Petitions Requesting Revocation of Tolerances and Cancellation of Uses for Endosulfan

As a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife and someone who cares about protecting human health and our environment, I strongly urge the EPA to take swift action to cancel all remaining uses of endosulfan and revoke all food residue tolerances for this toxic chemical. As you know, endosulfan is a neurotoxic organochlorine pesticide -- similar to DDT and other insecticides that have been banned in the U.S. for decades. Like these other pesticides, endosulfan has a wide range of environmental and health risks to birds and other wildlife. Threatened northern leopard frogs are especially vulnerable its effects. In one recent scientific study, even a low dose of endosulfan was enough to kill 84% of leopard frog tadpoles that came in contact with it. According to the study's lead author, Rick Relyea, "Endosulfan appears to be about 1,000-times more lethal to amphibians than other pesticides that we have examined." But the environmental threat of endosulfan is even more far-reaching. Endosulfan is highly toxic to birds, very highly toxic to aquatic fauna both vertebrate (fish, amphibians) and invertebrates (mollusks, insects, gastropods), and highly toxic to mammals. Endosulfan has even been detected in arctic ice and snow samples, showing just how persistent this deadly poison is. Even worse, as the Environmental Protection Agency's 2007 study shows, endosulfan poses unacceptable human health risks to farm workers and those who apply this deadly poison. Even at low levels, it has been linked to hormone disruption, male reproductive harm, autism, and birth defects. At higher levels, endosulfan can cause headaches, vomiting, convulsions, and in extreme cases, unconsciousness and even death. For all of these reasons, I urge you to move as quickly as possibly to get endosulfan off the market. The risks to our health and to our wildlife are simply too great to allow its continued use. Thank you for considering my comments.

Please find attached two files containing the comments of more than 37,000 activists who responded to the alert regarding the cancellation of endosulfan (EPA– HQ–OPP–2008–0615). A disk containing the same comments has been sent by courier. Caroline Kennedy Senior Director for Field Conservation Defenders of Wildlife 1130 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-4604 ckennedy@defenders.org 202-682-9400