The Forest Ecology Network has begun a new campaign, known as Pesticide-Free Forests, to get synthetic chemical pesticides out of the forest and to transform the Board of Pesticides Control into an elected body. Our goals are to:

1. Impose a 10-year moratorium on the application of synthetic chemical pesticides for forestry purposes. "Pesticides" includes herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, and we are concerned with both aerial and ground application of pesticides. The use of Bt for controlling spruce budworm would still be allowed.

2. Reorganize the Maine Board of Pesticides Control. Historically this 7 member, governor-appointed board has been controlled by industry and hence has been very ineffective at protecting the public and the environment from dangerous pesticides. Our hope is to increase the board from 7 to 16 members, with one representative from each of Maine's 16 counties, elected by the voters of that county. This would inject a large dose of democracy into the process, and hopefully wrest control of the board away from industry.

3. Require the Board of Pesticides Control to review current studies on the health and environmental effects and safety of pesticides certified for sale and use in this State and, when warranted by the currently available scientific information, to limit or prohibit the sale and use of a pesticide within the State.

Jonathan Carter at 628-6404 or via email at fen@powerlink.net 
or
Paul Donahue or Teresa Wood at 255-6542 or via email at meenviro@nemaine.com 
      

• Pesticide-Free Forests fact sheet
• Pesticides Are Designed To Kill by Paul Donahue
• Herbicide Bibliography  complied by Sylvia Knight
• Aerial Herbicide Spraying- Poisoning the Maine (and New Hampshire) Woods  by Daisy Goodman
• Wildlife, Pesticides and People - a Conference Sponsored by the Rachel Carson Council at George Mason University September 25 & 26, 1998
• Maine Forest Service encourages increased clearcutting, herbicide spraying.
• 'Use emotions' to support pesticides, foresters told - An article by Phyllis Austin, published in The Maine Times the week of 25 March 2001, reports on a meeting of the New England Society of American Foresters and gives some valuable insight into the attitude of industry and the Board of Pesticides Control towards both pesticide use and this pesticide referendum.

Pesticide Fact Sheets (in pdf format)

• Glyphosate (Roundup, Accord, etc.) - Introduction (download pdf file) - main report (download pdf file)
• Imazapyr (Arsenal) (download pdf file)
• Triclopyr (Garlon 4) (download pdf file)
• Sulfometuron methyl (Escort, Oust) (download pdf file)

Other sources for information on pesticides

• Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly
• Pesticide Action Network
• Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP)
• Rachel Carson Council, Inc - the Rachel Carson Council serves as a clearinghouse for pesticide-related information and publishes guides to pesticide dangers and alternative pest controls

Relevant articles on pesticides used on Maine's forests

• Roundup's "Inert" Surfactant is Poisonous
• Pesticides and Birds: From DDT to Today's Poisons
• Toxic Secrets: "Inert" Ingredients in Pesticides
• Worst Kept Secrets: Toxic Inert Ingredients in Pesticides
• Diminishing Returns: Salmon Decline and Pesticides