(Beyond Pesticides, July 17, 2009) High levels of pyrethroid pesticides in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the number one river system on America’s Most Endangered Rivers List of 2009, has been linked to heavy urbanization in the region. Leading a study to understand the collapse of the delta’s ecosystem, University of California-Berkeley toxicologist Donald Weston, Ph.D. found that these pesticides most likely reached the river from urban storm drains, collecting household pesticide disposal and runoff from lawns of 1.4 million residents in the Sacramento region. Five years ago, a study by Dr. Weston and his colleague Michael J. Lydy, Ph.D of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale found that synthetic phyrethroids were collecting in river and creek sediments at levels that are toxic to bottom dwelling fish. Current research holds that there are enough pyrethroids to kill tiny shrimp, which are said to be the first link in the aquatic food chain. Pyrethroids are synthetic versions of pyrethrin, a natural insecticide found in certain species of chrysanthemum. It initially came on the market as a ”˜safer’ alternative to the heavily regulated and highly toxic organophosphates, such as diazinon and chlorypyrifos. Despite the fact that there are plenty of effective pest control […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 16, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a Final Work Plan (FWP) for the registration review of imidacloprid. A neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid is highly toxic to honeybees on an acute exposure basis, and has been implicated in the recent Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has occurred throughout the U.S. Over 12,000 comments were received by the agency since December 2008, urging the agency to suspend the use of this controversial chemical. Imidacloprid was first registered in the U.S. in 1994 as an insecticide to control a range of pests on crops, structures, indoor and outdoor residential areas, as well as pet products. While the use of imidacloprid has been gaining in popularity, its health and environmental effects have not been adequately studied. EPA, with its registration review program, pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) section 3(g), must review each registered pesticide every 15 years to determine whether it continues to meet the FIFRA standard for registration. The public docket for imidacloprid was opened in December 2008 and has since received over 12,000 comments, including those submitted by Beyond Pesticides, NRDC, the National Honey Bee Advisory Board (NHBAB) and Sierra Club, […]

On July 14, 2009, Beyond Pesticides and Food and Water Watch submitted an amended petition to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requiring that the agency ban the use of the controversial pesticide triclosan for non-medical applications on the basis that those uses violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. Strong scientific evidence suggests that pervasive use of triclosan poses imminent threats to human health and the environment. “Numerous scientific studies and reports clearly indicate that in addition to its human health and environmental dangers, triclosan is not effective for many of its intended benefits and may actually be doing consumers more harm than good,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “Even worse, is that current regulations on triclosan haven’t been updated since 1994 and much of the science used by the FDA to regulate the pesticide dates back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. The agency’s inconsideration of new scientific research on triclosan represents an egregious failure to properly protect the public against this dangerous pesticide.” Regulated by both the FDA and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), triclosan is commonly found in hand soaps, toothpastes, deodorants, laundry detergents, fabric […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 14, 2009) With language to exclude farmworkers from coverage, on July 10, 2009, Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) introduced Senate Amendment 200 to the Affordable Health Choices Act, the health care reform bill being considered in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). According to the advocacy group Farmworker Justice, her amendment would exclude from the definition of “employees” any “temporary or seasonal agricultural workers ”¦ for the purposes of determining the size of an employer.” Agricultural employers of seasonal farmworkers would not be required to participate in the system because they would be considered to be too small. Seasonal farmworkers would be denied health care coverage. “There can be no good explanation for why Senator Hagan thinks it would be a good idea to exclude seasonal farmworkers from access to affordable health care coverage, other than that she is pandering to agricultural employers and upholding the long tradition of excluding some of America’s lowest paid and hardest working employees from the benefits that other workers receive,” said attorney Kate Woomer-Deters of the North Carolina Justice Center. Farmworkers in the U.S. earn an average of $12,500 to $15,000 per year. They work in some of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 13, 2009) With the stroke of a pen, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger could bow to industry interests and force the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to register a new fumigant pesticide, methyl iodide. Highly toxic, and not approved for use in California, this chemical has been given a comprehensive review by the state’s own Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and found to be one of the riskiest pesticides in existence. Scientists familiar with methyl iodide are asking Mr. Schwarzenegger to let science, rather than political pressure, guide this decision. “Methyl iodide is so toxic that scientists working with it in the laboratory take extreme precautions when handling it, using a ventilation hood, gloves, and special equipment for transferring it so it does not escape to the air,” notes Susan Kegley, Ph.D., a chemist and consulting scientist for Pesticide Action Network North America. “This degree of protection is not possible in an agricultural setting where the pesticide would be applied at rates of 175 pounds per acre in the open air. Buffer zones of 400 feet (a distance most growers would say is unworkable) for a 40-acre fumigation would still result in a dose of methyl iodide to neighbors […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 10, 2009) The Center for Biological Diversity notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this week of its intent to file suit against the agency for failing to consider impacts to the polar bear and its Arctic habitat from toxic contamination resulting from pesticide use in the U.S. Pesticides registered by EPA for use in the U.S. are known to be transported to the Arctic via various atmospheric, oceanic, and biotic pathways. Such pesticides are biomagnified with each step higher in the food web, reaching some of their greatest concentrations in polar bears, the apex predators of the Arctic. A body of literature demonstrates the far-reaching effects of commonly used pesticides that are suspected endocrine disruptors and persistent organic pollutants, such as atrazine, 2,4-D, lindane, endosulfan, and permethrin, on global ecosystems. These pesticides, among others, and related contaminants have been linked to suppressed immune function, endocrine disruption, abnormalities in reproductive organs, hermaphroditism, and increased cub mortality in polar bears. Human subsistence hunters in the Arctic, who share the top spot on the food web with the polar bear, also face increased risks from exposure to these contaminants. “The poisoning of the Arctic is a silent crisis […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 6, 2009) Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to formally evaluate the harmful effects of 74 pesticides on 11 endangered and threatened species in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next five years, and to impose interim restrictions on use of these pesticides in and adjacent to endangered species habitats. The proposal stems from a settlement agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, which sued EPA in 2007 for violating the Endangered Species Act by registering and allowing the use of toxic pesticides in Bay Area endangered species habitats without determining whether the chemicals jeopardize those species’ existence. “Tens of millions of pounds of toxic and poisonous chemicals, known to be deadly to endangered species and harmful to human health, including proven carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, are applied in the Bay Area each year, and many of those find their way through runoff or drift into our soil, creeks and rivers, San Francisco Bay, and sensitive wildlife habitats,” said Jeff Miller, conservation advocate with the Center. “The toxic stew of pesticides in the Bay-Delta has played a major role in the collapse of native fish populations, and pesticides are a leading cause of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 2, 2009) The EPA has just finished up with a round of public hearings on a proposed plan to cap a part of the Palos Verdes Superfund Site. This 17 square mile area of ocean floor off the Southern coast of California is home to one of the largest deposits of DDT in the U.S. Despite the fact that this chemical has been banned in the U.S. for almost four decades, there is an approximate 110 tons of DDT in the sediment of the Palos Verdes Shelf. Concentrations of DDT and PCBs in fish continue to pose a threat to human health and the natural environment including the discovery of highly contaminated fish. In addition, a surge of additional problems with the lingering effects of DDT have risen in recent years, particularly with its buildup in our waterways. It has currently been identified as a threat to the Columbia River, as well as to the arctic. It has also been linked to a plethora of health concerns, including breast cancer, diabetes, non Hodgkin lymphoma, and autism. Most of the contamination of the Palos Verdes Shelf is attributed to The Montrose Chemical Corporation of California. At one time […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 1, 2009) Researchers have found that one of the so-called “inert” ingredients in the popular herbicide product Roundup can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. Over 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use in the U.S. and can be mixed with pesticide “active” ingredients; however these chemicals are not disclosed to consumers or users on pesticide product labels due to EPA’s intepretation (many would say incorrect interpretation) of federal pesticide law. Many inerts are classified as highly toxic, while others have not been adequately studied. About 100 million pounds of Roundup are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year and until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate the active ingredient in Roundup, rather than the mixture of “inert” ingredients found in the herbicidal product. In this new study, “Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells,” researchers found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells””even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns, and which correspond to low levels of residues in food or feed. One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 30, 2009) How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? In Food, Inc., producer-director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) lift the veil on the U.S. food industry — an industry that has often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihoods of American farmers, the safety of workers, and our own environment. The movie reveals how a handful of corporations control our nation’s food supply. Though the companies try to maintain the myth that our food still comes from farms with red barns and white picket fences, our food is actually raised on massive “factory farms” and processed in mega industrial plants. The animals grow fatter faster and are designed to fit the machines that slaughter them. Tomatoes are bred to be shipped without bruising and to stay edible for months. The system is highly productive, and Americans are spending less on food than ever before. But, the film asks, at what cost? Cattle are given feed that their bodies are not biologically designed to digest, resulting in new strains of E. coli bacteria, which […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 29, 2009) Last week the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit re-affirmed its previous decision upholding a nationwide ban on the planting of genetically-engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa pending a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Court determined that the planting of genetically modified alfalfa can result in potentially irreversible harm to organic and conventional varieties of crops, damage to the environment, and economic harm to farmers. Although the suit was brought against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Monsanto Company and Forage Genetics entered into the suit as Defendant-Intervenors. In September 2008 the Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s ruling, but the Intervenors continued to press the appeal alone, requesting the appellate court to rehear the case. Last weeks decision denied that request and re-affirmed the earlier decision in full. “This ruling affirms a major victory for consumers, ranchers, organic farmers, and most conventional farmers across the country,” said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. “Roundup Ready Alfalfa represents a very real threat to farmers’ livelihoods and the environment; the court rightly dismissed Monsanto’s claims that their bottom line should come before the rights of the public and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 25, 2009) Although it is known that infants are more susceptible than adults to the toxic effects of pesticides, this increased vulnerability may extend much longer into childhood than expected, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Among newborns, levels of paraoxonase 1 (PON1), an enzyme critical to the detoxification of organophosphate pesticides, average one-third or less than those of the babies’ mothers. It was thought that PON1 enzyme activity in children approached adult levels by age two, but instead, the UC Berkeley researchers found that the enzyme level remained low in some individuals through age seven. Based upon the findings, reported in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the study authors recommend that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) re-evaluate the current standards for acceptable levels of pesticide exposure. “Current EPA standards of exposure for some pesticides assume children are three to five times more susceptible than adults, and for other pesticides the standards assume no difference,” said Nina Holland, Ph.D., UC Berkeley adjunct professor of environmental health sciences and senior author of the paper. “Our study is the first to show quantitatively that young children may be more susceptible to […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 23, 2009) According to a study published in the August-September 2009 issue of the journal Environmental Pollution, the presence of triclosan, a widely-used antibacterial pesticide found in products from countertops to toothpaste, was detected in the in the blood of bottlenose dolphins. The study, “Occurrence of triclosan in plasma of wild Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and in their environment,” was the first to find triclosan in the blood of a marine mammal, suggesting that contamination from sewage systems is widespread. According to a synopsis by Environmental Health News, the study examined dolphins from rivers, an estuary, a harbor and a lagoon in South Carolina and Florida. In this study, wild bottlenose dolphins were live captured from several sites within an estuary in Charleston, SC and in the Indian River Lagoon, FL in 2005. Blood samples taken from 13 animals in each area revealed triclosan in 31 and 23 percent of the animals from the two sites, respectively, at levels ranging from 0.025 to 0.27 parts per billion. These levels are similar to what has been measured in the blood of humans. When introduced to the market in 1972, triclosan was confined to hospital and health care settings. Since […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 22, 2009) In April 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is intensifying its evaluation of spot-on pesticide products for flea and tick control for pets due to recent increases in the number of reported incidents. Adverse reactions reported range from mild effects such as skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and, in some cases, the death of pets. Incidents with flea and tick products can involve the use of spot-on treatments, sprays, collars and shampoos. However, the majority of the incidents reported to EPA are related to flea and tick treatments with EPA-registered spot-on products. Spot-on products are generally sold in tubes or vials and are applied to one or more localized areas on the body of the pet, such as in between the shoulders or in a stripe along the back. This advisory pertains only to EPA-registered spot-on flea and tick products; these products have an EPA registration number on the label. EPA now is evaluating all available data on the pesticides, including reports of adverse reactions, clarity of product use directions and label warnings, product ingredients, market share, and pre-market safety data submitted to the Agency. EPA says […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 19, 2009) Farmworker unions, support groups, and worker advocacy organizations today asked Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to stop the pesticide poisoning of farmworker communities and uphold the Obama administration’s commitment to environmental justice. Citing a long EPA history of “inhumane neglect of toxic pesticide effects on farmworker community health,” the groups asked the Administrator to amend a recent May 2009 decision that allows the continued use of hazardous soil fumigant pesticides. The chemicals when used in chemically treated crop production, such as tomatoes, carrots, strawberries and nuts, escape into the environment and drift into communities where the families and children of farmworkers live and play. The letter, signed by 28 groups from across the country, says that the new fumigants policy “continues an outdated EPA approach to pesticide regulation that adopts unrealistic and unenforceable standards as risk mitigation measures, in an age of safer, greener approaches to agricultural pest management.” EPA announced its decision May 27, 2009 to allow continued use of toxic soil fumigants with modified safety measures, falling far short of safety advocate efforts to adopt more stringent use restrictions and chemical bans. The rule was first proposed in July 2008, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 18, 2009) Do you ever wonder about pesticides on your food or in your drinking water, and in particular, which of those pesticides are most hazardous? On June 17, 2009, Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) launched its What’s On My Food database, which makes the results of government tests for pesticide residues in food available online in a searchable, easy-to-use format. The database shows what pesticides are found on each food, in what amount, and — for the first time — links those residues to the health effects associated with exposure to each of the chemicals. “This kind of public visibility around pesticides is particularly needed in the U.S., since regulators base their decisions on toxicology studies that are almost all done by industry,” explains Brian Hill, PhD, senior PANNA scientist and the primary developer of the database. “Nearly 900 million pounds of pesticides [excluding wood preservatives, chlorine and specialty biocide pesticides] are used in the U.S. every year, yet regulations depend on studies that are not peer-reviewed and are kept hidden behind the veil of ”˜confidential business information.’” Dr. Hill notes that the 900 million figure is long overdue for updating, as the most recent […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 17, 2009) A new study finds that toxic pesticides, including those already banned, persist in homes. The study’s results indicate that most floors in occupied homes in the U.S. have measurable levels of insecticides that serve as sources of exposure to home dwellers. These persistent residues continue to expose people, especially vulnerable children, to the health risks associated with these chemicals. Published in Environmental Science and Technology, the study, entitled “American Healthy Homes Survey: A National Study of Residential Pesticides Measured from Floor Wipes,” was conducted as a collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Five hundred randomly selected homes were sampled using alcohol wipes to collect dust from hard surface floors, mostly kitchen floor surfaces. The swipes were analyzed for 24 currently and previously use residential insecticides in the organochlorine, organophosphate, pyrethroid and phenylpyrazole classes, and the insecticide synergist piperonyl butoxide. Researchers found that currently used pyrethroid pesticides were, not surprisingly, at the highest levels with varied concentrations. Fipronil and permethrin, both currently used, were found in 40 percent and 89 percent of homes respectively. However, the researchers found that long discontinued pesticides like DDT and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 16, 2009) A study involving 678 individuals who apply pesticides, culled from a U.S. Agricultural Health Study of over 50,000 farmers, recently found that exposure to certain pesticides doubles one’s risk of developing an abnormal blood condition called MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance) compared with individuals in the general population. The disorder, characterized by an abnormal level of a plasma protein, requires lifelong monitoring as it is a pre-cancerous condition that can lead to multiple myeloma, a painful cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow. The study will appear in the June 18 issue of Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology. “Our study is the first to show an association between pesticide exposure and an excess prevalence of MGUS,” said lead author Ola Landgren, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “This finding is particularly important given that we recently found in a large prospective cancer screening study that virtually all multiple myeloma patients experienced a MGUS state prior to developing myeloma.” “As several million Americans use pesticides, it’s important that the risks […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 8, 2009) A new epidemiological study finds that Parkinson’s disease patients who have been exposed to pesticides through their work show elevated rates of the disease. The researchers find that French farmworkers have nearly double the risk for the disease if exposed to pesticides, with a dose-effect for the number of years of exposure. When they looked at the three major classes of pesticides (insecticides, fungicides and herbicides), they find that the farmworkers who used insecticides had over a two-fold increase in the risk of Parkinson’s disease. A slightly higher risk is found for exposure to organochlorine insecticides. According to the study, these associations are stronger in men with older onset Parkinson’s disease than in those with younger onset Parkinson’s. The study, “Professional Exposure to Pesticides and Parkinson’s Disease,” published in Annals of Neurology, involved individuals affiliated with the French health insurance organization for agricultural workers who were frequently exposed to pesticides in the course of their work. Occupational health physicians constructed a detailed lifetime exposure history to pesticides by interviewing participants, visiting farms, and collecting a large amount of data on pesticide exposure. These included farm size, type of crops, animal breeding, which pesticides were used, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 4, 2009) Five onion growers in the state of Oregon have been issued civil penalties totaling $180,000 by the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) for using pesticide products not approved for onions. According to the department, the violations resulted from gross negligence and willful misconduct by the pesticide users, who were fined the maximum penalty. The penalties reflect the new broader authority to impose higher penalties for pesticide violations. The sanctions levied in this case are as a result of the use of the new authority granted to the ODA by the 2007 Legislature in fining Oregon growers $10,000 per violation. The department must determine a violation was willful and negligent to issue the $10,000 maximum fine. The previous maximum fine in Oregon was $1,000 for a first violation and $2,000 for a repeat violation. The Oregon growers were fined the maximum in 18 infractions. ODA tested 86 samples of soil, weeds, onion foliage and bulbs from 60 fields in uncovering 18 positive tests. The investigations were initiated based on a tip. The pesticides, bentazon (trade name Basagran) and carbofuran (trade name Furadan), were illegally used on 18 fields during the 2008 growing season, and were found […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 2, 2009) U.S. Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with Chair Emeritus John D. Dingell (D-MI), and Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NY), Bart Stupak (D-MI), Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Betty Sutton (D-OH), released a “discussion draft” of the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, which they say will improve food safety by making the food supply more transparent, inspections of food facilities more frequent and requiring manufacturers to take steps to prevent food-borne illnesses. Sustainable agriculture advocates warn that a one-size-fits-all approach would require expensive investments beyond the reach of most small farms and processors, and could potentially put some out of business. The Committee has scheduled a legislative hearing for June 3, 2009. The draft language is largely based on the food provisions of H.R. 759, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009, introduced in January by Reps. Dingell, Stupak, and Pallone. The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 incorporates technical assistance from the Obama Administration as well as other stakeholders. According to Rep. Waxman, the legislation grants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authorities and resources it needs to better ensure the safety of the nation’s […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 1, 2009) Many believe that nature’s best weed control is goats and that is why the Maryland Department of Transportation, town of Heampstead, New York, Google Corporate office campus in Mountain View, California, Mesa, Arizona Utilities Department and City of Cheyenne, Wyoming are putting goats to work this spring. Whether its 5 or 700 goats managing weeds, brush and grasses along highways, on a nature preserve, on a corporate campus or on a water reclamation plant property, goats are doing the work in an environmentally-friendly way. Goats eat unwanted plants, add fertilizer to the area and aerate the soil with their hooves, all at the same time. They show up every day to work, never complain, and they are tireless in performing their job. Maryland Department of Transportation The Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (SHA) had a major dilemma — how to mow the turf amid the meadows and bogs that protect the threatened Bog Turtle around a major highway bypass in the state. The best solution — use goats as lawn mowers. In late May, SHA enlisted a herd of 40 goats from a local farmer to begin a conservation grazing project on approximately […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 29, 2008) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced May 27, 2009 modified safety measures for soil fumigant pesticides, falling short of safety advocate efforts to adopt more stringent use restrictions and chemical bans. The new regulations follow a July 10, 2008 proposed rule, which resulted from three years of deliberation. Safety advocates said last July that while substantially better than the past, the proposed regulation fell short in protecting people, workers and the environment and from that perspective this weeks regulation is a disappointment. Advocates believe that the country can do better to phase out uses of highly hazardous chemicals that have devastating impact on exposed workers and communities in which they are used, and advance green technologies and organic practices. Fumigants, which are among the most toxic chemicals used in agriculture, are gases or liquids that are injected or dripped into the soil to sterilize a field before planting. Even with plastic tarps on the soil, fumigants escape from the soil and drift through the air into schools, homes, parks and playgrounds. Strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, carrots and potatoes are some of the major crops for which fumigant use is high. The agency says these measures will […]