US banned pesticides poisoning Indigenous Peoples worldwide

By Brenda Norrell,
Posted on Tue Dec 18th, 2007 at 03:52:22 PM EST
POTAM PUEBLO, Sonora, Mexico – Pesticides banned in the United States are still being exported by US corporations to agricultural fields surrounding Indigenous Peoples’ communities, including those of Yaquis in Sonora, Mexico, resulting in illnesses and deaths.

Yaqui youths exposed to these pesticides and chemicals have died, while young mothers have given birth to “jelly babies," babies born without bones. In American Indian villages in Alaska, banned pesticides are carried by the wind and water and accumulate in the food chain and bodies of humans.

In a move to halt the secrecy behind the US corporate acts, the International Indian Treaty Council presented a resolution to the National Congress of American Indians, which was adopted at NCAI's annual convention in Denver in November.

The United States government was urged to disclose the specific corporations, factories and storage locations for chemicals that are banned for use in the United States, but continue to be produced and exported. The US was also asked to halt the production and reveal the health effects of those chemicals to the public.

The National Congress of American Indians urged the US Senate Indian Affairs Committee to hold oversight hearings on the contamination of subsistence food resources and the health and human rights of Indigenous Peoples, inside and outside the United States.

American Indian communities were urged to restore their traditional agricultural knowledge, practices, seeds and farming methods which are chemical-free.

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Texans protest border wall, imprisoned children (updated)
By Brenda Norrell,
Posted on Wed Dec 12th, 2007 at 02:07:19 PM EST
BROWNSVILLE, Texas --- There's nothing new about Homeland Security's oppression and silencing of the people. There was, however, a new private security firm on the scene for the so-called environmental impact statement hearing in Brownsville on Dec. 12.

Who were those private security guards? They would not identify themselves.

"We don't have to tell you who we are," was the response from most of the guards when Texas residents asked them.

Some of the private security guards said they were hired in a package by Homeland Security, while others said they worked for the company hired to produce the EIS. This company is e2M, headquarted in Denver with offices in San Antonio and San Diego.

Already outraged over Homeland Security's plan to seize private lands in Texas to build the border wall by way of the law of eminent domain, residents said the secrecy and oppression tonight was meant to send a signal.

"This is our government at its sleaziest," said human rights activist Jay Johnson-Castro, in a telephone call at the conclusion of the meeting. "It was meant to diffuse the opposition. It was shocking and alarming. They tried to numb us."

At the so-called hearing, Texas residents were seated at separate tables to give their testimony to stenographers with translators. There was no open forum for speakers.

"There was no opportunity to cheer on great speakers like Elouisa Garcia Tamez, Lipan Apache. This was the divide and conquer approach."