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Tell the Governor: Reduce Pesticide Use, for School Children and Workers’ Health!

Pesticide use is so prevalent in our country that these intentional poisons are nearly everywhere. Don’t want to take my word for it? There’s no need to: cautious, understated, and matter-of-fact reports from conservative government agencies verify that pesticides pollute our food, our water, and our bodies.

That’s why I want to ask Californians to help me with an urgent opportunity to reduce pesticide use, pesticide pollution, and pesticide illnesses.

Two bills related to pesticide use have passed through the state legislature and are twiddling their thumbs on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk waiting for his signature. Both would make important changes.

SB 1157 requires California schools to use “integrated pest management” – a commonsense, cost-effective, reduced-pesticide method of managing pests.

AB 1963 requires the state to receive and evaluate test results from monitoring that’s currently required for people who work around certain neurotoxic pesticides so we know if regulations meant to keep them safe are actually working.

Needless to say, the pesticide industry and its slick lobbyists are working hard to make sure that Governor Schwarzenegger vetoes these bills. To give these bills a fighting chance, we need to make sure the governor hears from lots of Californians who support healthy kids and healthy food.

If you haven’t called the governor before, don’t worry. It’s easy. His office number is 916-445-2841. He won’t answer, but someone from his staff will. All you need to do is to tell the staff member your name and the city you live in. Then say “I’m calling to ask the governor to support SB 1157 and AB 1963.” It takes about sixty seconds.

When was the last time it was so quick and easy to do something so important?

Call right now!

California’s kids and the people who grow your food thank you.