How did we get to this point in the history of the United States that we have taken away the local powers of our local jurisdictions to protect the local public health of our people? This challenges a basic tenet that this country is based on: local governance.

While the EPA continues to degenerate into an industry association, and the state pesticide board of Massachusetts refuses to regulate such known toxics as glyphosate and neonicotinoids, we continue to poison our land and water without fully knowing the risks.

We can do better. We cannot presume that pesticides are innocent until proven guilty, rather than the other way around.

Local communities should have the right to make informed decisions about which pesticides are simply too harmful for use. Individual rights must be tempered with public health considerations in these cases, for when a person uses a pesticide, the effect goes well beyond their property; whether through air distribution, or water table contamination, or soil contamination, many toxic pesticides are persistent and mobile.

By supporting H.3927, An Act empowering towns to protect their environments and residents from harmful pesticides you will be supporting the right for towns and cities the authority to decide if they want to regulate or ban pesticides.

Let's not let industry-funded interests decide what is in our best interest any longer. Support local pesticide control as a step towards decentralized true democracy.