Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Toxic levels of pollutants are putting endangered sea turtles at risk, according to a recent report from Science Daily News. Chemicals from consumer products like stain-fighting coatings and flame-resistant materials make their way to the sea, where they are ingested by filter feeders like mussels and sponges.

When sea turtles eat these animals, the toxins accumulate in the turtle’s tissues and can poison them causing symptoms such as suppressed immunity, thyroid disruption, and liver and neurological damage.

The researchers, from the Hollings Marine Laboratory along with the College of Charleston’s Grice Marine Laboratory, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service and the Loggerhead Marine life Center, worry that these sea turtles could be in serious danger. Oil spills and shrimp trawling nets already threaten their survival.

In the hope that such a study could help conservationists prepare for these new threats, researchers focused on Kemp’s ridley, leather back, hawksbill, loggerhead, and green turtles. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists all five species as endangered.

To find out more about these species at risk, visit Defender’s website.

When prairie dogs are poisoned with Rozol—an extremely dangerous pesticide—it’s not just the prairie dogs that perish. So do countless other species that rely on prairie dogs for food and shelter.

Black-footed ferrets rely on large prairie dog colonies for food and shelter.

Black-footed ferrets can only survive where there are enough prairie dogs for them to feast on. Burrowing owls use prairie dogs holes to escape from hungry predators. Badgers, golden eagles, swift foxes and dozens of other species benefit from having healthy prairie dog colonies around.

That’s why Rozol is so pernicious. The dust is left behind in prairie dog burrows where it can kill any number of species. But it doesn’t stop there. Rozol is toxic enough to kill any subsequent animal that feeds on the poisoned carcass as long as it persists in the environment.

Fortunately, thanks to the ongoing efforts of Defenders’ legal team, imperiled prairie species in six states will be safer this fall.

Last summer, the DC Circuit court sided with Defenders and put a temporary ban on the use of Rozol in four states. In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to revisit the impacts of Rozol on threatened and endangered species across 10 states.

As a result of that agreement, EPA announced new conservation measures last week that will limit the use of Rozol in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Wyoming. These measures include:

• Prohibiting the use of Rozol in black-footed ferret reintroduction areas
• Prohibiting the use of Rozol in southwestern New Mexico to protect jaguars, Mexican gray wolves, and other species
• Shortening the Rozol application season where prairie dog range overlaps with grizzly bears and Preble’s meadow jumping mouse
• Amending Rozol label to require enhanced searches to remove poisoned prairie dogs before other animals feed on them

Defenders is still concerned that some of these measures don’t go far enough. So far, EPA has posted the new measures on their Bulletins Live! website, but there’s no guarantee that pesticide users will actually implement them. Further, EPA is likely to allow Rozol to be used again in areas not covered by the new conservation measures. Even if Rozol were banned completely, there are still other dangerous poisons on the market that can be substituted, some of which have dire impacts for non-target species.

But overall, the changes made by EPA are a step in the right direction. Meanwhile, Defenders will continue working to get rid of other pesticides that are harmful to imperiled wildlife.

Industry report shows pesticides are good for America!

(…a special installment of “Can’t Live Without ‘Em”)

That’s right. A new report from the good folks at Crop Life America identifies a cure for our nation’s prevailing economic ills: PESTICIDES!

Bald eagles were nearly wiped out in the 1970s due to the harmful effects of the pesticide DDT. Photo courtesy US Military

Turns out, pesticides create an additional $82 billion by improving crop yields, with “spin-off effects” of $166.5 billion in related industries. The report also concludes that pesticides have produced environmental benefits by quadrupling yields of corn and wheat without having to clear additional land. Who knew?

Of course, there’s absolutely no mention of the indirect costs on America’s native wildlife or public health from spilling toxic chemicals into our waterways. Nor is there any evaluation of the long-term impacts of agribusiness and industrial-scale monoculture, both of which are responsible for dismantling local food networks and putting the small family farmer out of business.

Let’s not forget that less than 40 years ago, the widespread use of DDT had virtually eradicated bald eagles and peregrine falcons, and pesticides today continue to wreak havoc on fish and amphibian species across the country.** (Read Defenders factsheet to learn more about the real impacts that pesticides have on the environment.)

Now, we all have to eat. And certainly pesticides will continue to play an important role in feeding the country. But no economic assessment can be complete without also examining the impact that pesticides have on water quality, human health, and the myriad species that must endure these poisons in their habitat.

Crop Life America has been lobbying Congress to weaken protections from pesticides that keep our drinking water safe and our people and wildlife healthy. This one-sided report is just their latest attempt to exploit our nation’s current economic downturn in order to boost corporate profits for the pesticide manufacturers and agribusinesses they represent.

Pacific salmon are just one of many species at risk from pesticide poisoning.

At-risk species like Pacific salmon and steelhead, which have tremendous economic value of their own, are now threatened with extinction in large part because of toxic run-off into our rivers and streams from farms sprayed with pesticides. The truth is that we need stronger protections to limit the damage that pesticides inflict on the environment, not weaker ones.

If pesticides are to be used, we must do a better job of making sure they don’t harm humans and wildlife. Rolling back environmental protections and dumping ever more pesticides onto the land and into our water is not a recipe for sustainable economic growth.

Help Defenders stand up to powerful special interests like Crop Life by supporting better protections from pesticides.

**NOTE: A recent survey of 583 conservation scientists found that 99.5% of respondents believe that a serious loss of biological diversity is imminent.

One of the most endangered mammals in North America, the black-footed ferret, and the prairie dogs on which they feed, will have one less hazard to worry about this winter.  Defenders won a court victory barring the use of Rozol Prairie Dog Bait in the states of Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Rozol, which contains the blood thinner chlorophacinone, causes death by internal bleeding and hemorrhaging.  Dead and dying prairie dogs can be scavenged by ferrets and raptors, which in turn become poisoned themselves.  Defenders sued the EPA for approving the use of Rozol and ignoring federal safeguards under the Endangered Species Act, the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

In a recent decision, a district court in the District of Columbia sided with Defenders, ruling that EPA had indeed violated the ESA by approving Rozol without first consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the potential impacts of Rozol on ferrets and other threatened and endangered species.

The final order in the case bars use of Rozol in those four states, requires that Rozol’s manufacturer Liphatech, Inc., notify its distributors not to sell the product in those areas, and prohibits Liphatech from selling or distributing existing stocks in its possession without relabeling it to reflect the ban in those four states.  EPA has also agreed to complete consultation with FWS over Rozol use in 10 states to prevent accidental injury to other listed species in the West.

At a joint hearing this week of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources committees, the pesticide industry tried to make a case for weakening regulations that protect both farmers and wildlife from harmful poisons. (Click here to watch a webcast of all 3.5 hours of the hearing and to read written testimony from public officials and expert witnesses.) They claim that basic precautions like implementing no-spray buffers right next to rivers and streams are overly burdensome.

Salmon populations on the West Coast are threatened by the use of harmful pesticides.

Of course, they failed to mention that the misuse of pesticides continues to threaten salmon populations up and down the West Coast. Farm workers are also at serious risk through repeated exposure to these chemicals. But when have human health and or endangered species ever stood in the way of corporate profits?

The Environmental Protection Agency has responsibility for deciding which pesticides are safe to use, but their analyses frequently fail to consider potential impacts on endangered species. However, under a provision of the Endangered Species Act, EPA is required to consult with either the U.S. Fish & Wildlife or the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to make sure that new pesticide registrations will not have undue impacts on endangered species.

The pesticide industry, led by CropLife America, believes that the current consultation process with expert biologists sets too high a burden and is trying to dismantle the process.

The focus of the debate has been a series of biological opinions (or in bureaucratic jargon, “bi-ops”) issued beginning in 2008 by NMFS, stating the EPA had not provided sufficient protections for endangered salmon. EPA has yet to implement any of the recommendations outlined in those bi-ops, and the lax protections have now become the subject of several lawsuits.

Now the pesticide industry and their congressional puppets are trying to prevent the “bi-ops” from becoming law.

Defenders is working hard to make sure that essential protections for both humans and imperiled wildlife are not tossed aside. Strong environmental champions like sophomore Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) and veteran Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), are taking a stand against the pesticide and agribusiness industries to make sure we have healthy salmon populations, safe working environments and clean water for generations to come.

Click here to learn more about protecting endangered species from pesticide poisoning.

Earlier this month the St. Petersburg Times reported that the most commonly used fungicide in the U.S. is highly lethal to frogs, and perhaps other wildlife. Chlorothalonil is in the same family of organochlorines as DDT, which was eventually banned in the U.S. because of its impacts on humans and wildlife.

Frogs may be at serious risk from pesticide poisoning.

According to a new peer reviewed study conducted by University of South Florida researchers the amount of chlorothalonil being dumped onto farms and golf courses across the state was enough to poison almost 90 percent of the frogs they tested. A double dose killed them all.

Chlorothalonil is made by Syngenta, a Swiss pesticide manufacturer that also makes atrazine, the most commonly used herbicide in the U.S. and a well-known frog-killing chemical. Defenders has joined forces with other environmental groups to make sure that atrazine and other dangerous pesticides do not threaten imperiled salmon populations.

Atrazine has been associated with severe health problems for humans, including birth defects and other reproductive problems for both men and women. Amphibian studies have shown that atrazine can stimulate estrogen production and cause male frogs to exhibit female characteristics that adversely affect reproductive health. These studies are important because frogs have similar vital systems to humans. Yet EPA maintains that no additional testing is needed.

Save the Frogs Day is just around the corner on April 29, so come celebrate in DC. A group of frog advocates will be gathering at the steps of the Environmental Protection Agency to raise awareness and push for a ban on atrazine.

Learn more about Defenders efforts to protect amphibians.