Continued From Volume 2-
You might, er might not, recall that
we ended our last eco Vig discussin’ our mission statement, Kendra
seemingly implying that we need to broaden it, expand upon it
some…discussing this it was thrown out there that we should be
shottin’ fer a complete ban on that whole family of deadly
concoctions bein’ thrust upon the natural biota, and, in turn, upon
all of us. “Remember DDT!?” numerous times, the Manure Man
shouted out. That meetin’ came to a close. About two weeks later we
rejoined again.
“Ok....you raucous assemblage, I
can tell by the way the dogs are raisin' hell, that somebody else has
just showed up. Hope it’s my buddy Tom. And not the law. Yeah. I
can tell by the way whomever it is, their workin' their way through
and passed those beasts. Yeah! It’s Tom.”
“Hey! Tom! Com'on in here round
the fire where it’s one heck of a lot more comfortable. Folks, this
is my buddy Tom. Biologist, emeritus. Long time with the DNR. Brother
Tom, let me introduce ya around. This young lady here who wears that
constant silly smile, like she's enjoyin' herself, full blast, full
time, the one with the fiddle in her hands, that's Kendra. Marques
there with the banjo, him too wearin' that 'what me worry' look on
his kisser...Oh shoot, you already know Marques, don't ya?”
“Yes, Brother David, we've burned
prairies together. How ya doin' Marques? Long time, no see.”
“Howdy, Tom, I’m doin’ just
fine. Thanks.”
“I don't know if you remember this
old gimped up character, he's...”
TOM RECOGNIZES MANURE MAN OF THE PAST
“Shoot! I'd recognize him
anywhere. I've been a fan of his direct-action style for a long, long
time. How ya doin', Mister Manure Man?”
“You can drop that 'mister,'
they've got me reduced ta just M&M around here. Anyway, thanks
fer yer rememberin' of my past exploits. Fer now, this group has got
me pretty well collared. I wouldn't bet that I ain’t one day gonna
break loose, though.”
“Naturally, Tom, you know Ruby
May.
“I wish I could introduce you to
Dina, but she's off doin', I guess what you'd call research, in Peru;
the country, not Peru, IL.
“Don't know how many more will
show tonight, it’s still early.
“Hey! Tom. Thanks for that great
frog information. I reprinted and handed out copies ta these
assembled here, and others. I had little doubt that we'd fall inta
serious discussion about just this. What did you guys think of that
info?”
“Headline” HAS 100% KILL RATIO IN EXPOSED FROGS
Marques chimes in first. “It’s...
incredible,” he comes out with while sadly shakin' his reverential
head. “Absolutely incredible. A 100 per cent kill ratio. That just
sucks my breath away. If there were ever reason to come up with a
frog eliminator, they've found it.”
“This crap's scary!” Kendra
pipes in.
“Those that manufacture that stuff
outta be shot! er better yet, boiled in oil!” M&M blurts out,
emphatically. “And them that sells it and sprays it too! How the
dickens did this ever get past the EPA?”
CHEMICALS NOT EXPOSED TO TOUGH SCRUTINY
“These chemicals only have to leap
the lowest of bars,” Tom comes back. “These companies that
manufacture this crap won't do research that they're not forced to
do. You can't see harmful side effects, if you're not looking for
them. Research costs money. These manufacturer are inta this for
right-now, bottom line profit.
“The main chemical formula
concerned in this Mother Jones article is Headline, that was one of
the agents in that three-chemical-cocktail that was involved in the
aquatic kill in your creek here, wasn't it?”
“Yes,” Kendra pipes up.
“Tombstone, Headline, and Sniper. We know it’s deadly to aquatic
animals, especially invertebrates. We know it’s harmful to both
mammals and birds. And now we know it’s deadly to frogs, and most
likely other amphibians, and, what’s left?”
“Reptiles,” Ruby May adds in.
“But we don't know if it’s harmful to them. What good biological
research, done by prominent herpetologists, without a doubt indicates
that snakes, and turtles are in drastic decline, too! Nevertheless,
that's quite an indictment. Why not just say, especially the way
they're mixin' this junk together, and the way it’s
applied...’Environment, move over, get outta the way! Make way for
chemical agriculture. Ain’t no room fer nothin' else!’ 100% kill
ratio for frogs sprayed with manufacture recommended dosages, and
their deaths after contact, happens rapidly, like from 6-8 hours.
Incredible.”
“And as you've read, gang, er
maybe group, is better, this wasn't some test that couldn't pass
muster with respect to the quality of science applied. It comes outta
Europe, its peer reviewed by Swiss and German scientists. I mean,
this is the real thing!”
“100% kill ratio on contact with
‘Headline,” a commonly aerially applied synthetic agricultural
chemical that the chemical manufactures haven't done their homework
on, not even close. And this blanketed over a significant portion of
Lee and Ogle Counties. And because there's essentially no oversight
of those doing the aerial spraying, or that done from the ground,
either, you can bet that this stuff is gettin' into the
‘environmental commons,’ proved here by exactly what happened ta
Grove Creek. Yeah. The ‘environmental commons,’ something we'll
slate for further discussion, later, and in depth, I promise...”
“The manufacture of this killer of
a chemical, BASF, a huge chemical conglomerate from the EU that once
was involved in producing stuff for quick-kill Nazi concentration
camps' gas chambers, found that results of this study interestin',
but it also doubted that these peer-reviewed-scientific studies
duplicated real field conditions and judged them insignificant. Whew!
“We'll quote directly from Mother
Jones here as to this huge conglomerate's response to email
questioning:
'The study design neither reflects
conditions of realistic agricultural use in practice nor the natural
behavior of the animals. Amphibians are not exposed to such
pesticide concentrations in practice and under normal agricultural
conditions. For instance, Pyraclostrobin is not applied to the bare
ground but to the crop, and the plants in the field will certainly
reduce the exposure to the amphibians. In addition, amphibians tend
to hide (under leaves or in the soil) during times of application.
Accordingly, BASF considers the risk to amphibians resulting from
Pyraclostrobin to be low in practice and under normal agricultural
conditions.' [you can read the whole article here: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/01/new-study-common-pesticides-kill-frogs-contact]
“The obvious question here that’s
just begging to be asked...is...why the hell wasn't research done on
this type of problem before this junk started killin' off just all
kinds of critters in our, yours and mine, environment? Where is the
EPA on stuff like this when ya need 'em?
“Is this an example of corporate
double speak er what? How do they know what the exposure to
amphibians is...when they've never studied it? Fine. Your chemical is
applied by air to the crops.
Yeah. None of it hits ground. Sure. It
might interest you that many species of frogs make their living
moving around on leafy vegetation, searching for insects as food. Do
you think they could come into contact with these deadly chemicals
that way? Seems ta me that there's a chance.
WHAT ARE NORMAL CONDITIONS?
“Twice they mention ‘normal
agricultural conditions.’ What the heck, in the always-changing-
environmental conditions are 'normal agricultural conditions!'
“Their statement with respect to
amphibians tendin' ta hide durin' times of application, I find
absolutely ludicrous. Do they, have they, even a scintilla of
research data pertaining to that?! Shoot, no. It’s just some PR
entity's hack, knee jerk, and stupid statement.
“Those amphibians must hide all
the daylight hours, 'cause that sprayin' went on from dawn ta dusk,
for days. The reason frogs have such big eyes is that they are
'sight' feeders. Yes they do hunt also in darkness, but bet yer last
dollar that they're extremely effective daytime hunters too.”
“Brother David, I love the closing
statement in that Mother Jones article,” Kendra expounds. 'If all
it takes to kill a frog is a single spray, you're using a problematic
pesticide, full stop.'
Marques comes out with a statement
about how Church of the Earth Firsters, our Washington Grove chapter,
its membership, continues to swell. “We've got Tom here, and
there's this fella I know from Oregon. His name is Richie, and he
owns a feed, seed, and lawn mower repair service. He's thinkin' of
startin' an Oregon chapter. Boy has he ever got a frog story ta
tell.”
“Well, David, why don't ya get it
from him then?” Ruby May wants ta know.
“I'll do just that Ruby May. This
is pretty good, first-hand and very local stuff.”
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