This is forwarded from Audubon by Jane Clark EPA CONSIDERING EXPANDING THE USE OF POTENT BIRD-KILLING PESTICIDE! Public Has Until June 12th To Weigh-In! We need your help to ensure a deadly, bird-killing poison remains controlled, and its uses restricted! The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering - again -- whether to expand the use of carbofuran - one of the world's most potent bird-killing pesticides! And they are accepting comments from the general public on this subject only until Thursday, June 12th! Cotton growers from Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas are seeking EPA approval to expand the use of flowable (or liquid) carbofuran - a controlled, highly toxic insecticide, in order to control cotton aphids - a slow-moving, soft-bodied, pear-shaped insect that feeds on and infests cotton plants. As there are a number of economical and effective chemical and non-chemical alternatives available to cotton growers to control aphid pests, there is simply no need for the EPA to approve an expanded use of such a potent bird-killing pesticide. Carbofuran has been responsible for more avian deaths than any other pesticide, and EPA has restricted and controlled its use for years. In 1989, the EPA estimated that 1 to 2 million birds were killed annually by carbofuran. If EPA were to expand its use of this potent bird-killing toxin, hundreds of bird species would be put at risk. Birds utilizing field edges near cotton fields, such as Blue Grosbeak, Painted Bunting, and Indigo Bunting, as well as birds that may utilize the fields themselves, such as the Horned Lark and Dickcissel, would be most at risk. If carbofuran were to contaminate water and flow away from the fields, a much greater variety of birds would be at risk, including wading birds and neotropical migrant shorebirds like the Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher. Audubon and our partner organizations are committed to stopping any further use of the bird-killer carbofuran - but we can't do it alone. We need your help - and we need it now, as the EPA will cut off this comment period on Thursday, June 12th! Click on this link now to send a letter to the EPA urging them to deny any request to allow the use of carbofuran in any of its formations! <http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon/summary.asp?subject=242> If you have any questions or concerns, please drop me a note or give me a call - the comment period ends TOMORROW!! Desiree Sorenson-Groves Audubon - Public Policy Division 1150 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20036-4104 phone (202) 861-2242 fax (202) 861-4290 cell (202) 549-1033 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]