NCAI urges Senate probe of US banned pesticides impacting Indigenous Peoples

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

DENVER -- The National Congress of American Indians adopted a resolution of the International Indian Treaty Council's North-South Indigenous Network Against Pesticides.

The resolution urges the halt to the exportation of banned pesticides by US corporations. The action follows illnesses and deaths of Indigenous Peoples, including Yaquis in Sonora, Mexico and American Indians in Alaska, where banned pesticides are used in agricultural fields and toxic chemicals are carried by water and winds.

IITC and the NCAI staff and Board members worked together on the resolution, “Impacts on the Contamination of Subsistence Food Resources, Health, Human Rights and Development of Tribes and Indigenous Communities."

The resolution states that the health and subsistence foods of Indigenous Peoples in northern regions such as Alaska are affected by these contaminants which are transported through the air and water. Further, the harmful toxins bio-accumulate in the food chain and in the bodies of humans.

The use of dangerous pesticides in the United States increased 33 times from 1945 to 1995 and pesticides used today are now up to 10 times more toxic. Many pesticides are transferred to developing babies though the placenta, and after their birth through their mother's milk, resulting in birth defects, learning and developmental disabilities.

Pesticide exposure causes a range of severe health problems for people of all ages, including leukemia and other forms of cancer. Programs to start aerial spraying of pesticides and herbicides are currently being proposed in Alaska.

The International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health noted that between 1996 and 2000, the United States exported nearly 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides identified as known or suspected carcinogens, an average rate of almost 16 tons per hour.

Further, the production, export and unmonitored use of banned, prohibited and dangerous toxins including pesticides violates a range of human rights for Indigenous Peoples around the world. These include the Rights of the Child, Right to Health, Food Security, Development, Life, Physical Integrity, Free Prior Informed Consent, Cultural Rights, the Right to be Free from all Forms of Racism and Racial Discrimination and the Right of All Peoples not to be Deprived of Their Own Means of Subsistence, the resolution states.

NCAI requested that the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hold oversight hearings on this critical issue and its impacts on the contamination of subsistence food resources, health, human rights and development of Tribes and Indigenous communities, in and outside the United States.

In a move to halt the secrecy behind these corporate acts, NCAI requested that the United States government fully disclose to Indian Nations, and the general public, the specific corporations, factories and storage locations for chemicals that are banned for use in the United States, but continue to be produced and exported, along with their known health effects.

Further, NCAI requested that Indian Nations and communities seek information and educate themselves as to the potential harmful effects to their peoples, subsistence and cultural resources of pesticides and other toxic chemicals. NCAI urged Indian Nations to provide information to their communities on their rights and options, including the restoration of traditional agricultural knowledge, practices, seeds and farming methods which are chemical-free.

In the resolution, NCAI urged the United States government to halt the production, storage, export and use of pesticides and other chemicals which have been banned for use in this country or which are known to be hazardous to human health and development until the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples is obtained. This means all affected Indigenous Peoples, including those who live near the point of production and others affected through the movement of toxins through the environment and the food chain.

In conclusion, NCAI called upon the United States government and its Agency for International Development (US AID) to cease funding programs which promote the use of DDT, an internationally-banned pesticide which accumulates and persists in the global food chain and in human bodies. Instead, NCAI urged US AID to provide funding for safe and effective alternatives for malaria prevention in Africa and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, IITC said that Mike Williams, the Alaska Regional Vice President of NCAI, Tribal Chair of Native Village of Akiak and member of NCAI’s Land & Natural Resources Committee, was the principle co-sponsor along with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Arizona) and the Native Village of Venetie Tribal governments.

Andrea Carmen, IITC executive director, said the next steps include developing strategies to obtain full disclosure of the relevant information from the United States government, working nationally and internationally and coalition building to halt these practices.

IITC thanked NCAI’s staff, Board and membership, as well as Tribal chairmen/chiefs Mike Williams (Akiak), Peter Yucupicio (Pascua Yaqui Tribe) and Julian Robert (Venetie), for their support and endorsement.
http://www.treatycouncil.org/
E-Mail: andrea@treatycouncil.org

NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS
The National Congress of American Indians Resolution #DEN-07-050
TITLE: Impacts on the Contamination of Subsistence Food Resources, Health, Human Rights and Development of Tribes and Indigenous Communities
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, the conservation of Tribal resources and promotion and preservation of Tribal members' health, welfare and human rights is a priority for all Tribes; and
WHEREAS, Tribal communities in and outside the United States are affected by pesticide contamination produced, used and stored on or near their lands; and
WHEREAS, the health and subsistence foods of Indigenous Peoples in Northern regions such as Alaska are also affected by these contaminants which are transported through the air and water; and bio-accumulate in the food chain and in the bodies of humans; and
WHEREAS, dangerous pesticides use in the United States increased 33 times from 1945 to 1995 and pesticides used today are up to 10 times more toxic than in the (sources can be provided); and
WHEREAS, many pesticides are transferred to developing babies though the placenta, and after their birth through their mother's milk, resulting in birth defects, learning and developmental disabilities, and pesticides exposure causes a range of severe health problems for people of all ages, including leukemia and other forms of cancer; and
WHEREAS, programs to start aerial spraying of pesticides and herbicides are currently being proposed in Alaska; and
NCAI 2005 Annual Session Resolution DEN-07-050
WHEREAS, the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health noted that between 1996 and 2000, the United States exported nearly 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides identified as known or suspected carcinogens, an average rate of almost 16 tons per hour; and
WHEREAS, the production, export and unmonitored use of banned, prohibited and dangerous toxics including pesticides violates a range of human rights for Indigenous Peoples around the world including the Rights of the Child, Right to Health, Food Security, Development, Life, Physical Integrity, Free Prior Informed Consent, Cultural Rights, the Right to be Free from all Forms of Racism and Racial Discrimination and the Right of All Peoples not to be Deprived of Their Own Means of Subsistence.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NCAI does hereby respectfully request that the Senate Indian Affairs Committee (SIAC) hold oversight hearings on this critical issue and its impacts on the contamination of subsistence food resources, health, human rights and development of Tribes and Indigenous communities, in and outside the United States; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NCAI respectfully requests that the US government fully disclose to the impacted Tribes and to the general public the specific corporations, factories and storage locations for chemicals which are banned for use in the United States but continue to be produced and exported, along with their known health effects; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NCAI respectfully requests that the impacted Tribes and communities seek information and educate themselves as to the potential harmful effects to their peoples, subsistence and cultural resources of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, as well as their rights and options in this regard including the restoration of traditional agricultural knowledge, practices, seeds and farming methods which are chemical-free; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI respectfully calls upon the US government to halt the production, storage, export and use of pesticides and other chemicals which have been banned for use in this country or which are known to be hazardous to human health and development until the free, prior and informed consent of the affected tribes and Indigenous Peoples is obtained, whether they live near the point of production and use or are affected through the movement of such toxics through the environment and the food chain; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI calls upon the US government and its Agency for International Development (US AID) to cease funding programs which promote the use of DDT, an internationally-banned pesticide which accumulates and persists in the global food chain and in human bodies, and to instead provide funding for safe and effective alternatives for malaria prevention in Africa and elsewhere; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
NCAI 2005 Annual Session Resolution DEN-07-050
CERTIFICATION The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2007 Annual Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado on November 11-16, 2007, with a quorum present.

PHOTOS 1 - 2: Indigenous Peoples gathered in Potam Pueblo in Sonora, Mexico, to speak out against illnesses and deaths from pesticides/Photo Jeff Conant. Photo 3: Delegation of Yaqui from Rio Yaqui, Sonora, Mexico, speak on banned pesticides and deaths in Sonora, during the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit of the Americas 2007. Photo Brenda Norrell