10
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 10, 2023) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced, on February 1, new measures to protect 28 endangered salmon species (including steelhead trout) from the use of four pesticides that threaten them and their critical habitats. Those compounds comprise three herbicides — metolachlor, bromoxynil, and prometryn, and one soil fumigant, 1,3-Dichloropropene. The protections, aimed at salmon populations in Washington, Oregon, and California, are meant to reduce impacts from pesticide runoff and spray drift, and to minimize potential “take.” (Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), “take” means, essentially, the unintentional harming or killing of an individual of a protected species — in this case, harm or death from exposures to these toxic pesticide compounds.) Beyond Pesticides and other advocates have for years warned that multiple pesticides are threats to Northwest salmon and other species at risk. This EPA announcement is the second of two, recently, that offer slight redress to the agency’s historical failures to act (see more below). Indeed, advocates have engaged in multiple litigation efforts over the years to try to force EPA to take action; EarthJustice in 2001 noted some early instances. As Chemical and Engineering News says pointedly, “Environmental groups, which have been suing […]
Posted in 1, 3-dichloropropene, bromoxynil, California, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Metolachlor, Oregon, Prometon, Telone, Uncategorized, Washington, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
27
Oct
(Beyond Pesticides, October 27, 2008) Six pesticides that threaten water quality and public health continue to be detected in groundwater samples, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study. Published in the Journal of Environmental Quality, the study evaluates groundwater contaminants from samples taken from over 300 wells across the U.S. Over the years, frequent research has detected pesticides in ground water around the country, including in aquifers used for drinking-water supply. Over the past few decades, the use of some pesticides has been restricted or banned, while new pesticides have been introduced. One goal of the study was to track the retention of various types of contaminants that would be found in the different pesticides used over the years. Original samples were taken from the wells from 1993-1995, and compared with samples taken from 2001-2003. Laboratory analysis was performed using methods that allowed detection of pesticide compounds at concentrations as small as 1,000 times below U.S. EPA drinking-water standards. Of the 80 compounds studied, six were detected in ground water from at least 10 wells during both of those sample periods. The six pesticide compounds detected are the triazine herbicides atrazine, simazine, and prometon; the acetanilide herbicide metolachlor; […]
Posted in Atrazine, Metolachlor, Prometon, simazine, Tebuthiuron, Water | No Comments »
