Still at it with sulfuryl fluoride in the farm bill -- US Senate voting on it today

January 29, 2014

When you want to introduce a toxic fluoride pesticide into America's food supply and you don't have science, or the law, on your side, what do you do? You pay millions of dollars to lobbyists in Washington D.C. to re-write the law.

And that, unfortunately, is exactly what Dow AgroSciences has appeared to have done. Yesterday, FAN learned that Dow has successfully lobbied to have a one-paragraph provision added to the Farm Bill that will reverse the EPA's proposed decision to prohibit the use of sulfuryl fluoride on American-grown food. The Senate is expected to vote on the Bill later this afternoon. If you are as outraged as we are by this stealth effort to undermine public health for private profit, please contact your congressional representatives immediately.

Here's some background:
In January 2011, the EPA granted FAN's objections to the use of sulfuryl fluoride because Americans are already receiving too much fluoride from other sources, including water and toothpaste. As FAN (together with Environmental Working Group and Beyond Pesticides) repeatedly pointed out to EPA in submissions spanning 8 years, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA, the law governing pesticide use in the U.S.) prohibits the use of pesticides if people are already receiving unsafe levels from all aggregate sources. After reviewing the data that FAN submitted, the EPA conceded that using sulfuryl fluoride was inconsistent with the legislative mandate of the FQPA.
 After EPA announced this decision, Dow immediately went to work lobbying Congress to change the law. While FAN coordinated several letter-writing campaigns to thwart Dow's lobbying efforts, Dow appears to be on the brink of getting its way.
Please call and email your congressperson right now and tell them to 

VOTE NO on the farm bill!

With Dow and its friends in Congress jacking up the fluoride levels in the nation's food supply, it becomes more urgent than ever to end the unnecessary and outdated practice of adding fluoride to the public water supply.

For those who wish to protect themselves from this renewed assault on their lives, a good start is to buy organic wherever you can, or grow your own food if you have the space. FAN will also be investigating which corporations will be using Dow's sulfuryl fluoride so that our members will know which foods - and which corporations - to avoid.

Stuart Cooper,
Campaign Director

Fluoride Action Network