NOW IS THE TIME: WE CAN PROTECT OURSELVES BY RECLAIMING LOCAL CONTROL OF PESTICIDES
The #1 Most Effective Action You Can Take is to Call Your Legislators Today.
The most effective action you can take is to call your legislator TODAY - both your senator and your representative. They are currently considering a bill (SB23-192), that if left as it now stands, will deny local governments the ability to limit where and how pesticides are used in urban areas, blocking us from choosing how best to protect our families, pollinators, birds and our environment.
Please call TODAY, and find 5 friends to call as well. A phone call takes only a few minutes and is more effective than an email. There are less than 3 weeks left in the legislative session.
It's important to use your own words, rather than follow a script when calling legislators, but here are some talking points:
-
I’m calling about SB192 - the Sunset Pesticide Applicators Act (PAA) that is currently under consideration.
-
I’m concerned that the law doesn’t protect communities from exposure to pesticides that can impact human and environmental health.
-
I am asking you to support a PAA amendment enabling a partial expansion of local control of pesticides by allowing local governments to determine what, where, and when pesticides can be used in our communities.
Colorado state law blocks every community from enacting rules to safeguard themselves from harmful pesticide practices.
Scientists are warning policymakers that urgent action is needed since the current pesticide regulatory system is broken. Yet our legislators are preparing to vote on a bill that will continue to tie the hands of local communities unless they choose to listen to voters instead of industry interests.
Please add your name or organization to this open letter and make your voice heard.
The federal pesticide regulatory process is broken.
Inaction is harming our children.
Inaction is driving biodiversity loss.
Inaction will harm our economy.
The assumption that EPA-registered pesticides are safe, and that pesticide regulation is based on current
science is not only misguided but is leading to inaction. Scientists urge a major overhaul of pesticide
regulation due to “aging Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) regulations [at the EPA]."
“Our system for evaluating scientific evidence and making decisions about environmental chemicals is
broken. We cannot continue to gamble with our children’s health. We call for action now to prevent exposures to chemicals and pollutants [among] America’s children.”
“There is agreement in the scientific community that pesticides are a central responsible factor for the
observed terrestrial biodiversity declines.”
According to the World Bank, "Under the current trends in environmental degradation, the risk of ecosystem collapse is ever present and
growing, representing systemic risks for economies.”
For More Background on the Pesticide Applicators Act (PAA) and the need to reclaim local control, please explore these resources.
More on PPAN's legislative work with the Colorado Environmental Health Coalition (CEHC) and SB23-266, another important pesticide-related bill that we are supporting. Along with 60 partner organizations we are working to build capacity and support for a coordinated toxics reduction strategy to protect people across Colorado from chemical toxins that are ubiquitous in our air, water, communities, and consumer products.
“Over the next decade, we have a stark choice: to demonstrate the very best of our natures as Homo sapiens – cooperative, innovative, wise, and ethical, to learn from mistakes and create better societies – or to go down with both a bang of conflict and a whimper of bickering, entitlement and self-interest. That choice is ours. The actions or inactions of individual leaders in government, communities and businesses in this decade will be remembered darkly, or hopefully kindly. Everything we know and love
is at stake.”