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CLEAN ENERGY—On July 25, 2006 Isaac
Rowlett, Milwaukee Campaign Director
was joined by Rosemary Wehnes of the
Sierra Club and Bill Holland of the Apollo
Alliance to call for increased fuel economy
for automobiles. |
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WISPIRG Set To
Register Voters
WISPIRG will once again be running our Wisconsin New Voters Project, a part of a national effort to reinvigorate our democracy by registering first time 18- to 24-year-old voters and turning them out on Election Day.
In 2004, the New Voters Project registered 142,000 18- to 24-year-olds in Wisconsin and contacted over 100,000 of these young voters in the month leading up to the election.
This fall, WISPIRG’s New Voters Project will be organizing on major UW campuses with a goal of getting 15,000 first time voters out to vote on election day.
Uninsured In Wisconsin
Can Pay 60 Percent More For Drugs
Uninsured consumers in Wisconsin can pay 61 percent more for common prescription drugs than what the drug companies charge the federal government, according to “Paying the Price, The High Cost of Prescription Drugs for Uninsured Americans,” a Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group report released on July 11.
WISPIRG is advocating for Wisconsin to establish prescription drug-buying pools at the state level to allow individuals (including the uninsured), businesses and the government to use their combined buying power to negotiate lower drug prices with manufacturers and to increase the availability of low cost generic drugs by increasing the budget for the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Generic Drugs, which currently has a backlog of 800 generic drug applications waiting for approval.
Wisconsin’s New Rules For Factory Farms
On May 24th, WISPIRG testified in favor of updating Wisconsin’s rules on manure discharge and handling at the Department of Natural Resources Board meeting.
In Wisconsin, 90 percent of our lakes, 40 percent of our streams, and much of our groundwater have excessive levels of fertilizers, pesticides, animal waste, sediments, and motor oil and other run-off from development. While there are many sources of polluted runoff, manure from farms is a big one. These largest of all farms account for less than one-half of one percent of all farms in our state but account for 10 percent of our manure.
The Board voted in favor of updating the protections for our waters from manure discharge and handling. The DNR is now working with the members of the Agricultural Committees in the Legislature and environmental and farming organizations to figure out the final package. The Legislature should vote on the final rules later this fall.
Monsanto Attempts To Delay Public Health Standards
On July 20th, the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, at the urging of Monsanto, rejected a new public health standard for Alachlor ESA, a by-product of the breakdown of Alachlor, a chemical found in herbicides used on corn. Alachlor is a known carcinogen. A 2002 survey by DATCP found that 28 percent of wells in Wisconsin tested positive for Alachlor ESA, making it the most prevalent chemical in Wisconsin's groundwater.
WISPIRG worked to build support of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules which could overrule the Assembly Natural Resources committee at their August 22nd hearing on the rule. WISPIRG contacted medical professionals in the Environmental Health Network as well as County Public Health Boards to ask them to oppose Monsanto’s objection.
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