Love your cancer, Parkinson's, Alz, Etc.

 Dear Mr. Secretary:

In many ways, spring, the start of the growing season is the beginning of the toxin exposure season for Iowa citizens.

Reviewing the now well-documented history of Round-Up, we can fairly assert that the pesticide glyphosate was tested on human beings. Not instituting sufficient controls on new pesticides is tantamount to using humans as test subjects. This hasn’t worked out well for either the humans or the manufacturers. Bayer, which bought Monsanto, has paid out more than $12 billion in damages and there are over a 1,000 suits waiting to be filed. Glyphosate has been implicated in a diverse set of conditions—cancer, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, etc. 

On the basis of the well-documented, court-tested history of glyphosate, we the Cascade City Council are reviewing our pesticide use in parks, playing fields and the pool. These areas are of course, primarily frequented by children. At the same time we respectfully request that the Iowa Department of Agriculture conduct a similar review with particular attention to the airborne airplane/helicopter application of fungicide. 

Some of our residents on the edges of town have planted vegetation—trees and bushes—which aid in deterring the drift of pesticides onto adjacent properties. But since there is no such recourse is possible with air application and the action of the plane, actually forces the toxin down to the ground, we trust you will consider outlawing the practice or seriously curtailing it to weekdays, early morning and late day, times when wind speeds tend to be lower and there is less chance of drift. Times, too, when children are less likely to be playing baseball or swimming.

Sincerely,

Have Cascade Citizens Lost the Right to Get on the Agenda?

In the past, if you had an issue—water pooling in your yard, a neighbor’s car rotting on blocks for 2 years, noise—or whatever, you could call the city, get an “Agenda Request Form,” fill it out, and be placed on the agenda. Your issue was then officially on the public record and could be actioned.   Undoubtedly because I have brought up too many thorny issues, Council has scrapped the Agenda Request Form and now they will give you 3 minutes to talk about your issue. At this point it seems unclear whether they will discuss and deal it, or as they usually do with me, just blow it off.

This keeps them from having to deal with tough issues like the one I brought up Monday night. For many years, I have objected to the toxins randomly applied on the field behind me, as they drift up on my garden and onto the food I am growing. Not to mention over on the pool where mostly kids swim. Now that the court system has established a connection between these toxins and Monsanto/Bayer is paying out big bucks, I believe ordinary people demand limitations on their use.  At the previous

council meeting I had presented a model ordinance advocating them, and was told council can’t pass such an ordinance. You have to write the Federal Aviation Administration and the Iowa Dept. of Agriculture. So I went home, drafted a letter, presented at the following and asked them to co-sign it. Carl Kelchen’s grandson refused because it was too public—Andy if you don’t want take public actions, you shouldn’t have run for public office. Other doing the right thing by the people of this community, Kelchen sat there texting most of Monday night.

    Of course, every time the democracy comes up, Mike Delaney starts acting like a male gorilla pounding his chest and saying “We were elected…” Yes, that means you get the vote, but you are not the only voice that can be heard--democracy protects the reasonableness of other people's arguments as well. Do you know what the term “tyranny of the majority means?”