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A New York State wildlife official has
discovered that of birds collected for a study on West Nile
Virus, more died from
pesticide poisoning than from the virus itself.
In response to this early data, the
National Audubon Society
is calling upon Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Virginia to begin testing dead birds for
pesticide poisoning, if they have not already, and to publicly
release their findings.
Last year, prompted by concern about
the spread of West Nile Virus, New York State asked counties
to report dead birds to its wildlife pathology laboratory.
After receiving more than 80,000 birds, Dr. Ward Stone discovered
that while the virus was a factor in some of the deaths,
the leading cause was pesticide poisoning.
Common lawn
care chemicals were among the most common toxins.
"Millions of us use pesticides
like Diaznon and Dursban at home," said Frank Gill,
Audubon's Senior Vice President of Science. "We deserve
to know as much as possible about their effect on us. Like
canaries in a coalmine, birds warn of danger in our environment.
If these chemicals kill
birds, what are they doing to our kids?"
In addition to threatening wildlife,
pesticides are believed
to harm humans. According to Pesticide Watch,
pesticides have been linked to a wide range of human health
hazards, from short-term impacts such as headaches and nausea
to chronic conditions like cancer, reproductive harm, and
endocrine disruption.
"State governments are responsible
for protecting the public's health," said Audubon President
John Flicker. "We think it's important for them to
find out what these bird deaths mean."
Founded in 1905 and supported by 600,000
members in 510 chapters throughout the Americas, the National
Audubon Society conserves and restores natural ecosystems,
focusing on birds and other wildlife, and their habitats,
for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity
National
Audubon Society
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