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Ban Pesticide that Threatens Children!

When a child is exposed to lice, parents are often told to apply shampoos containing the pesticide lindane. But lindane is a toxic chemical - Rachel Carson identified it as a serious threat to people and the environment in Silent Spring back in 1962. It's been on Pesticide Action Network's "Dirty Dozen" list of most toxic pesticides since 1985, and the U.S. has banned many of its uses, including use on pets, since then. Yet incredibly, lindane shampoos are still used on children even though safe, healthy alternatives exist.

The U.S. EPA classifies lindane as a possible human carcinogen and it is particularly dangerous to the nervous and hormone systems. Lindane stays in the environment for a very long time and travels great distances in air and water currents. In fact, lindane shows up more often than any other pesticide in the arctic region especially in whales and people.

A single use of lindane shampoo can contaminate close to six million gallons of water. This threat to clean drinking water, and the enormous costs of clean-up, prompted California to ban lindane shampoos in 2002.

So using lindane to get rid of lice not only puts our children at risk, it also leads to serious and long-lasting environmental damage, and expensive water clean up costs.

Help PAN ban lindane in the U.S. and around the world. The United States is one of very few industrialized countries still using lindane in agriculture and for lice control. Sign this petition to U.S. Surgeon General, Richard H. Carmona, urging him to call for an immediate ban on lindane!
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The Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona
Office of the Surgeon General
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 18-66
Rockville, MD 20857

Dear Surgeon General Carmona,

Continued use of the pesticide lindane represents a real threat to our nation's public health.

Lindane is acutely toxic, particularly to the nervous system. Scientists believe it also causes cancer and disrupts the human hormone system. Despite these dangers, lindane use continues both in agriculture and as an ingredient in pharmaceutical products to control lice and scabies. These shampoos and soaps are mostly used on our children.

Please use your influence as the nation's leading voice on matters of public health to call for an immediate ban of this dangerous pesticide. I urge you to contact the Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration to demand that they withdraw registration of lindane for both agricultural and pharmaceutical uses.

Yours sincerely,
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