Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 15:34:46 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Marcia E. Balestri" Subject: FW: [BCNnet] Fwd: Pesticide Causes Bird Deaths Comments: To: Bob Balestri In-Reply-To: <004401c0fb2b$53f36740$95465aa6@oemcomputer> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Of interest. Seems like something MOS ought to address with our State representatives and beyond. -- Marcia E. Balestri Frederick, MD ---------- From: "judymellin" Reply-To: BFL-L@cornell.edu Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 07:55:04 -0700 To: "BLUEBIRD-L" , , "Birds in Forested Landscapes list serv" Subject: Fw: [BCNnet] Fwd: Pesticide Causes Bird Deaths I am forwarding this from another listserv. Interesting reading! Judy Mellin NE IL. > This is an Audubon press release about how they incidentally found out > about bird pesticide deaths while examining birds presumed dead from West > Nile Virus. > > > >NY LEARNS PESTICIDE IS LEADING CAUSE OF BIRD DEATHS > >Audubon Calls on Other States to Test for Pesticides, Release Data > > > >New York, NY, June 20, 2001 - A New York State wildlife official has > >discovered that of birds collected for a study on West Nile Virus, more died > >from pesticide poisoning than from the virus itself. In response to this > >early data, the National Audubon Society is calling upon Connecticut, > >Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia to begin testing > >dead birds for pesticide poisoning, if they have not already, and to > >publicly release their findings. > > > >"This data is very troubling," said John Flicker, President of National > >Audubon Society. "States owe it to their residents to get to the bottom of > >this." > > > >Last year, prompted by concern about the spread of West Nile Virus, New York > >State asked counties to report dead birds to its wildlife pathology > >laboratory. After receiving more than 80,000 birds, Dr. Ward Stone > >discovered that while the virus was a factor in some of the deaths, the > >leading cause was pesticide poisoning. Common lawn care chemicals were > >among the most common toxins. > > > >"Millions of us use pesticides like Diaznon and Dursban at home," said Frank > >Gill, Audubon's Senior Vice President of Science. "We deserve to know as > >much as possible about their effect on us. Like canaries in a coalmine, > >birds warn of danger in our environment. If these chemicals kill birds, > >what are they doing to our kids?" > > > >In addition to threatening wildlife, pesticides are believed to harm humans. > >According to Pesticide Watch, pesticides have been linked to a wide range of > >human health hazards, from short-term impacts such as headaches and nausea > >to chronic conditions like cancer, reproductive harm, and endocrine > >disruption. > > > >"State governments are responsible for protecting the public's health," said > >Audubon President John Flicker. "We think it's important for them to find > >out what these bird deaths mean." > > > >Founded in 1905 and supported by 600,000 members in 510 chapters throughout > >the Americas, the National Audubon Society conserves and restores natural > >ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife, and their habitats, for > >the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity > > > ># # # > > > Judy Pollock > Evanston (Cook) > bobolnk@ix.netcom.com > NetZero Platinum No Banner Ads and Unlimited Access Sign Up Today - Only $9.95 per month! http://www.netzero.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================