Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Congress shortsighted in weakening ESA enforcement

Kiss 'em goodbye. That's the attitude of many U.S. senators toward fish, wildlife and plants that are sliding to extinction. For the past 11 months, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has been barred from putting any of our fellow creatures on the endangered species list. Now the Senate has voted to extend that moratorium.

Sen. Harry Reid did not go along with that crowd. Instead, he led the effort on the Senate floor to defeat the moratorium on the listing of endangered species. Against long odds, he came within two votes of succeeding.

It's too easy to poke fun at creatures that look funny to us or have been tagged with odd names. But ask a breast cancer patient if she thinks it's worth saving the Pacific yew, whose bark turned out to contain an effective medicine for treating her disease.

More than three-quarters of the 150 most-prescribed drugs in the United States are derived from natural sources. When we lose a species before researchers can study it, we also lose the medicines the species could have provided.

Patients, doctors and researchers are not the only ones now speaking up for a strong Endangered Species Act. Last week, evangelical Christians were on Capitol Hill telling legislators that this landmark law is a modern Noah's Ark that should not be weakened. Let's hope Congress is listening to them as much as to the big-money lobbyists.

Jay Thomas Watson,

California/Nevada regional director,

Wilderness Society

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