(Beyond Pesticides, November 6, 2007) Reclaiming Our Healthy Future: Political change to protect the next generation, the 26th National Pesticide Forum, will be held March 14-16, 2008 at the University of California, Berkeley. The conference is convened by Beyond Pesticides, Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) and Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). Session topics include: Children’s health, Farmworker justice, Fair and healthy food, the DDT resurgence, and much more. Check the website for the weekly updates. In addition, veteran stage actress Kaiulani Lee will perform A Sense of Wonder, her one-woman play based on the life and works of Rachel Carson. The play, which is made up of mostly Carson’s own words from letters, journal entries, speeches, not only focuses on Silent Spring, but on aspects of her private life not often examined. Ms. Lee explains, “She [Carson] was very poor…She had nothing. And she changed the course of history.” Registration is $65 for members, $75 for non-members, $175 for business registrants, and $35 for students. Forum registration includes receptions, breakfast and lunch on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday, plus all plenaries, keynotes, workshops and the stage performance of A Sense of Wonder. All food will be organic. Online registration, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 24, 2007) The aerial spraying for eradication of the brown apple moth, which has been disputed by environmentalist and concerned residents, is set to resume this week. This is a result of the lifting of the temporary restraining order against the use of the pesticide, in light of the order given by Governor Schwarzenegger that called on the California Department of Food and Agriculture to release the names of the chemical components of the pesticide and then restart spraying. On Friday a Monterey judge determined that the pesticide, CheckMate LBAM-F, did not contain toxic chemicals and lifted the ban instituted October 10. The restraining order was first granted more than 100 residents complained of health problems after the spraying first took place last month over the Monterey peninsula. Environmental groups sued the state claiming that a health safety assessment was never conducted before spraying. That suit is still pending. The lingering concerns prompted the governor to order the state to release the ingredients on Saturday, despite efforts by the manufacturer to keep the contents secret. California Secretary of Food and Agriculture, A.G. Kawamura, said in a statement on Saturday that the governor supports the public’s right to […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 20, 20087) A citizens group sued the county and the state of California September 14, 2007 for not allowing adequate public input before using toxic sprays on the Eel River to eradicate invasive weeds. Eureka-based Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) sued the Humboldt County Agricultural Commissioner (County) and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) for their decision to use herbicides to kill purple loosestrife plants for as many as 10 years without first consulting with the public. The suit, filed in Humboldt County Superior Court, also faults the agencies for failing to consider safer and more effective methods such as biological weed control programs, already used successfully throughout the country.“The decision to spray was made behind closed doors with the many people who care deeply about the Eel River locked out,” said Patty Clary, speaking for CATs. “State law requires that the public be involved in important environmental decisions and that alternatives be seriously considered – these requirements were not met.” The agencies’ decision to spray the herbicide imazapyr from boats on 200 riverbank sites along 25 miles of the Eel was first sprung on the public on July 10 at an invitation-only meeting […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 17, 2007) Mediterranean fruit flies were discovered last week in Dixon, California, and federal, state, and county agencies rushed to respond with traps, biopesticide treatment, and sterile mates to prevent the insect from infesting local agriculture. A total of eight Medflies have been found so far, and the three-pronged attack started with an effort to monitor the presence of the Medfly. California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) employees have placed 1,700 fruit fly-targeted detection traps in an 81-square-mile grid. Next, residents within 200 meters of the original finding had their yards treated with the organic compound Naturalyte, the active ingredient of which is spinosad, a naturally occurring extract from bacteria. The pesticide, made by Dow, is approved for use on organic crops, yet the vast majority of its ingredients (so-called “inerts”) are not disclosed. As another biological control, more than 3 million sterile male flies were released last Friday in a 12-square-mile area around Dixon. The sterile males will be deployed on a weekly basis to mate with wild females, helping to eradicate the Medfly population. This is the first Medfly case in Solano County, according to county agriculture officials. Agriculture Commissioner Jerry Howard said that […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 27, 2007) Santa Clara County agriculture officials are hopeful that “mating disruption technology” – not pesticides – will eradicate the light brown apple moth, a tiny invasive pest that has been found in several areas of the county and is a threat to crops and plants. Eight-inch “twist-tie” dispensers, which contain an odorless, synthetic pheromone, have been placed on plants and objects such as fence posts in the area immediately around where a moth was found last month in the Santa Teresa area of San Jose. In addition, it’s likely that a new quarantine area will be established in the Alum Rock area of San Jose, where a single moth was found recently. Since late February, the moth – native to Australia but established in Hawaii, New Zealand and Great Britain, among other places – has been identified in 11 California counties. More than 40,000 traps have been placed in the affected counties. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has posted maps of all the quarantine areas on its Web site and is urging residents in the affected areas to not remove plant materials from their homes. Instead people should dispose of green waste in […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 22, 2007) At least one farm in Sacramento, California, has been contaminated with aerial spraying of pesticides to control mosquitoes that may carry the West Nile virus (WNv). This claim is verified by lab results released Monday, which were carried out by an independent lab commissioned by a group against aerial spraying. Insecticides were sprayed across 55,000 acres north of the American River from July 30 to August 1. At least one organic farm in Citrus Heights was covered with the chemicals. Organic food is supposed to be grown without relying on synthetic chemical pesticides. Organic farmers are required by the National Organic Standards to prevent contamination of crops, soil, or water by plant and animal nutrients, pathogenic organisms, heavy metals, or residues of prohibited substances. “The district’s spray-everything attitude put my business and health at risk,” organic farmer Steven Zien said in a statement. The area is home to 375,000 residents and many are angry as well as concerned about possible health effects. Pesticides most commonly used across the country for mosquito control are neurotoxic and have been linked to cancer and other illnesses. Given the limited efficacy of adulticidal sprays (pesticides meant to target adult […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 1, 2007) Farm workers and advocate groups, including Beyond Pesticides, filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the continued use of a deadly pesticide called chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos is a highly neurotoxic insecticide developed from World War II-era nerve gas. Exposure can cause dizziness, vomiting, convulsions, numbness in the limbs, loss of intellectual functioning and death. “This pesticide puts thousands of workers at risk of serious illness every year,” said Erik Nicholson of the United Farm Workers. “It is inexcusable for the EPA to allow the use a pesticide they know to be damaging to people, especially children.” Luis Medellin, a Lindsay, California resident, suffered first hand exposure to chlorpyrifos. “I got sick, and my mother and younger sisters started throwing up, all this in our own home. It was a terrible feeling, the smell coming in through our air conditioner,” he said. “The government must not allow this dangerous chemical to be sprayed around our schools and communities.” Chlorpyrifos is used widely on corn, orchard, and vegetable row crops all over the country. Also know as Lorsban, it is responsible for a substantial number of worker poisonings each year and has been […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 31, 2007) Preliminary research into birth records and pesticide data reveal that mothers who were within 500 meters of fields sprayed with organochlorine pesticides during their first trimester of pregnancy were six times higher to have children with autism compared to mothers who did not live near the fields. Scientists from the California Department of Public Health conducted the study, which is available online in Environmental Health and Perspectives, entitled, “Maternal Residence Near Agricultural Pesticide Applications and Autism Spectrum Disorders Among Children in the California Central Valley.” The study, initiated to “systemically explore the general hypothesis that residential proximity to agricultural pesticide applications during pregnancy could be associated with autism spectrum disorders in offspring,” found that 28% of the mothers studied who lived near fields in Central Valley, which were sprayed with organochlorines, such as endosulfan and dicofol, have children with autism. However, officials are quick to point out that their findings are preliminary. “We want to emphasize that this is exploratory research,” says Dr. Mark Horton, M.D., director of the California Department of Health. “We have found very preliminary data that there may be an association. We are in no way concluding that there is a […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 21, 2007) On Friday, May 18, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) proposed rules to sharply reduce fumigant air emissions that contribute to smog. Acting under a federal court order, DPR will begin allocating fumigant use in areas with poor air quality. The proposed rules make California the first state to dictate how and where several widely used fumigants can be applied on fields statewide, said Glenn Brank, spokesman for the state Department of Pesticide Regulation. The directive, which the agency has the authority to set, centers on fumigants – gases fruit and vegetable growers use to kill pests in the soil before planting. The chemicals have long been blamed for being part of the state’s air pollution problem because they cause smog-forming gases when they evaporate from fields. The rules also would eliminate some fumigation methods that permit high emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. While farm chemicals comprise only about 2 percent of California’s overall VOC emissions, pesticides are among the top ten VOC sources in the San Joaquin Valley and Ventura air attainment areas. The Southeast Desert area also fails to meet pesticide VOC goals. The Department predicts its plan […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 17, 2007) Initial results of a pilot program conducted in a Central Valley farming community in California finds that residents have significant levels of the organophosphate chlorpyrifos in their bodies during the spraying season. The levels topped what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers acceptable for pregnant and nursing women. Over 91% of the people tested had above average levels of breakdown products of the insecticide chlorpyrifos in their urine, and all but one had chlorpyrifos concentrations above EPA’s recommended threshold of 1.5 parts per billion. The study is an outcome of the collaboration between Pesticide Action Network, Californians for Pesticide Reform, the nonprofit environmental research firm Commonweal, and the community group El Quinto Sol de America. The groups tested the urine of 12 adults in various locations throughout the town of Lindsay during peak spraying season last summer. The results are paired with air monitoring data, also done by the group, that show for three years running chlorpyrifos has not only been detected in the air in town and near schools, but also exceeded EPA’s acceptable level for short-term exposure. The results for the first time shed light on a problem residents suspected but could […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 3, 2007) On Monday April 30, California Safe Schools (CSS) celebrated the 8th anniversary of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)’s groundbreaking Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Policy. This policy, one of the most stringent pesticide policies in the nation for schools, stresses least-toxic methods of pest control and using pesticides only as a last resort, and has become a national and international model. California Safe Schools is a grassroots children’s environmental health organization formed by parents who witnessed their children walk through a toxic cloud of insecticide at an LAUSD campus nine years ago. Founded by activist and Beyond Pesticides’ board member Robina Suwol, CSS has gained a national reputation for its effective education of parents, schools, and elected officials about protecting children from toxins. “It takes a village – and several bureaucracies! – to protect children’s health,” said Ms. Suwol, executive director of CSS. “I am so pleased to see how far we have come and grateful that so many school districts, communities, and government officials have contacted us for assistance in replicating our policy and protocol. All children everywhere deserve the protection of IPM.” IPM is an inherently sustainable method using low risk measures […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 23, 2007) Using advanced risk assessment techniques, researchers have shown pesticide usage in the Salinas Valley, California, exposes pregnant women to pesticides through air, water, and soil. The study tracks how agricultural pesticides can travel from the field into the body. A team of scientists investigating whether there is a correlation between the high levels of pesticides in pregnant women in the Salinas Valley and the high pesticide usage in the surrounding farmland has discovered important pathways of exposure that greatly inform traditional risk assessment. At first, applying a simple statistical model suggested no direct correlation, but upon applying advanced modeling techniques that combine multiple fate and exposure models with biomonitoring data they found that the study population of 600 Latina women have a significantly higher intake of organophosphorus (OP) pesticides from exposure to the surrounding air, water, and soil, but not food. The study, part of a larger study on women and children’s environmental health called the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) project, is conducted by Thomas McKone, Ph.D., and his colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley. Results are published in Environmental Science […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 1, 2007) Thirty-five years after the banning of DDT, extremely high concentrations of the pesticide are being found in fish caught in California’s Los Angeles county waters. According to a newly released federal survey by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the fish caught in the area contain the world’s highest-known DDT concentrations. The survey was conducted in order to update health advisories on which fish are unsafe to eat and to help EPA decide whether to attempt a costly operation to reduce continued contamination from a deposit of DDT on the ocean floor. The findings contradict the belief held by some scientists that DDT on the ocean floor has been breaking down into less-toxic compounds and would soon disappear from marine life. The contamination, most severe in the middle of San Redondo Bay, stems from a 100-ton deposit of DDT released by the Montrose Chemical Co. beginning in the late 1940s, which still covers several square miles of the ocean floor. The pesticide manufacturer had a plant near Torrance, California, from 1947 to 1971, releasing about 2,000 tons of DDT into county sewers that subsequently emptied into the ocean. The […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 29, 2006) A new state law, Assembly Bill 2865 (AB 2865-Torrico), went into effect in California, on January 1, 2007, requiring private child day care facilities to comply with new pesticide use record keeping and notification requirements. The bill also includes provisions to encourage less toxic pest management. Assembyman Alberto Torrico (D-CA) introduced AB 2865 as an extension of the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 to day care facilities. The bill requires the facilities to notify parents about pesticide applications and to post notices in areas treated with pesticides. In addition, licensed pest control businesses are required to submit detailed reports of their pesticide applications at private child day care facilities. It is important to know however, that these requirements do not apply to family child day care homes. The bill also provides day care providers with information and trainings on least-toxic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques to help them create a safer environment in which to care for our most vulnerable population. According to Rachel Gibson, staff attorney for Environment California””the sponsor of the bill, “Children ages zero to five are particularly sensitive to the potentially harmful effects of pesticide exposure.” Ms. Gibson continued, “The more […]

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) will be able to step up pesticide regulation this year due to a significant increase in its 2007 budget, resulting in the largest availability of funding in fifteen years and more resources to direct to enforcement and education of pesticide laws. DPR’s 2007 budget grew by $3 million, thanks to a law passed last year allowing the collection of fees from wholesale pesticide sales. DPR’s $69 million budget is fully funded by fees imposed on pesticide sellers and similar funds, rather than the state’s general fund. Until last year’s law included large-scale commercial sellers like Wal-Mart, Costco, and Home Depot, revenues were mostly derived from agricultural sellers. This is DPR’s largest budget since it’s inception in 1991, and is comparable to the inflation-adjusted budget from 2001, before California’s severe budget cuts. Among other specific uses for the new funds will be the hiring of six new enforcement officials, and a four percent increase in enforcement funds to county agricultural commissioners. Grants will be renewed for the first time since 2003, potentially helping growers find alternatives to methyl bromide, an internationally phased-out fumigant of which the United States is annually granted usage by members […]