06
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 6, 2007) In a victory for Alaska’s environmental community, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has denied the Alaska Railroad Corporation’s (ARRC) application to spray herbicides, citing water quality concerns. The decision effectively maintains a record of over 20 years of non-chemical vegetation management of Alaska’s railways. ARRC submitted the application to spray herbicides last year to DEC. According to DEC’s documents, the proposed treatment area included approximately 500 miles of track and 100 miles of rail yard. The spray mixture proposed would have been comprised of three pesticide products: Razor Pro (active ingredient glyphosate*), Solution Water Soluble (dimethylamine salt of 2,4-D*), and Oust Extra (sulfometuron methyl and metsulfuron methyl). The mixture would have also contained the drift retardant Alenza (proprietary polyvinyl polymer). ARRC claims on its website it has “tried to control vegetation along its track with non-chemical methods including mechanical brush-cutting, manual labor, steam and burning since 1983. Despite these efforts, the volume and location of vegetation along the track has resulted in stiff fines from the Federal Railroad Administration, the railroad’s federal regulatory agency.” Over one thousand written comments were filed with DEC, and oral testimony was given during the public participation process […]
Posted in Alaska, Alternatives/Organics, Pesticide Regulation, State/Local, Water | No Comments »
02
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 2, 2007) The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Pesticide Data Program (PDP) recently released its latest annual summary detailing pesticide residues in the U.S. food supply. The data, from 2005, reveals approximately two-thirds of sampled foods contained one or more pesticides at detectable levels. For the 2005 report, PDP sampled fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, soybeans, wheat, milk, heavy cream, pork, bottled water and drinking water. A total of 14,749 samples were tested for various insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and growth regulators. Twelve states reported data to comprise the report: California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Excluding drinking water, 84 percent of samples originated within the United States. Foods most likely to be consumed by infants and children are analyzed to provide data that is used in the implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act. The data is used in this context to assess dietary exposure to pesticide residues by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Overall results show that, excluding drinking water samples, 36 percent of samples had more than one detectable pesticide, 30 percent had one detectable pesticide, and 34 percent did not have detectable levels of […]
Posted in Chemicals, Pesticide Regulation, Water | 1 Comment »
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 »
20
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 20, 2007) With little oversight from the federal government, a myriad of chemicals are being injected underground in the name of energy exploration in the West. Among these chemicals, biocides are considered to pose a serious threat to environmental and public health. Hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking” or “frac’ing” for short, is the process approximately 90 percent of oil and gas wells in the U.S. undergo to facilitate extraction. Biocides are used to kill microorganisms that can interfere with other fluids and methods used to stimulate extraction, and to prevent corrosion to pipes. Thousands of wells are popping up over Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico, many of which are located on private property, and some directly adjacent to homes. Many property owners do not own adequate mineral rights to what lies under their land and are rendered powerless to stop energy exploration. With minimal federal oversight, wells, roads and pipelines are established rapidly in these areas bringing heavy traffic, noisy equipment, and air, soil and water pollution. In 2005, the oil and gas industry was granted an exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act, allowing the injection of toxic fluids directly into groundwater without oversight by […]
Posted in Chemicals, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Water, Wyoming | 4 Comments »
01
Feb
(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 […]
Posted in California, Chemicals, DDT, State/Local, Water, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
25
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 25, 2007) The commonly used herbicide atrazine has been found to have negative biological effects on phytoplankton-free-floating algae that forms the base of the food chain for aquatic animals. The study, published in the January 2007 issue of the journal Pesticide-Biochemistry and Physiology, indicates that protein levels in phytoplankton significantly decrease as a result of atrazine exposure, possibly having a negative affect on the nutritional levels of all aquatic species. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science researchers exposed five algal species to atrazine levels within the range of concentrations measured in the estuarine environment. In the majority of the species tested, the amount of energy converted into protein from photosynthesis, the process by which green plants convert water and carbon dioxide into organic materials using solar energy, significantly decreased with increased exposure. Atrazine is one of the most heavily used herbicides in the United States, applied to a wide variety of crops including corn, sorghum, sugarcane, pineapple, and Christmas trees, as well as turf. It acts as an inhibitor of photosynthesis by preventing the transfer of energy in certain plant species. NOAA researchers observed significant decreases in the size of […]
Posted in Water, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
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 »
