Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Democratic Bill Banning Toxic Pesticides in US Applauded as 'Much-Needed' Step to Protect Kids and the Planet
"The Protect America's Children from Toxic Pesticides Act says what we all know to be true: that nerve agents have no place on our food, in our workplaces, and in our communities."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/04/democratic-bill-banning-toxic-pesticides-us-applauded-much-needed-step-protect-kids
Democrats in the House and Senate on Tuesday introduced sweeping legislation that would ban some of the most toxic pesticides currently in use in the United States and institute stronger protections for farmworkers and communities that have been exposed to damaging chemicals by the agriculture industry.
"The pesticide industry and chemical agriculture have for far too long been able to abuse legal loopholes allowing for the use of toxic pesticides that have not been adequately tested to make sure they are safe for people and the environment," said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. "The Udall-Neguse plan will rein in this largely unchecked explosion of pesticide use by agriculture and give the EPA much stronger authority to protect the public."The Protect America's Children from Toxic Pesticide Act of 2020, sponsored by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), was applauded by environmentalists as a "bold and much-needed" step in the right direction.
According to a summary of the bill released by Neguse's office, the legislation would ban:
Organophosphate insecticides, which are designed to target the neurological system and have been linked to neurodevelopmental damage in children;
Neonicotinoid insecticides, which have contributed to pollinator collapse around the world; and
Paraquat, which is one of the most acutely toxic herbicides in the world.
If passed, the bill would end the use of chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide linked to brain damage in children. Last July, as Common Dreams reported, President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency rejected a petition by environmental and public health groups to ban chlorpyrifos despite evidence of the pesticide's neurotoxic effects.
"Our nation's pesticide laws have not kept up to keep us safe," Udall said in a statement. "The United States sprays a total of over a billion pounds of pesticides each year on the food we feed to our children, exposing them to dangerous chemicals linked to brain damage and diseases like Parkinson's."
"It is long past time for the United States Congress to turn attention to this issue," Udall added, "and put the health and safety of our families above the profits of large corporations."
Daniel Savery, senior legislative representative at Earthjustice, said in a statement that the the Udall-Neguse bill "says what we all know to be true: that nerve agents have no place on our food, in our workplaces, and in our communities."
"Earthjustice is grateful for the leadership of Senator Udall and Representative Neguse," said Savery, "and we stand with our farmworker partners in support of this bill."
'We Need to See His Plan': Rights Groups Push Biden to Commit to Ending All Abortion Coverage Restrictions
"It's not enough for abortion to be legal. It must also be affordable and available to all people, however much money they have or however they get their insurance."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/04/we-need-see-his-plan-rights-groups-push-biden-commit-ending-all-abortion-coverage
Progressive advocacy groups are urging presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to commit to fighting for reproductive rights for all by releasing a concrete plan to repeal the Hyde Amendment, a decades-old measure prohibiting federal funding for most abortion procedures.
On Monday, the ACLU and the All* Above All Action Fund launched a digital postcard campaign aimed at pressuring Biden to "make a firm commitment to remove all abortion coverage restrictions from his first budget, and tell Congress he won't sign bills with abortion coverage restrictions, if he is elected."
The groups plan to mass deliver the messages demanding a specific plan to repeal Hyde to Biden's campaign headquarters in Philadelphia ahead of the Democratic National Convention later this month.
Morgan Hopkins, national field manager for the All* Above All Action Fund, said in a statement that "it's not enough for abortion to be legal.""To end Hyde, we need bold leadership from the next president," reads a sample postcard. "Politicians can no longer call themselves pro-choice without concrete commitments to ensure abortion coverage for all. Consider this your notice."
"It must also be affordable and available to all people, however much money they have or however they get their insurance," said Hopkins. "This is a crucial moment for Black and brown communities, women, LGBTQ folks, immigrants, and young people who will not accept empty promises from our candidates... We urge Joe Biden to release the specific actions he will take to undo the harmful legacy of the Hyde Amendment and end abortion coverage bans."
Last June, in the face of criticism from rights groups and his 2020 Democratic primary opponents, Biden reversed his longstanding support for the Hyde Amendment and said he now opposes the 1976 provision as well as Republican efforts to gut abortion rights at the state level.
Nicole Regalado, deputy director of ACLU's Liberty Division, said that while Biden's avowed support for repealing the amendment is welcome, "he has yet to release a plan to do so—and those details matter."
"In the midst of a public health emergency that disproportionately harms communities of color, it is urgent we dismantle discriminatory barriers to healthcare, including abortion coverage bans," said Regalado. "There is too much at stake to continue a healthcare system that explicitly denies abortion access to those living at the margins."
'Would Be Comical, If It Didn't Involve Real Lives': Unhinged Trump Interview Spotlights Deadly Failure of His Covid-19 Response
"If you wrote this as grotesque farce" for a movie script, wrote actor and progressive activist John Cusack, "no one would believe it."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/04/would-be-comical-if-it-didnt-involve-real-lives-unhinged-trump-interview-spotlights
In an interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios that aired late Monday, President Donald Trump sputtered, declared "You can't do that," and continued trying to downplay the massive and rising coronavirus death toll when confronted with the fact the U.S. has a higher mortality rate by percentage of population than major countries like South Korea and Germany.
"Instead, it's crushing," Hannon added. "It's crushing to watch the president sift through printed out graphs that somehow spin the U.S. response he has presided over as anything other than a national humiliation."While many observers ridiculed Trump's unhinged performance and likened the Axios interview to an episode of the HBO comedy show "Veep," Slate's Elliot Hannon wrote Tuesday morning that the president's back-and-forth with Swan "would be comical, if it didn't involve real lives."
After Swan noted that U.S. coronavirus deaths are on the rise, Trump brandished several colorful print-out charts purporting to show that the U.S. death rate as a percentage of cases is lower than that of other nations.
"You're doing deaths as a proportion of cases," Swan said after examining the charts. "I'm talking about death as a proportion of population."
"You can't, you can't do that," Trump responded. "You have to go by, you have to go by where, look... You have to go by the cases."
Swan insisted that it's "surely a relevant statistic say if the U.S. has X population and X percentage of death of that population vs. South Korea."
"Look at South Korea, for example," Swan said as Trump continued to protest. "Fifty one million population, 300 deaths."
In response, Trump suggested that South Korea may be distorting its coronavirus statistics and falsely claimed that the U.S. only has more Covid-19 cases because it tests more than other countries.
Watch:
The clip of the exchange, which was filmed on July 28, quickly went viral on social media, with critics voicing alarm and disgust at Trump's ignorance and politically motivated efforts to downplay the severity of a pandemic that has killed more than 155,000 people in the U.S.
"If you wrote this as grotesque farce" for a movie script, wrote actor and progressive activist John Cusack, "no one would believe it."
Rob Flaherty, digital director for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, tweeted that "you really gotta step back realize that as one thousand Americans die per day, the White House is printing out kindergarten charts for the president to prove that things are actually great."
Watch the full interview:
The Science Is Clear: Our 'Masks for All' Plan Will Save Lives
The coronavirus pandemic is raging out of control under Trump's leadership, but there are common sense solutions we must urgently implement.
by
Bernie Sanders
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/08/04/science-clear-our-masks-all-plan-will-save-lives
It is an absolute tragedy, and embarrassing, that the United States is practically the only major country where the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening by the day. Coronavirus has killed 150,000 Americans. States like California, Texas and Florida are registering their highest daily death tolls ever. The economic horrors of this pandemic are also escalating, as our gross domestic product plunges by an annual rate of nearly 33% and $600 weekly unemployment benefits expired for 30 million workers.
If we are to have any hope of turning this economy around, opening schools safely, and preventing countless more deaths, we must first get this virus under control. That is why, in late July, with 14 other senators and dozens of United States representatives, I introduced common-sense, practical and inexpensive legislation to protect Americans during the coronavirus pandemic: Masks for All.
The science is clear: Wearing a mask not only saves lives, but the widespread use of masks will get Americans back to work sooner and reunite families who have stayed apart.This legislation will substantially increase the production of high-quality masks in this country and distribute three reusable masks to every single person at no cost—including the many who have never owned a mask. It will also end our dependency on China and other countries for this life-saving product now and in the future.
The experts agree
This is not a political or a partisan issue. In fact, in a recent Senate health committee hearing, I asked Trump administration experts whether they agreed with my Masks for All proposal. Dr. Anthony Fauci replied, “There’s no doubt that wearing masks protects you and gets you to be protected. So it’s people protecting each other,” he said. “Anything that furthers the use of masks, whether it is giving out free masks or any other mechanism, I am thoroughly in favor of."
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has agreed. “If we could get everybody to wear a mask right now, I really do think over the next four, six to eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control," he said in an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association.
It's time we finally listen to our public health experts. Doctors Fauci and Redfield understand that evidence is mounting from around the world that wearing masks curbs the spread of COVID-19 and saves lives. South Korea, one of the more successful countries to date, began procuring masks as early as February and provided them affordably to its people. Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Germany, Vietnam and dozens of other countries have shown us that COVID-19 spread can be contained with widespread mask wearing.
Only when the virus is contained can the economy be revived. One estimate suggested that widespread use of masks could be worth up to $1 trillion to our economy by preventing shutdowns and getting people back to work earlier. And in terms of public health, the act of mask wearing, as simple as it is, is a matter of life and death. One projection predicts that universal use of masks could save more than 30,000 American lives by Nov. 1, as compared to our current trajectory.
Distributing masks nationwide
Unfortunately, with the Trump administration incapable of acting in a competent and scientific manner, Congress—in a bipartisan way—must take the lead. Our Masks for All legislation will instruct the Trump administration to utilize the Defense Production Act to produce and deliver three high-quality, reusable masks to every person in the country via the U.S. postal system. The masks would also be made available free at testing sites, post offices and pharmacies, as well as homeless shelters, jails, detention centers and other congregate-care settings.
The first priority would, of course, be front-line health care workers. It is beyond comprehension that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, doctors and nurses continue to lack enough high quality personal protective equipment they need to protect their lives and their patients. This legislation directs the government to produce and provide the needed surgical masks and N-95 respirators to all health workers in the country. It will also prioritize the needs of other essential workers.
This legislation will not only increase the availability of masks, but also the quality. With large-scale production and strong research and development, within months, we will be able to produce and distribute masks that are high quality, comfortable, easy to fit, and washable for continued use. These high-quality masks will protect both the wearer as well as the people they come into contact with.
The American people are with us. One recent poll found that 3 in 4 Americans—including 58% of Republicans—support requiring mask wearing outside the home. The majority of U.S. states, D.C., and Puerto Rico have passed mask mandates. It is only fair that the federal government now steps in to make these requirements as easy, effective and costless as possible for the American people.
Given the urgency of the moment this bill should be passed as quickly as possible by being incorporated into major coronavirus legislation currently being negotiated. Providing high quality masks for all is an effective disease prevention tool that must be immediately implemented. Every day we delay, lives are needlessly lost.
In this unprecedented moment in American history we need to come together—government and private sector, manufacturers and workers, scientists and ordinary citizens—to combat this horrific pandemic. Making sure that every American has a high-quality mask, and wears it, is an important step forward in achieving that goal.
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