Thursday, August 6, 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:
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