October 20, 2003

To:
Attorney General Roy Cooper
North Carolina Department of Justice
P.O. Box 629
Raleigh, NC 27602-0629
Telephone: (919) 716-6400
Fax: (919) 716-6750
e-mail: agjus@mail.jus.state.nc.us


From:
E.M.T. O'Nan
Director
Protect All Children's Environment
396 Sugar Cove Road
Marion, North Carolina 28752
Phone: (828) 724 4221
Fax: (828) 724 4177
Email: pace@mcdowell.main.nc.us
Website: http://www.main.nc.us/pace


Dear Attorney General Cooper,

I write to ask your assistance in enforcing the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and join the suit filed by 10 other states and the US Virgin Islands who have called on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday to follow a federal law governing pesticide use in public housing projects across the country. HUD is not making housing authorities follow integrated pest management (IPM) techniques, as the agency is required to do by the federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Integrated pest management uses non-chemical means to combat pests whenever practical, such as screens to keep out pests, regular inspections and better sanitation facilities. Chemicals are used only when other options fail, and in smaller amounts to minimize human exposure.

Integrated pest management is also recommended for our schools, but the NC Pesticide Board has done little to implement its use. IPM should also be required in all public buildings and on public lands as this provides appropriate, affordable prevention of inevitable exposure and injury from dangerous pesticides. Further general contamination with toxic chemicals violates the Americans with Disabilities Act which requires access to public spaces for people with respiratory, cardiac and chemical disabilities. Continued ADA violations threaten federal funding for North Carolina. The NC Pesticide Board has already had formal complaints for ADA violations filed against it with the Dept. of Justice.

To add urgency to the need for protective assistance from pesticides the NC Pesticide Board (the Board)has recently received a letter of correction from the Environmental Protection Agency regarding their attempt to deregulate aerial pesticide rules. This was a blatant attempt to fulfill the wishes of the chemical lobby and violate their mandate to protect NC health and environment from pesticides. The Board intended to eliminate protective barriers or buffer zones (that now also appear to be unsafe) and allow universal contamination with any pesticide up to 6 ppm. I shall attach a copy of the letter from the EPA which discusses the problems and their concerns with this proposal.

The Board wasted tax funds on public hearings for a proposal that was illegal in the first place on at least two points. First the Board has no authority to change laws or rules on aerial spraying as it has been given authority only to grant exemptions to the law. Second, allowing massive general contamination with dangerous (for some deadly) pesticides violates the Americans with Disabilities Act which grants access to the chemically disabled to public places. During these public hearings Aerial Pesticide Applicators Associate members admitted publicly that they broke the current law each time the applied pesticides aerially. They said that they could not aerially apply pesticides without contamination of unintended areas (our innocent children and others). Since the Board has knowingly allowed this illegal activity to continue we appeal to you for a writ of mandamus seeking to force the Board to fulfill their mandate and place a ban on aerial pesticide applications immediately.

Please respond to this request at your earliest convenience as the health of our citizens and environment are endangered by these policies. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any time.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth O'Nan
Director
Protect All Children's Environment