=============================================================
PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE
=============================================================
OGLALA SIOUX CHALLENGE INSECTICIDE USE ON TRIBAL LANDS
July 3, 1992
Oglala Sioux environmental activists from the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation in South Dakota recently failed in their attempts to
halt the spraying of 12,000 gallons of the insecticides carbaryl and
dimilin to control a grasshopper infestation on 80,000 acres of
reservation land. The struggle over the spraying between members of
the Native Resource Coalition (NRC) -- a grassroots environmental
group on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation -- the Oglala Sioux Tribe
Executive Committee and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), raises
serious issues about chemical pesticide use and federal actions on
Native American land.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe Executive Committee originally
approved the spraying in mid-June after meeting with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS). The USDA is charged with controlling
grasshopper infestations on public and private lands under the
Cooperative Rangeland Grasshopper Management Program. A
subsequent public meeting provided an opportunity for the Native
Resource Coalition to present information about the toxicity of the two
insecticides to the public, the BIA, the USDA and the Tribal President.
Following that public meeting, Tribal President John Yellow
Bird Steele wrote to BIA Superintendant Robert Ecoffey, and reversing
the decision of his Executive Committee, ordered the cancellation of
the spraying. NRC members were granted a temporary restraining
order in Tribal Court against the BIA to halt the spraying pending
further investigation of toxicity issues.
The BIA, however, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the
Tribal Court and ignored the temporary restraining order. The BIA
therefore instructed the USDA to begin spraying. The Oglala Sioux
Tribe Executive Committee met again to reaffirm its original decision
in favor of the spray program.
The sprayings, which that took place on June 24, disturbed two
tribal religious events, the Sundance and a peyote ceremony organized
by the Native American Church. Bill and Emily Koenen of the Native
Resource Coalition unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a last-minute
court order from the Tribal Judge to prevent the spraying from
occuring during tribal religious events. The Koenens also obtained the
earlier temporary restraining order. Bill Koenen, a member of the
Native American Church, reported that planes made four aerial
spraying runs near the site of their peyote ceremony, coming within an
eighth of a mile of their encampment. "The carbaryl smelled like
burned rubber and you could see a layer of brown fog across the land.
We couldn't hear our ceremony for the planes overhead," he said.
The Koenens are also concerned because the sprayings took place
during a period of heavy rainfall, and there have been no provisions
for groundwater or water runoff samplings for pesticide
contamination.
Carbaryl (Sevin 4-oil) is one of the most widely applied
insecticides in the U.S. with 10-15 million pounds used annually. It is a
teratogen (causes birth defects), a mutagen, toxic to the kidney and
liver, damages ovaries and testes, and causes behavioral problems in
humans and animals. Children, women, pregnant women, older
persons, and people whose health is compromised are particularly
susceptible to carbaryl's effects. Acute signs and symptoms of carbaryl
poisoning include blurred vision, nausea, headache, salivation,
breathing difficulties, muscle twitching and ataxia. Dimilin is an insect
growth-regulator that prevents their growth and is thus effective
against insect larva and eggs. It does not appear to pose high health
risks to mammals, although one of its metabolites may be carcinogenic.
Dimilin is not registered for use on grasshoppers, but an
experimental use permit was issued for use on 1,280 acres as part of the
spray program. Oglala tribal members are concerned that the
grasshopper infestation on their land is being used as a pretext for the
USDA and insecticide manufacturers to test expanded insecticide uses.
According to Susan Cooper of NCAMP: "APHIS personel stated that
the grasshoppers were adult, yet they sprayed the test plots with
dimilin, even though they know that dimilin is utterly ineffective
against adult insects. Not only is this a waste of federal funds, but it
raises serious questions about the federal agencies involved."
The Native Resource Coalition and the National Coalition
Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP) have informed clinics in
the area of known symptoms of carbaryl poisoning to assist medical
personnel in dealing with possible injury, and encouraged them to
keep accurate records of symptoms and treatments.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Send letters protesting the spraying to John
Yellow Bird Steele, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Box H, Pine Ridge,
South Dakota 57770. Tel: (605) 867-5821. Fax: (605) 867-1004, with copies
to Robert Ecoffey, Acting Superintendent, Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge, South Dakota 57770, and the Native
Resource Coalition (see address below).
CONTACT: Bill and Emily Koenen, Native Resource Coalition, P.O.
Box 93, Porcupine, South Dakota 57772. Tel: (605) 867-5568. Fax: (605)
867-5618.
National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP), 701 E
Street, S.E., Suite 200, Washington, DC 20003. Tel: (202) 543-5450.
========================================================
This information is provided by the Pesticide Action Network North
America Updates Service (PANUPS), a pesticide-related news service
from the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North American Regional
Center. Updates are posted weekly on EcoNet in the "en.pesticides,"
"en.agriculture" and other appropriate electronic conferences, and
distributed worldwide across the APC computer network. PANUPS is
also posted in the Public Conference on RTK NET, on GeoNet in the
PESTICIDES-BBS bulletin board, on FidoNet in The Ecology Network,
on the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SANET) on BitNet, and on
PENpages agriculture information service housed at Penn State Univ.
Hard-copy compilations of these updates are also available. For more
information about PAN activities and publications, contact: PAN NA
RC, 965 Mission Street #514, San Francisco, CA 94103. Tel: (415) 541-
9140. Fax: (415) 541-9253. Telex: 156283472 PANNA. E-mail on
EcoNet/IGC/APC: panna.