May, 13 2014, 02:10pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, kcolwell@foe.org
Stacy Malkan, (510) 848-5701, stacydmalkan@gmail.com
New USDA Report on Honey Bee Losses to be Released this Week
Harvard study points to pesticide exposures as key contributor
WASHINGTON
This week the USDA is set to release its annual report on honey bee overwintering losses, which are expected to be significant due to several contributing factors, including exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides. This class of pesticides was identified as a key factor in bee declines by a Harvard study released last week. The European Union has banned the three most widely used neonicotinoids based on a strong body of evidence that these pesticides can kill bees outright and make them more vulnerable to pests, pathogens and other stressors. Yet these pesticides are still widely used in the U.S., despite massive bee losses that threaten vital food crops, from almonds in California to apples in Washington.
Friends of the Earth recently released a report exposing the tobacco-style PR tactics employed by pesticide companies like Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta to delay action and manufacture doubt about the science linking pesticides to the bee crisis.
Friends of the Earth makes the following experts available for immediate comment:
Lisa Archer, Director, food and technology program, Friends of the Earth, (510) 978-3145,larcher@foe.org
Lisa Archer works to ensure food, consumer products and emerging technologies are safe for people and the environment. For more than a decade, she has developed and led successful corporate accountability, markets and legislative campaigns focused on environmental health and justice. Lisa has been quoted in numerous national media outlets and is a frequent broadcast news contributor. She leads Friends of the Earth's BeeAction.org campaign.
Michele Simon, JD, MPH, Eat Drink Politics, (510) 465-0322, michele@eatdrinkpolitics.com
Michele Simon is a public health lawyer specializing in legal strategies to counter corporate tactics that harm the public's health. She has been researching and writing pieces about the food industry and food politics since 1996, including a recent report called "Follow the Honey: 7 ways pesticide companies are spinning the bee crisis to protect profits." Her book, Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back, was published by Nation Books in 2006.
Susan Kegley, PhD, Pesticide Research Institute, (510) 705-1874, skegley@pesticideresearch.com
Susan Kegley is the main author of the 2013 Gardeners Beware report. Dr. Kegley has expertise in environmental, organic, inorganic and analytical chemistry, with an emphasis on pesticides and heavy metals and their fate and transport in the environment. She has extensive experience in toxicology and risk assessment, policy analysis, legal consulting, sampling and analytical methods, data analysis and data management and technical writing for both professional and non-technical audiences.
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
(202) 783-7400LATEST NEWS
'This P*ssy Grabbed Back': Stormy Daniels Speaks Out After Trump Indictment
The porn star said she is unafraid of facing the former president in court: "I've seen him naked. There's no way he could be scarier with his clothes on."
Mar 31, 2023
Stormy Daniels reacted Friday to the criminal indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump with a play on his infamous taped remarks seemingly confessing to sexually assaulting women.
"This pussy grabbed back," Daniels—the porn star paid $130,000 by Trump fixer Michael Cohen in return for silence about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with the future president—told TheTimes of London in a paywalled article.
One month before the 2016 presidential election, a 2005 recording of Trump telling "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush that "when you're a star," women let you "do anything" to them," including "grab 'em by the pussy" surfaced.
More than two dozen women and a 13-year-old girl have accused Trump—a 2024 Republican presidential candidate—of sexual misconduct, including assault.
"Trump is no longer untouchable," Daniels continued in the interview. "A person in power is not exempt from the law. And no matter what your job is, or what your bank account says, you're held accountable for the things you've said and done, and justice is served."
\u201c\ud83d\udd3a EXCLUSIVE: Stormy Daniels speaks out after Trump is charged with paying alleged hush money.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before. I am fully aware of the insanity of it being a porn star. But it\u2019s also poetic; this pussy grabbed back\u201d\u201d— The Times and The Sunday Times (@The Times and The Sunday Times) 1680282617
Daniels called Trump's indictment—which reportedly involves over 30 as-of-yet unspecified counts stemming from the $130,000 payment—a "vindication."
"But it's bittersweet," she added. "He's done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before. I am fully aware of the insanity of it being a porn star. But it's also poetic."
Trump is both the first president to be impeached twice and the first ex-president to face criminal charges.
Daniels said she learned about the indictment while she was out riding her horse, whose name is Redemption.
"There's something really ironic and hilarious that I got the news about the indictment while I was sitting on a horse named Redemption," she said, adding that she used some of the $130,000 hush money payment to buy a horse trailer.
\u201cThank you to everyone for your support and love! I have so many messages coming in that I can't respond...also don't want to spill my champagne \ud83d\ude1c #Teamstormy merch/autograph orders are pouring in, too! Thank you for that as well but allow a few extra days for shipment.\u201d— Stormy Daniels (@Stormy Daniels) 1680219745
Daniels said the indictment will "divide people" and questioned whether Trump would ultimately be held accountable, noting that he has "already gotten away with inciting a riot."
"Whatever the outcome is, it's going to cause violence, and there's going to be injuries and death," Daniels warned. "There's the potential for a lot of good to come from this. But either way, a lot of bad is going to come from it, too."
However, Daniels says she's undaunted by the prospect of facing Trump in court.
"I've seen him naked," she explained. "There's no way he could be scarier with his clothes on."
Keep ReadingShow Less
CDC Officers Became Sick While Assessing Contamination in East Palestine
The reports add "confirmation that the symptoms reported by East Palestine residents are real and are associated with environmental exposures from the derailment and chemical fire," said one scientist.
Mar 31, 2023
Reports that several investigators with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention became ill earlier this month when they visited East Palestine, Ohio offered the latest evidence on Friday that the air and water in the town is less safe than state officials and rail company Norfolk Southern have claimed, following the company's train derailment in February.
As CNN reported, seven physicians and officers from the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service traveled to East Palestine in early March, a month after a train carrying toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride derailed there.
The team reported developing symptoms including headaches, sore throats, coughing, and nausea while they were conducting their door-to-door assessment of public health risks.
The symptoms were similar to those reported by many East Palestine residents since the crash, and are consistent with the physical effects of exposure to vinyl chloride when it is burned, as it was by officials who conducted a controlled release following the derailment to avoid an explosion.
Despite reports from people in the area, who were briefly evacuated and then told just days after the accident that it was safe to return to East Palestine, state officials and Norfolk Southern representatives have insisted that no dangerous levels of contamination have been detected in air or water.
"We must stop playing Russian Roulette with our health and the environment," said environmental justice advocate Erin Brockovich Friday.
\u201cIt just ain't worth it people.\nWe must stop playing Russian Roulette with our health and the environment. \nhttps://t.co/Pxx2vpnodp\u201d— Erin Brockovich (@Erin Brockovich) 1680275822
The report from CDC experts "adds confirmation that the symptoms reported by East Palestine residents are real and are associated with environmental exposures from the derailment and chemical fire," David Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and former head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, told CNN.
Norfolk Southern has removed roughly nine million gallons of contaminated wastewater from the site of the derailment so far. Chemicals spilled into local creeks and rivers after the derailment and eventually flowed into the Ohio River.
Residents have expressed frustration over officials' assurances as many have reported symptoms similar to those experienced by the CDC experts.
"They're all scientists," one East Palestine woman named Jami Cozza told a panel of state and federal experts at a town hall on March 2. "They're sitting up here telling us nothing's wrong. I want you to tell me why everybody in my community is getting sick."
The CDC told CNN that the Epidemic Intelligence Service team's symptoms have not persisted since they left East Palestine.
Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton, who has conducted independent studies in East Palestine since the derailment, said on social media this week that he submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the CDC, asking for documents regarding the investigators' illnesses.
\u201cThis weekend, I submitted a #FOIA to the CDC requesting docs related to their team's chemical exposure illnesses and being pulled out of #EastPalestine #Ohio on March 7.\n\nIf true, why have other government employees, contractors, and the public have yet to be notified?\u201d— Andrew Whelton \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udca7\u2744\ufe0f\ud83c\udf2a (@Andrew Whelton \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udca7\u2744\ufe0f\ud83c\udf2a) 1680018563
"I think it is important for not only government officials to communicate with each other," Whelton told CNN, "but also to communicate their experiences with the public, so that everybody can understand what's going on, and how help needs to be brought to East Palestine and the surrounding areas."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Biden DOJ Sues Norfolk Southern for 'Unlawfully Polluting the Nation's Waterways'
"We will tirelessly pursue justice for the people living in and near East Palestine, who like all Americans deserve clean air, clean water, and a safe community for their children," said one Justice Department official.
Mar 31, 2023
The Biden administration on Friday took its latest step to hold Norfolk Southern accountable for the disaster continuing to unfold in East Palestine, Ohio and the surrounding area, filing a lawsuit against the rail company for sending toxic chemicals into the environment.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the company under the Clean Air Act, accusing it of "unlawfully polluting the nation's waterways" and calling on Norfolk Southern "to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup."
"When a Norfolk Southern train derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio, it released toxins into the air, soil, and water, endangering the health and safety of people in surrounding communities," said Attorney General Merrick Garland. "With this complaint, the Justice Department and the [Environmental Protection Agency] are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community."
The lawsuit comes almost two months after a train carrying chemicals including vinyl chloride derailed in East Palestine, spilling chemicals into local waterways and ultimately the Ohio River, which provides drinking water for more than five million people.
"Whatever it takes to make East Palestine whole, Norfolk Southern needs to pay—and it's not enough to take their word for it."
Officials began a controlled release of vinyl chloride to prevent an explosion, a process that sent chemicals including hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the environment. Those chemicals have been known to cause symptoms including headaches, vomiting, and rashes. Earlier this month, data showed that local levels of dioxin, a carcinogen, were hundreds of times higher than the threshold for cancer risk, according to federal scientists.
Norfolk Southern has removed nine million gallons of contaminated wastewater from the site and hauled it to storage sites in states including Texas and Michigan. Earlier this week, officials in Baltimore blocked a shipment of wastewater to a treatment plant there, with one city council member noting that "too often cities with high rates of concentrated poverty and environmental degradation are asked to shoulder the burden for corporate malfeasance."
Government officials say toxic levels of contamination have not been detected in the air or water in East Palestine, but a poll by federal, state, and local authorities earlier this month found that 74% of town residents had experienced headaches following the derailment and controlled release, and 52% had experienced rashes or other skin issues.
On Friday, CNNreported that investigators with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) experienced symptoms including sore throat, headache, coughing, and nausea while they were in East Palestine assessing public health risks.
By filing its lawsuit, said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division, the Biden administration is "demanding accountability from Norfolk Southern for the harm this event has caused."
"We will tirelessly pursue justice for the people living in and near East Palestine, who like all Americans deserve clean air, clean water, and a safe community for their children," said Kim.
In February, the EPA ordered Norfolk Southern to take full responsibility for the cleanup work, issuing a legally binding directive. It also demanded that the company attend all public meetings regarding the disaster, after officials refused to meet with residents following the crash.
Ohio filed a lawsuit against the company earlier this month, demanding that it pay for soil and water monitoring in the coming years as well as paying environmental damage and cleanup costs.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)—a key sponsor of multiple recent railway safety bills—applauded the Biden administration for "following Ohio's lead and holding Norfolk Southern accountable to the full extent of the law."
\u201cWhatever it takes to make East Palestine whole, Norfolk Southern needs to pay \u2014 and it\u2019s not enough to take their word for it. \n\nGlad to see @TheJusticeDept following Ohio\u2019s lead and holding Norfolk Southern accountable to the full extent of the law.\nhttps://t.co/4x2x0oA1LP\u201d— Sherrod Brown (@Sherrod Brown) 1680274800
The latest lawsuit against Norfolk Southern "should further serve as a wake-up call" to the rail industry, said Robert Guy, Illinois state director for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division.
\u201cThis should further serve as a wake-up call to all Class I\u2019s and their love affair with PSR. They must scale back train length, especially those that haul coal, iron-ore and hazardous materials! https://t.co/3SzCfPg7DW\u201d— Robert W Guy III (@Robert W Guy III) 1680270208
Norfolk Southern and other rail companies have long lobbied for lax regulations and pushed workers to abide by a strict scheduling system that rail unions say places profits over safety.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular
SUPPORT OUR WORK.
We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100%
reader supported.
reader supported.