Number: 1982-12
WHEREAS, the United States government provides millions of dollars each year to subsidize the spraying of pesticides on privately owned land; and
WHEREAS, pesticides have many significant adverse environmental effects, including mortality to fish and aquatic organisms on which fish depend for food; and
WHEREAS, most pests, including the gypsy moth and the eastern spruce budworm, against which federally subsidized pest control programs have been launched in recent years, cannot be eradicated, but a number of pests can be controlled by a variety of environmentally acceptable means; and
WHEREAS, federal subsidies reduce the cost of chemical pest control measures compared with other less environmentally damaging controls; and
WHEREAS, the availability of federal subsidies and the influence of federal guidelines have resulted in expanded chemical pesticide use against pests in the Northeastern United States instead of encouraging other control means; and
WHEREAS, there are higher priorities for expenditures of federal funds;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 18-21, 1982, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, hereby opposes all subsidies for chemical pesticide use on private lands unless a pest problem has been designated a national emergency by the President.