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BY ARTHUR HUTCHINSON State Bureau Democrats refused Saturday to include in their 1970 platform support for a strong pesticide control law administered by the State Board of Health. The party’s document of prin ciples instead settled for a gen eral statement of support for pesticide legislation without spelling out any details. Delegates first eliminated from the proposed plank on ag riculture a_ section endorsing administration of pesticide con trols by the state Department of Agriculture. This was done at the urging of Sen. Harry Mitchell, Great Falls, who was chairman of the Conservation and Environment Committee. That group had pro posed the party endorse restric tive pesticide control legislation administered by by the state Board of Health. That section too was thrown out by a majority of the dele gates who agreed with Sen. Carroll Graham, Lodge Grass, and Rep. Jack Gunderson, Pow er, that the platform convention should not attempt to write in two days legislation that the legislature and legislative coun cil has struggled three years to write. The current status of the pro posed pesticide bill is to create a new state pesticide control board with dual administration of its policy by bdilh health and agriculture departments. Mitchell pointed on the con vention already had endorsed the reorganization plan to limit state agencies to 20 or fewer and said pesticide control had ‘to be handled by an existing state agency. “Pesticide contamination and pesticide poisoning is a public health problem,” Mitchell said. “The overwhelming public sup port and a fair amount of agri culture support goes to adminis tration by the board of health,”’ Mitchell is a dairy farmer who uses pesticides, Sen. Dave James, Joplin, a wheat farmer, agreed that let ting agriculture, the major user of pesticides, administer the control problem was “‘putting the fox to guard the henhouse.”’ Burt James opposed control by the Board of Health which he called “dictatorial and not representative of the people be cause its members were ap pointed.
Newspaper Details
Helena Independent Record
Helena, Montana, US
Sun, Sep 13, 1970
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 06 Feb 2026
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