Two updates for everyone who signed this petition and is concerned about the proposed rat poison helicopter drops over the Farallon Islands. First, stay tuned this week for an announcement on the Farallon Islands. While the final decision on the poison drop has been postponed indefinitely and things are quiet now, the pressure will continue until USFWS officially withdraws the current draft Environmental Impact Statement. Thank you again for signing and sharing this petition. Your support has helped to make a difference! Please continue sharing – we are so close to 30,000 signatures! Second, I am thrilled to announce the launch of Island Watch Conservation Science! In addition to researching (and working with Animal League Defense Fund) in filing a FOIA request on the Farallon Islands, I have also investigated and written about Hawaii's problems, which includes the open air testing of experimental pesticides and GMOs. This first article, (part of a 3 part series) published by Huff Post last year, "GMO & Pesticide Experiments in Hawaii: The Poisoning of Paradise" broke the story to the world that Hawaii is "Ground Zero" for the unregulated testing of experimental pesticides and GMOs. I also discovered (during my USFWS FOIA request) that Hawaii is in the sales pipeline for two island eradication projects. Island Conservation has targeted Lehua (off Kauai, which had a failed poison drop attempt in 2008) and Kaho'olawe (off Maui) for island eradications. I was on Kauai last month and did two radio interviews alerting the residents of Hawaii what is in the planning stages. Since the process for approving these projects is not open to the public, the people of Hawaii had no idea. However, people on Kauai do remember the failed Lehua eradication attempt in 2008, which resulted in hundreds of dead fish washing up on the nearby island of Niihau, and two whales beaching themselves. The parallels between the biotech industry and the island eradication business are very interesting. Both industries use unprecedented levels of pesticides as part of their practice. For the GMO/biotech industry doing research and seed production in Hawaii, this is for a variety of reasons and if anyone is interested in the details please send me an email and I can elaborate. The island eradication business claims this is necessary because every single rodent must be eradicated, and brodifacoum dropped out of helicopters (up to 24 lbs. per acre) is the only solution. Both industries are controlled by a handful of powerful players (monopolies) and both have questionable, cozy relationships with our federal gov't. This work has led to the founding of Island Watch Conservation Science. Retired USFWS biologist/toxicologist Sonce DeVries and I are the co-founders, and we are fortunate to have citizens and conservationists from New Zealand (the birthplace of the eradication business) that are part of our team. After this article, "The Farallon Islands Mouse Eradication Project: the 'Con' in Conservation" was published, I began to hear from people in NZ trying to stop the same practice which is done as a matter of maintenance by the NZ gov't. NZ also exports these services around the world by selling the rodenticides and helicopter pilots needed. Yes, the gov't of NZ is in business of manufacturing brodifacoum, 1080 and other horrific poisons. In a nutshell, "Island Watch" is a global coalition of conservationists, toxicologists and citizens that are concerned about the exploitation of island ecosystems. We are a global watchdog agency that monitors, investigates and reports on what is happening to island ecosystems around the world. We are fiscally sponsored by MarinLink, and all donations are tax deductible. Islandwatch.org. Please “Like us” on Facebook.