28
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 28, 2007) This week the European Commission’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety voted on elements of a proposed framework that fills in regulatory gaps on pesticides, and adopts stricter rules than originally proposed, including a ban on aerial spraying. European Union’s existing legislation on pesticides only deal with two stages of the life cycle of pesticide products: the “placing on the market” stage and the “end of life-cycle” stage. To deal with the period in between – when pesticides are actually being used – the Commission, in July 2006, put forward a report, Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides. The first piece of legislation generated by the strategy is a draft framework directive on the sustainable use of pesticides, on which the Environment Committee voted. Measures proposed in the strategy report include: National action plans by Member States to identify the crops, activities or areas most at risk from pesticides, together with targets for tackling the problems; Training for professional users of pesticides and awareness-raising for the public; Rules on inspections of pesticide equipment and on the handling and storage of pesticides; Special measures to protect water from pesticide pollution; Special […]
Posted in International, Pesticide Regulation | No Comments »
25
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 25, 2007) In a new report published by the David Suzuki Foundation, environmental lawyer David Boyd finds that over 6,000 Canadians are acutely poisoned by pesticides each year, and more than 46 percent of those cases are children under the age of six. Entitled Northern Exposure: Acute pesticide poisonings in Canada, the report analyzes records of poisonings that occurred immediately after exposure, rather than chronic symptoms, such as cancer and neurological diseases. Based on its results, the Suzuki Foundation has made recommendations for personal and municipal actions to reduce poisonings. While much of Canada has been active in reducing pesticide exposures through bans on the cosmetic use of lawn pesticides, including one spanning all of Quebec, the report’s announcement laments the country’s failure to accurately document poisonings. According to the Suzuki Foundation’s release, “This is only the tip of the iceberg: many poisonings are misdiagnosed or completely unreported. Currently, the federal government does not systematically monitor exposure to pesticides.” According to the report, the “incomplete and inconsistent Canadian system” of reporting that shows an estimated 2,832 child poisonings lags far behind “the more comprehensive American system [that] records more than 52,000 such cases” of exposure incidents. Ironically, […]
Posted in Children/Schools, International, Pesticide Regulation | 1 Comment »
23
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 23, 2007) Organic agriculture may play a role in the fight against world hunger. Researchers say a large-scale switch to organic is expected to meet food demand while greatly reducing the expensive and harmful synthetic chemicals that have been introduced globally via industrial agriculture. Professionals gathered at the United Nation’s International Conference on Organic Agriculture and Food Security on May 3-5 in Rome. Covering a vital issue, the conference represents a change in the paradigm of food security. Due to figures that indicate crop yields can initially fall with the conversion from industrial to organic farming (a decrease that often evens out over time), the organic farming movement has largely been on the sidelines in regards to discussions about feeding the hungry. However, studies discussed at the conference reveal the potential of organic agriculture to meet these needs. Researchers from Denmark have predicted that food security in sub-Saharan Africa would not be seriously harmed if 50 percent of agricultural land in the food exporting regions of Europe and North America were converted to organic by 2020. The potential rise in world food prices from such a shift can be mitigated by improvements in the land and other […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, International | No Comments »
22
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 22, 2007) In a study published in the latest issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, scientists found that seafood products from southern China contain high concentrations of DDT and hexachlorocylohexane (HCH). While banned in China since 1983, humans are being exposed to organochlorine pesticides (OCP) at rates high enough to pose health threats. The study responded to high rates of DDT and HCH found in sediment, water and biota in the Pearl River delta and neighboring coast, where land is being rapidly industrialized, urbanized, and transferred from agriculture to commercial development. Researchers tested 212 seafood products, including shrimp, crabs, and mollusks, from 11 coastal cities for 21 OCPs, including DDT, HCH, heptachlor, dieldrin, and endosulfan. The highest concentrations of DDT were found in four species of shellfish, although concentrations varied widely depending on sampling location. The study reported, “These results suggest that bioaccumulation of DDTs in seafood products was highly species-specific, probably due to different feeding habits and habitats.” By taking a large sample of one indicator species, it also concluded “the coastal region of southern China is probably one of the most DDT-polluted areas in the world.” Researchers also found HCH to be more widely prevalent […]
Posted in DDT, Dieldrin, Disease/Health Effects, Endosulfan, International | No Comments »
16
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 16, 2007) Americans, whether we know it or not, are increasingly having imported food for dinner. While concerns over international agricultural practices, including pesticide use, have peaked recently, food imports are making their way with little inspection into the U.S. marketplace. USA Today reports approximately 25,000 shipments of foods regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) arrive daily from over 100 countries. Shipments have increased by more than four times and doubled in value since 1996 according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. FDA has not been able to keep up with this pace. It is reported that FDA inspects about 1% of the imported foods it regulates, down from an already low 8% in 1992. Too understaffed and underfinanced to inspect the vast majority of imports, this signals a large green light for produce and seafood to enter the U.S. market without having to sweat inspections (meat and poultry products are regulated separately through the U.S. Department of Agriculture). “The public thinks the food supply is much more protected than it is,” William Hubbard, a former associate commissioner who left in 2005 after 27 years at the agency, told the New York Times. “If […]
Posted in International, Pesticide Regulation | No Comments »
25
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 25, 2007) Public health and environmental activists call on the world community today to respect life, protect children, stop hazardous pesticide use, including DDT, and adopt what they call “sustainable programs that attack poverty and the conditions that give rise to insect-borne diseases such as malaria.” Africa Malaria Day is commemorated on April 25, a day set aside by African governments committed to rolling back malaria and meeting the United Nations malaria-related Millennium Development Goals. Last September, the World Health Organization came under heavy criticism from public health and environmental groups when it announced its new policy to promote the use of DDT for malaria control in developing countries. Environmental and public health advocates warn that good intentions are in this case misguided. According to the Washington, DC-based non-profit organization Beyond Pesticides, advocating a reliance on pesticides, especially DDT, as a silver bullet solution for malaria protection is extremely dangerous. When the underlying causes of pest problems are not adequately addressed, then a sustained dependence on toxic pesticides like DDT causes greater long-term problems than those that are being addressed in the short-term. “The WHO is misleading the world on DDT, which is a known cancer causing […]
Posted in DDT, Insect-Borne Disease, International | No Comments »
12
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 12, 2007) A new study has found the proportion of boys born over the past three decades has unexpectedly dropped in both the United States and Japan. In all, more than a quarter of a million boys are missing, compared to what would have been expected had the sex ratio existing in 1970 remained unchanged. The study’s authors hypothesize that the skewed sex ratio may be linked to prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as pesticides. Although the researchers do not know why boys are taking a hit, they suspect contributing causes could include widespread exposure to hormone-mimicking pollutants by women during pregnancy and by men before they conceive children. “We hypothesize that the decline in sex ratio in industrial countries may be due, in part, to prenatal exposure to metalloestrogens and other endocrine disrupting chemicals,” the authors note in the study, published this week in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer reviewed journal of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. These endocrine-disrupting chemicals include some pesticides, dioxin and methylmercury, a pollutant from coal-fired power plants and many industrial sources that is commonly found in seafood. The study also flagged a host of other possible factors, […]
Posted in Endocrine Disruption, International | No Comments »
30
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 30, 2007) A committee of experts advising the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recommended adding endosulfan and tributyl tin compounds (TBT) to a list of substances that are considered so harmful they can only be traded in special circumstances. On March 27, 2007, the United Nations said that the toxic chemicals would only be allowed to be exported to countries that have explicitly chosen to permit them, a measure aimed at protecting humans and the environment in developing countries. Endosulfan, a chemical sprayed onto food crops and cotton, and TBT, used in “antifouling paint” for ships’ hulls, are already banned in many countries. However, they may be traded freely in countries lacking tight environmental regulations. According to David Santillo who works at the research center for Greenpeace at Britain’s Exeter University, “It’s great that these two have been added to the list so countries have the choice whether to import them or not.” Endosulfan has been linked with testicular cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and defects in male sex organs. According to a recent study conducted in Costa Rica’s mountain forests, findings show that surprisingly high concentrations of pesticides are […]
Posted in Chemicals, Endosulfan, International, Pesticide Regulation | No Comments »
27
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 27, 2007) Pesticide run-off is polluting larger areas of the Great Barrier Reef than originally thought, leading scientists to call for better land care practices. For the first time a new series of satellite images show that sediment plumes, containing pesticides and other pollutants from Australian river systems, travel to the outer Great Barrier Reef, and beyond. Originally, it was thought that the plumes only affected the inner Great Barrier Reef Lagoon and the inner reef corals. The images, taken during the heavy rains in far north Queensland by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s MODIS satellite, show the pollutant plumes are travelling up to 135km offshore. Recent studies have shown agricultural chemicals are so poisonous to coral that it can prevent spawning, even when only present in minuscule amounts. This was found to consequently hinder the reef’s ability to regenerate and protect itself. Arnold Dekker, Ph.D., a scientist with the Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), said the images would change the way scientists analysed reef pollution and that they showed land care practices needed to be improved in order to save the reef from destruction. “This is the first time it’s been really […]
Posted in International, Water, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
13
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 13, 2007) As Valentine’s Day approaches, dozens of roses and bouquets are being stocked at stores nationwide. The intentions may be sweet but many of the flowers are not — most of them have been treated with toxic chemicals. Pesticides are used on most conventionally grown flowers. A good portion of this use takes place in the waterlogged savannah surrounding the capital of Colombia, which has the world’s second-largest cut-flower industry after the Netherlands, producing 62 percent of all flowers sold in the United States. With 110,000 employees — many of them single mothers — and annual exports of US$1 billion, the industry provides an important alternative to growing coca, source crop of the Andean nation’s better known illegal export: cocaine. But these economic gains come at a cost to workers’ health and Colombia’s environment. Colombia’s flower exporters association has attempted to respond by launching the Florverde program, but with limited success; its members have reduced pesticide use by 38 percent since 1998, to an average of 97 kilograms (213 pounds) of active ingredient per hectare (2.4 acres) per year. However, 36 percent of the chemicals used by Florverde farms in 2005 were still listed as “extremely” […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Disease/Health Effects, Holidays, International | 1 Comment »
18
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 18, 2007) A new study conducted in Costa Rica’s mountain forests indicates that surprisingly high concentrations of pesticides are accumulating far above the low altitudes at which they are used. Previously thought to be safe from pesticides applied to distant agricultural areas, some remote mountain forests of Costa Rica were found to have pesticide levels almost ten times greater than those in low-lying areas closer to farms and plantations. The study, led by University of Toronto, Scarborough professor Frank Wania, Ph.D., measured air and soil pesticide levels at 23 sites across Costa Rica in order to produce a model to predict potential accumulation of chemicals at high altitudes. The insecticide endosulfan and the fungicide chlorothalonil were found in the largest concentrations, with up to 1 part per billion (ppb) of chlorothalonil and 3 ppb endosulfan in soil. The high concentrations can be explained by a process in which polluted air above the farms and plantations is pushed up into the mountains, where it then cools and becomes polluted rainwater or fog. The hydrophilic nature of modern pesticides makes the occurrence of this phenomenon much more likely; as Crispin Halsall, Ph.D., of Lancaster University (U.K.) explains, “Most currently […]
Posted in Chemicals, Chlorothalonil, Endosulfan, International, Water, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
