Dear Ms. Matzke
,

As a resident of the Oregon for the last 9 years and a father of two young children who share with me the joy of playing in our state's beautiful waterways and partaking of our rivers' and coast's bounty I am very much encouraged that you are considering reducing the state's limits on farm and industrial use of pesticides.

Please, please help Oregon avoid becoming what I have personally seen occur in the eastern United States: the creation of wide-ranging brownfields from waste products and obsolete consumer goods produced by the construction, farming, chemical, and fuel production industries.

This pollution is very difficult to remove from the environment once embedded. And, sadly, the need to remove these pollutants on a large scale is very difficult to impress on the citizenry as, short of a very quick and simple demonstration of the lethal effects of any given pollutant, a magic bullet, if you will, they seem to feel there is no harm to living in their bosses' filth and, further, there is no viable alternative economically.

I am not advocating such stringent measures as would preclude business ventures in the state. I am asking you to simply stand strong and help us demand that those who would pollute our land, air, water, and food do so only at currently acceptable levels.

As such, I implore you to adopt the drafted human health criteria for toxics based on the accurate fish consumption rate of 175 grams per day so that those of us Oregonians who eat fish regularly will not, in our best estimates, be harmed by toxins we let into our food chain.

Sincerely,

Timothy Delzer

PS: Wouldn't an organic state be wonderful?