Important National Pesticide Conference

A major national pesticide conference will be held in Carrboro in a few weeks. The organizers have sent the following information:

We wanted to let you know about an exciting environmental conference focusing on a range issues facing NC and the nation. Bridge to an Organic Future: Opportunities for health and the environment, will be held April 3-4, 2009 at the Century Center in Carrboro, NC. Registration and info at www.beyondpesticides.org/forum.

Keynote speakers include Jim Hightower, author and radio commentator; Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC); and, Philip and Alice Shabecoff, authors of Poisoned Profits: The toxic assault on our children. Featured panelists include Freya Kamel, PhD, NIEHS scientist who linked pesticides to diabetes; Alex Lu, PhD, Harvard professor examining dietary pesticide exposure; Brett Ramey, Native Movement project director teaching urban agriculture to indigenous youth; Niell Lindley, NC organic dairy farmer; Jim Riddle, former
USDA NOSB chair; Chip Osborne, national expert on organic lawn conversion; Lani Malmberg, self-described "gypsy goat herder" managing invasive weeds; Tom Acury, PhD, director of Wake Forest Center for Worker Health; and more.The Forum will begin with an optional tour of Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro, NC on Friday at
1:00pm. Piedmont Biofuels is a cooperative that runs a research farm and sustainable biodiesel production facility, manufacturing fuel out of waste vegetable oil. Space is limited. Please RSVP to info@beyondpesticides.org.

The Forum is convened by Beyond Pesticides and Toxic Free NC. Co-sponsoring organizations include Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Haw River Assembly, North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Rural Communities Assistance Project, Piedmont Environmental Alliance, Rural Advancement Foundation
International – USA, UNC Alianza, UNC Environmental Science and Engineering Student Organization. Register online (Students $35, Members $65, Non-Members $75) and learn more about the conference at www.beyondpesticides.org/forum.