This website previously included a document called " FBI contacts for suspicious pesticide/OP nerve gas incidents". It has been removed at the request of the US Government.
The document, written by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), included a list of 38 chemicals which were considered to be "Highly toxic pesticides and OP nerve agents judged likely to be used by terrorists or for malicious intent". The document stated that 'any suspicious use or possession of these pesticides by the general public should be reported to the FBI'. The document contained the names and phone number of 90 FBI officers who had responsibility as 'weapons of mass destruction coordinators'.
The highly toxic pesticides included in the list prepared by the EPA included Mevinphos, Monocrotophos, and Methyl parathion. These chemicals are used on a routine basis by Cambodian farmers.
This document was previously available to the public at a number of locations on the internet, including the Colorado Office for Emergency Management . A copy of the document was also included in the Toxic Trail website. With the launch of the War Against Terrorism, the information was removed from Government websites. In October 2002, the EPA contacted the Webmaster of Toxic Trail and requested that the document be removed from this site for security reasons. It was stated that "Your website, in effect, has provided potential terrorists with a menu of highly toxic chemicals that they could choose from to help them plan their next attack"
It is against the policy of the Webmaster of this site to publish a document against the express wishes of the author. For this reason the document has been removed. The chemicals in question, however, continue to be available.
Some of these compounds - such as methyl parathion - have their origins in research into chemical weapons, and yet they
can be purchased in small town throughout the developing world. And they are already killing people. That is not a potential crime, it is a crime which is being committed every day.
If a danger exists that terrorists might use these pesticides as a weapon, then the danger has not been created by
Toxic Trail or any other website which makes this information available. Instead, the danger has been created by an industry that is so addicted to its own profits that it will not stop making and selling compounds that it knows to be lethal. As the Toxic Trail documentary shows, it is impossible to guarantee that organophosphate pesticides will be distributed, sold and used in a safe manner.
The EPA issued this press release on 13 September 2002 :
EPA Warns Those Who Work with Pesticides To Be Cautious Given the Recent Threat of Terrorist Attack
Following an announcement by U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft that the threat level for terrorist attack has been elevated to "high," the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 12, 2002 that those who manufacture, distribute, transport or store pesticides should be especially vigilant regarding physical security of those chemicals. Toward that end, EPA recommends that you review EPA's Pesticide Security Alert entitled: Pesticide Alert: Pesticide Security and Your Business published by EPA on September 2001 and available on the EPA website at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/citizens/pest_secu_alert.htm
Additional information about the possible use of pesticides as a terrorist weapon is available in a special edition of Agrochemical and Environmental News, at this address: http://entweb.clemson.edu/pesticid/Issues/AENews.pdf