at all. This
should just be the start, what we really need to do is to start a movement that
slowly cuts back on the use of pesticides until we have stopped using them
completely. This will both benefit the environment and people’s health.
It’s no secret that the use of pesticides has a negative
effect on a person’s health, especially if you are the farmer that is applying
them. The U.S. agriculture industry uses
around 800 million pounds of pesticides annually. About 110,000 pesticide
poisonings are reported by poison control centers every year. We can reduce the
rate of pesticide poisonings in our country by controlling the discharge of
pesticides and also cutting back on the amount that we are using. To cut back
on the amount of pesticides that people ingest will decrease the amount of
poisonings that occur.
Allies of this bill would argue that they are controlling the
safe use of pesticides by making sure only regulated pesticides are only
discharged into navigable water. They would argue that only “safe” pesticides
are being used. Unless the pesticide is naturally occurring there is nothing
safe about it. Cost would be another issue that comes up, using natural
pesticides would indeed cost more but when you compare it to the health costs
of pesticide poisoning and the cost of someone’s life there is no comparison.
We appreciate your efforts to control the use of pesticides
by requiring only regulated pesticides but that has to be just the start. We need
to push forward towards working on stopping the use of pesticides. So to push
forward please vote “no” to bill H.R. 872. If you would like to contact me to discuss
this issue further please call me at 586-445-9265 or email me at smaje@envirohealth.com.
Samantha
Great points here! I like how you incorporated numbers and statistics into your argument. It may be a good idea to include some alternative options to pesticides in order to decrease the current usage. Including your contact information is a great idea to show that you stand behind your issue and are willing to defend it further!
ReplyDeleteAwesome job for writing this on pesticides! I too am very concerned with the amount of pesticides we as a nation use, and they are extrememly detrimental to our crops and our health. Great way to get it out there!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good letter. The stats your provided in your letter really help support the purpose of the letter. I am also concerned about the amount of pesticides.
ReplyDelete