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Resolution: Exporting Pesticides
2006 Shareholder Resolution approved by the Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (ACCSR)
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Resolution:
Exporting Pesticides
WHEREAS:
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Pesticide pre-release testing or exportation practices, are not required to be disclosed in SEC company reports.
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Pesticide products, including herbicides, not registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be manufactured in the U.S. and exported to other countries. In 1997–2000, over 40 million pounds of pesticides that were not registered to be used in the U.S. were exported from U.S. ports.[1]
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______ manufactures herbicides that are ranked by the EPA as “probable” or “likely” human carcinogens, [2] and such herbicides may be extremely dangerous under conditions of use in developing countries/ [3]
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U.S. customs records indicate that ______ exports pesticides to developing countries including Brazil, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. [4]
BE IT RESOLVED:
That the shareholders request that the board of directors
provide a report to shareholders by June 2005, that identifies
the company’s pesticides that are identified by the EPA as
“probable” or “likely” human carcinogens and the countries to
which these pesticides are currently exported. The report shall
also include the company’s policies and procedures for handling
and exporting unregistered pesticides and pesticides that are
“probable” or “likely” human carcinogens, including training and
educational use for end-users of the pesticides, as well as the
location of the company’s obsolete stocks of pesticides.
Proprietary information shall be excluded.
SUPPORTING STATEMENT: All of the concerns described in this resolution may substantially increase overall legal and financial risk, damaging our company’s name brand and corporate reputation.
Notes:
[1] Smith, C., Pesticide exports from U.S. Ports, 1997–2000, Int J Occup Environ Health 2001, Oct/Dec 7(4): 266-274.
[2] S. Orme and S. Kegley, PAN Pesticide Database, Pesticide Action Network, North America (San Francisco, CA. 2002), http//:www.pesticideinfo.org.
[3] International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Special series: International pesticide use, 2001, Oct/Dec 7(4); 2002, Jan/March 8(1).
[4] Customs shipping data collected by the Port Import Export Retrieval Service (PIERS) of the Journal of Commerce, 1998-2000.
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