This national environmental conference, co-convened by Toxic Free North Carolina, is an important opportunity for community people nationwide to get together, share the latest information, meet with scientists and policy makers, and discuss local, statewide and national strategies on pest issues, pesticides, public health and the environment. As the home of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and recently named “America’s Foodiest Small Town,” the location is just the right place for participants to discuss fair, organic food and the impact of pesticides on public health.

Keynote speakers for the conference include:

Just added! Baldemar Velásquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), was raised as a migrant farmworker. Since his childhood, he has worked in the fields and orchards of many states from Texas to the Midwest. He suffered the oppression and discrimination of migrant workers, and watched his parents humiliated many times from the injustices they experienced trying to support their family. Finally, after one incident when his father was cheated out of promised wages in front of the family, Baldemar began organizing migrant workers to stand up for their rights. Following the model of César Chávez, this protest led to the founding of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC).

Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator and author of many books, including his latest, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow. Mr. Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be. Twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Jim has become a leading voice for those who no longer find themselves within shouting distance of Washington and Wall Street. He’s a modern-day Johnny Appleseed, spreading the message of progressive populism all across the American grassroots.

Philip Shabecoff, co-author of the new book Poisoned Profits: The toxic assault on our children, served as chief environmental correspondent for The New York Times for fourteen years. Mr. Shabecoff also founded Greenwire, an online digest of environmental news and was selected as one of the “Global 500” by the United Nations’ Environmental Program. His previous books include A Fierce Green Fire: A History of the American Environmental Movement.

Alice Shabecoff, co-author of Poisoned Profits: The toxic assault on our children, is a freelance journalist focusing on family and consumer topics. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and the International Herald Tribune, among other publications. She was executive director of the National Consumers League and Community Information Exchange. Her previous books include A Guide to Careers in Community Development.

Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), Section 405(d) stipulates that EPA must identify and regulate toxic pollutants that may be present in biosolids (sewage sludge) at levels of concern for public health and the environment. The survey, “Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey” (TNSSS), sampled 74 selected waste water treatment plants in 35 states during 2006 to 2007. The survey, like its three predecessors, is conducted to determine which chemicals are present in sewage sludge and develop national estimates of their concentrations in order to assess whether exposures may be occurring and whether concentrations found may be of concern. The agency conducted analysis of sewage sludge samples for 145 compounds, including four anions (nitrite/nitrate, fluoride, water-extractable phosphorus), 28 metals, four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, two semi-volatiles, 11 flame retardants, 72 pharmaceuticals, and 25 steroids and hormones.

The antimicrobial triclocarban is detected in all 84 samples collected, while its cousin triclosan is found in 79 out of 84 collected samples. Along with being the most detected pharmaceutical, triclocarban is also detected at the highest concentrations with a recorded maximum concentration of 4.41×10-5 ug/kg. This value is the highest ever detected in sewage sludge. Triclosan came in with the second highest concentrations in the category with a maximum of 1.33×10-5 ug/kg. The antibiotic, ofloxacin, had the third highest concentration with a maximum of 5.81 x10-4 ug/kg.

The TNSSS data confirms a host of independent scientific research which has found that these widely used antimicrobial chemicals are finding there way into the environment, contaminating surface and drinking waters, as well as potentially impacting human and environmental health. These findings also correlate with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studies that have found that triclosan is one of the most detected pharmaceutical chemicals detected in U.S. surface waters.

The implications of these sewage sludge findings are significant. Municipal waste water treatment plants generate tons of sewage sludge annually. Sewage sludge is widely recycled on agricultural lands and nonagricultural landscapes as fertilizer, and for land reclaiming and filling. The application of sewage sludge on terrestrial systems means that these antimicrobial compounds, as well as the host of other heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, hormones, organics and PBDEs found in this report may be absorbed by crops, earthworms and other soil organisms, and find their way up the food chain and into human diets. Many of these chemicals, such as triclosan, are persistent and do not break down easily. Their effects on soil microorganisms are still not understood. Major questions remain, such as whether these compounds harm soil microbes, or aquatic life if leached into streams.

Triclocarban and its cousin triclosan are used in a wide variety of consumer products ranging from antibacterial handsoap, cosmetics, clothing and toys. Both are used in products that are washed down the drain and subsequently reach surface waters and waste water treatment plants. They are both linked to hormonal disruption, especially in amphibians. Triclosan has also been found in urine, umbilical cord blood and breast milk. During the recent reregistration process for triclosan, which is also associated with numerous health impacts and antibacterical resistance, the EPA concluded that these are not of concern. Triclocarban is not a registered chemical with EPA, but falls under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Beyond Pesticides is actively working with other environmental and community groups to ban the non-medical uses of triclosan. In July and again in December 2008, Beyond Pesticides, Food and Water Watch, Greenpeace US, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and dozens of public health and environmental groups from the U.S. and Canada, urged the agency to use its authority to cancel the non-medical uses of the antibacterial chemical triclosan in order to protect human health and the environment. For more information, visit our Antibacterial Program page.

“Sulfuryl fluoride has a long enough lifetime in the atmosphere that we cannot just close our eyes,” said Mads Sulbaek Andersen, a postdoctoral researcher in the Rowland-Blake laboratory and lead author of the study. “The level in the atmosphere is rising fast, and it doesn’t seem to disappear very quickly.”

Its climate impact in California each year equals that of carbon dioxide emitted from about one million vehicles. About 60 percent of the world’s sulfuryl fluoride use occurs in California. The insecticide is pumped into a tent that covers a termite-infested structure. When the tent is removed, the compound escapes into the atmosphere. Sulfuryl fluoride blocks a wavelength of heat that otherwise could easily escape the Earth, the scientists said. Carbon dioxide blocks a different wavelength, trapping heat near the surface.

“The only place where the planet is able to emit heat that escapes the atmosphere is in the region that sulfuryl fluoride blocks,” said Donald Blake, chemistry professor and co-author of the study. “If we put something with this blocking effect in that area, then we’re in trouble — and we are putting something in there.”

The chemists worry that emissions will increase as new uses are found for sulfuryl fluoride, especially given the ban of methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting pesticide regulated under the Montreal Protocol. Sulfuryl fluoride emissions are not regulated under the Montreal Protocol, though officials do consider it a toxic contaminant.

To measure sulfuryl fluoride’s atmospheric lifetime, the chemists put it inside a Pyrex chamber with compounds that are well understood in the atmosphere, such as ethane. They shined lamps on the chamber to simulate sunlight, which caused chemical reactions that eliminated the compounds from the air. By monitoring sulfuryl fluoride changes compared with changes to the well-known compounds, they were able to estimate its atmospheric lifetime.

“This is a cautionary paper,” said F. Sherwood Rowland, Donald Bren Research Professor of Chemistry and Earth System Science and co-author of the study. “It tells us that we need to be thinking globally – and acting locally.”

According to Beyond Pesticide research, sulfuryl fluoride is acutely moderately toxic by oral exposure (Toxicity Category II) and slightly toxic for acute inhalation (Toxicity Categories III and IV) and dermal vapor toxicity (Toxicity Category IV). Residents and workers are at risk for neurotoxic effects from acute exposure. Subchronic studies on rats have indicated effects on the nervous system, lungs, and brain. Developmental and reproductive effects have also been noted in relevant studies on rats. According to the National Research Council, fluorides might also increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, and boys exposed to fluoride in drinking water are five times more likely to develop osteosarcoma , a rare form of bone cancer. Since sulfuryl fluoride was only registered for use as a fumigant for existing infestations, EPA waived the environmental fate data requirements for reregistration in 1993 and did not consider ecological risks. The Agency expects that non-target organisms would not likely be exposed to sulfuryl fluoride and that the pesticide would not leach to groundwater or persist in the environment for any significant amount of time.

According to the most recent data by the California Department of Pesticide Regulations, sulfuryl fluoride is the top pesticide used in the state in 2007 for structural pest control and 14th for all pesticide application sites, with over 2.1 million pounds used in 2007 for structural pest control, over 3,200 pounds for landscape and rights-of-way applications, and about 42,000 on agricultural products such as almonds, broccoli, dried fruits, prunes, rice and other agricultural commodities.

Non- and least-toxic alternatives to using sulfuryl fluoride for structural pest management are viable and protect public health and the environment from hazardous chemical exposure. Ecologically-based land management systems and practices such as organic agriculture and organic lawns and landscapes also hold the key to freeing our country of its chemical dependency.

Published in the January 2009 issue of the journal Epidemiology, the study is entitled “The Rise in Autism and the Role of Age at Diagnosis.” Results from the study suggest that research should shift from genetics to the host of chemicals and infectious microbes in the environment that are likely at the root of changes in the neurodevelopment of California’s children, including pesticides and household chemicals.

“It’s time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California,” said UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, a professor of environmental and occupational health and epidemiology and an internationally respected autism researcher. Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said that many researchers, state officials and advocacy organizations have viewed the rise in autism’s incidence in California with skepticism.

The incidence of autism by age six in California has increased from fewer than nine in 10,000 for children born in 1990 to more than 44 in 10,000 for children born in 2000. Some have argued that this change could have been due to migration into California of families with autistic children, inclusion of children with milder forms of autism in the counting and earlier ages of diagnosis as consequences of improved surveillance or greater awareness.

Dr. Hertz-Picciotto and her co-author, Lora Delwiche of the UC Davis Department of Public Health Sciences, initiated the study to address these beliefs, analyzing data collected by the state of California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) from 1990 to 2006, as well as the United States Census Bureau and state of California Department of Public Health Office of Vital Records, which compiles and maintains birth statistics.

Dr. Hertz-Picciotto and Ms. Delwiche correlated the number of cases of autism reported between 1990 and 2006 with birth records and excluded children not born in California. They used Census Bureau data to calculate the rate of incidence in the population over time and examined the age at diagnosis of all children ages two to 10 years old.

The methodology eliminated migration as a potential cause of the increase in the number of autism cases. It also revealed that no more than 56 percent of the estimated 600-to-700 percent increase, that is, less than one-tenth of the increased number of reported autism cases, could be attributed to the inclusion of milder cases of autism. Only 24 percent of the increase could be attributed to earlier age at diagnosis.

“These are fairly small percentages compared to the size of the increase that we’ve seen in the state,” Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said. The remaining percentage must then be explained by genetics or environmental inputs. “There’s genetics and there’s environment. And genetics don’t change in such short periods of time,” she said.

Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said that the study is a clarion call to researchers and policy makers who have focused attention and money on understanding the genetic components of autism. She said that the rise in cases of autism in California cannot be attributed to the state’s increasingly diverse population because the disorder affects ethnic groups at fairly similar rates.

“Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones. We need to even out the funding,” Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said. One recent study of environmental factors linked residential proximity to pesticides and a higher incidence of autism.

Dr. Hertz-Picciotto and her colleagues at the M.I.N.D Institute are currently conducting two large studies aimed at discovering the causes of autism. Dr. Hertz-Picciotto is the principal investigator on the CHARGE (Childhood Autism Risk from Genetics and the Environment) and MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies-Learning Early Signs) studies.

“We’re looking at the possible effects of metals, pesticides and infectious agents on neurodevelopment,” Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said. “If we’re going to stop the rise in autism in California, we need to keep these studies going and expand them to the extent possible.”

The study entitled, “Statistical Modeling Suggests That Anti-Androgens in Wastewater Treatment Works Effluents Are Contributing Causes of Widespread Sexual Disruption in Fish Living in English Rivers,” and published in the journal Environmental Health and Perspectives identifies a group of river pollutants that cause testosterone to stop working. These chemicals, released from wastewater treatment operations into rivers and other surface waters are responsible for the feminization of male fish and abnormalities in male reproductive organs. Previous studies have attributed these problems in male fish to estrogenic compounds also found in surface waters.

However, this study is the first to identify anti-androgens with the feminization of male fish. It also indicates that male feminization may be the result of a rather more complicated interaction taking place between different classes of pollutants, resulting in an endocrine disrupting chemical cocktail.

“We have identified a new group of chemicals in our study on fish, but we do not know where they are coming from or what they are. We’ve only been able to measure their testosterone-blocking potential” said Susan Jobling, PhD, of Brunel University, one of the authors of the study.

The scientists analyzed anti-androgenic activity in samples of river water taken near 30 sewage outflows. They were able to demonstrate statistically that this activity could be linked with feminized fish found in the same rivers. Several chemicals in widely-used pharmaceuticals and pesticides are known to have anti-androgenic activity. They include several compounds found in agricultural pesticides.

Relatively high levels of anti-androgenic chemicals were detected near sewage outflows, suggesting they came from domestic sources. One possibility is that drugs excreted from the body may end up in rivers. However, the scientists also believe that the anti-androgens may also be seeping into rivers as run-off from agricultural land.

Feminization of male fish is a phenomena documented in recent decades in many rivers and surface waters in the US and Britain. Studies have long pointed to chemical contaminants such as pesticides and other endocrine disrupting chemicals, as having the potential for wreaking such hormonal chaos. Many pesticides have been implicated, including atrazine, permethrin, glyphosate (Round-Up) and 2,4-D. Other animals like polar bears, big cats, alligators and frogs have been observed with abnormalities in their reproductive organs, which have been attributed to environmental contaminants. Research has also shown that pregnant women exposed to environmental contaminants gave birth to babies with male reproductive defects.

A group of more than 30 professionals, including Beyond Pesticides staff, have been involved in the development process for the school IPM PSMP, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) IPM Program, the four USDA Regional IPM Centers, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and spearheaded by the IPM Institute.

IPM programs are proven to be affordable and cost-effective. IPM can eliminate pests and pesticide-related hazards to children as it relies on pest prevention, monitoring, and control through effective education, sanitation, facility maintenance, mechanical controls, and other non-chemical methods. The least toxic pesticide is only used as a last resort after nontoxic options have been exhausted. Research and demonstration projects show that schools with IPM programs have up to 90% fewer pest problems and pest-related allergens compared to schools using pesticides as their sole method of pest management. A number of schools successfully implementing IPM can be found in Beyond Pesticides’ report, “Safer Schools.”

“With IPM,” states Dawn H. Gouge, urban entomologist with the University Arizona and co-editor of the document, “school staff and faculty report cleaner, better maintained facilities and better communication within the school community.”

At the heart of the document are extensive details to understanding common school pest biology, inspection and monitoring, and pest prevention that are key to successfully implementing IPM. This section of the document is an incredibly valuable tool to learning about an array of non-chemical pest management strategies. Unfortunately though, the document does not explicitly state that pesticides may be used only as a last resort in an IPM program nor does it clearly state the acute and chronic health effects of the pesticides listed in the document. Groups like Beyond Pesticides are concerned that IPM implementers using this document will be too quick to reach for potentially harmful chemicals, thus keeping school pest management programs’ status quo. Other concerns regarding the document surround the fact that toxic pesticides are listed as management tools for turf and landscape programs, yet these sites can definitely be managed without any pesticides. For example, Connecticut has passed a law that prohibits pesticides from being applied on school grounds, and several communities have begun implementing pesticide-free turf programs in the state. Examples prove that there is never a real justification or need to use pesticides in a school environment. This document should be at the forefront of the pesticide-free movement, leading schools down the path of the future, and not weakly attempting to simply reduce pesticides.

Children face unique hazards from pesticide exposure. They take in more pesticides relative to their body weight than adults in the food they eat and air they breathe. Their developing organ systems often make them more sensitive to toxic exposure. The U.S. EPA, National Academy of Sciences, and American Public Health Association, among others, have voiced concerns about the danger that pesticides pose to children. The body of evidence in scientific literature shows that pesticide exposure can adversely affect a child’s neurological, respiratory, immune, and endocrine system, even at low levels.

According to USDA, pest management practices in schools are in need of improvement; more than 50 studies have documented deficiencies, including unmanaged pest infestations, unsafe and illegal use of pesticides and unnecessary pesticide exposure. “Poor pest management and the use of pesticides can affect students’ learning abilities and long-term health, especially asthma, which is the number one cause of school absences,” states Colien Hefferan, with the USDA.

Federal agencies, such as EPA, USDA and CDC have been recommending schools adopt IPM for years with generally little impact on the number of schools adopting such programs. According to Beyond Pesticides’ research, only 11 states require schools adopt IPM programs and 7 states recommend school IPM. Beyond Pesticides report, “Are Schools Making the Grade?,” shows that only around 26% of schools in the U.S. have IPM programs, illustrating that recommendations prove to be largely ineffective. Without federal legislation like the proposed School Environment Protection Act (SEPA), school IPM adoption will likely remain spotty as it is now. For real change, passage of SEPA is critical to moving IPM ahead. SEPA is listed in the document as one of the regulatory priorities.

Pest Management Strategic Plans (PMSPs), such as this new one, are documents commissioned by USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) and developed by groups of stakeholders to identify needs and priorities, typically for specific commodities and regions. PMSPs are used by funders, regulators, researchers, educators and others to help identify needs worth pursuing via grant making, research, Extension, education or regulatory avenues. PMSPs are living documents, designed to be updated periodically. Feedback is welcome for the next iteration of this document as well as participation in the implementation of the plan. For updates on the plan and information on how to provide input or participate in the effort, click here. Implementation of the plan will be managed by a steering committee composed of leaders designated by the four regional school IPM working groups.

The four contaminants are:

* Mercury
* Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its breakdown products
* Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
* Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants.

According to Elin Miller, EPA Regional Administrator in Seattle, a team of more than 20 federal and state agencies, Tribes, local governments and organizations teamed-up to draw this latest portrait of the toxic threats faced by the Columbia River Basin, which drains nearly 260,000 square miles across seven U.S. states and a Canadian province.

“This is troubling news,” said EPA’s Miller. “Today’s Report shows that toxics are found throughout the Basin at levels that could harm people, fish, and wildlife. Federal, tribal, state, and local efforts have reduced levels of some toxics such as PCBs and DDTs, but in many areas, they continue to pose an unacceptable risk. Tackling this problem will require a coordinated effort by all levels of government, Tribes, interest groups and the public.”

While several populations of important Basin species like bald eagles and ospreys have rebounded over the past two decades, some toxics such as mercury and PBDEs are increasing in wildlife and fish. For example, PBDEs showed an almost four-fold increase in some fish species in the Spokane River between 1996 and 2005. In addition, mercury increased in both osprey eggs in the Lower Columbia and in the northern pikeminnow in the Willamette River over the last decade. Elsewhere in the world, DDT and its metabolites have been found at high levels in melting glaciers and waters around Los Angeles, threatening wildlife like penguins and fish.

Another problem highlighted in the Report is a general lack of monitoring for toxics in many locations, making it difficult to know if toxics are increasing or decreasing over time.

“These information gaps need to be filled by more monitoring and stronger agency coordination so we can better understand the toxic effects on the river ecosystem and agree on priority projects to reduce those toxics,” said Miller.

There are many other contaminants in the Basin, including arsenic, dioxins, radionuclides, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and “emerging contaminants” such as pharmaceuticals. This Report does not characterize those contaminants, but EPA plans to address them in future work. USGS data has found such chemicals in surface water around the country.

The Report highlights many important federal, state, tribal and local efforts to reduce toxics already underway in the Basin, including:

* Cleanup of the Portland Harbor, Hanford, and Lake Roosevelt contamination sites
* Erosion control in the Yakima Basin to reduce legacy pesticide runoff
* Pesticide Stewardship Partnerships work in collaboration to reduce pesticide contamination in the Hood River and Walla Walla Basins
* PCB cleanup at Bonneville Dam and Bradford Island
* Legacy pesticide collections and pharmaceutical take-back programs.

The report concludes with six broad Toxics Reduction Initiatives intended to improve our understanding about the health of the Basin and strengthen coordination for ongoing and new efforts to reduce toxics. The Initiatives include: expanding existing toxics reduction activities throughout the Basin; identifying and characterizing the sources of toxics to the Basin; and developing a regional, multi-agency long-term monitoring and research program.

Since 2005, EPA has worked collaboratively with the Columbia River Toxics Reduction Working Group, a partnership of more than 20 federal, state, tribal, local, and nonprofit organizations. EPA developed the Report with the support of the Working Group.

According to N. Kathryn Brigham, Chair of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, whose staff contributed to EPA’s Report, “Protecting, restoring and enhancing our first foods have been, and continue to be, one of the tribes’ highest priorities. Toxics in our water and fish are unacceptable.”

“The tribes have always worked together to care for the Columbia River and we’ll need to work together with the Region to resolve this issue now and for our future generations,” said Brigham. “EPA’s report is an important warning about toxics in our water and highlights concerns about their potential impacts.”

The EU stated: “The new Regulation confirms the importance that the European Commission gives to a high level of protection of human health and the environment, while at the same time harmonises further the availability of plant protection products. Moreover it intends to favour competition and reduce administrative burden for all stakeholders.”

The text contains provisions on the following main issues: (i) criteria for approval of active substances (ii) inspection and monitoring on production, storage, transport and use of plant protection products (iii) a simplified evaluation and authorization procedure (iv) the role of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (v) data protection — data sharing (vi) mutual recognition for plant protection products (vi) informing on the use of plant protection products to neighborrs (vi) reduction of tests on vertebrates

The EU’s approach to pesticide regulation moves it rules to a hazard-based, rather than a risk-based, system. The proposal would push farmers and chemical companies to replace the most toxic products with alternatives, remove provisional licenses for pesticides not yet registered with the EU, restrict the use of crop-dusters, and ban pesticides near sensitive areas.“One of the main aims of the proposal is to maintain a high level of protection for humans, animals and the environment. This is essential for our citizens,” said EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, who advocated for this ban in May 2008. “We will not authorize what is known to be harmful for public health.”

For background, see Beyond Pesticides’ Daily News Blog.

Experts believe that the mutated fish, which survive only 48 hours after hatching, are the victims of pesticide drift from neighboring macadamia nut farms that routinely use endosulfan and the fungicide, carbendazim. Aquatic health expert and vice-president of the Australian College of Veterinarian Scientists’ Aquatic Animal Health Chapter, Matt Landos, PhD, has been investigating the phenomenon and concludes that there were no other probable causes to explain the fish and larval mortality. Dr. Landos documented evidence and completed a report which was sent to the state’s Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries last year. “The timing between the mist spraying and the affected larvae fits hand in glove,” Dr. Landos said.

His report also found that chickens, sheep and horses raised at nearby fish hatcheries are also recording abnormally high levels of fetal deaths and birth defects. Gwen Gilson, who runs a Boreen Point fish hatchery, says she has observed deformities on her farm for the past few years. When advised last year to dispose of her own fish stocks and obtain fresh bass eggs from the Noosa River, she was shocked to discover that they were also contaminated.

“It’s quite extraordinary. In fact several groups of brood fish, all which came from the Noosa River, had batches of larvae which were severely deformed with the primary deformity being two heads,” Dr. Landos said. “It’s the first time it’s been observed anywhere in Australia in association with bass. The hatchery is fringed by a macadamia plantation.”

Both endosulfan and carbendazim have been linked to birth and reproductive defects, liver toxicity and cancer. Endosulfan is banned in Europe and many other countries around the world, but is still used in Australia, as well as the U.S. Studies have found that endosulfan affects hormones and reproduction in aquatic and terrestrial organisms, has devastating effects on amphibians, especially in combination with other chemicals. It is highly toxic, bioaccumulative, and persistent. Its registration is currently under review in the U.S. by the EPA. Carbendazim, which was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 2001 by its manufacturer, DuPont, continues to be used in Australia. However, its registration status is currently under review, due to its link with developmental abnormalities in animals.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority said that it was concerned by Dr. Landos’s allegations and was seeking advice from the federal Department of Environment. In the meantime, the macadamia farmers say even though the chemicals are approved for use, they will wait for the findings of the investigation and will be happy to comply with any recommendations that arise.

On Friday, Australia’s neighbor, New Zealand, will become the 56th country to enact a ban on endosulfan. Later this year, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants will consider elevating endosulfan to the final stage of assessment, which if passed would trigger a worldwide ban.

According to Beyond Pesticides, the EPA rule had allowed the weaker and more generalized standards under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to trump the more stringent CWA standards. CWA uses a kind of health-based standard known as maximum contamination levels to protect waterways and requires permits when chemicals are directly deposited into rivers, lakes and streams, while FIFRA uses a highly subjective risk assessment with no attention to the safest alternative. Read Beyond Pesticides’ press release on EPA’s 2006 decision.

Several manufacturers and industry associations had joined the case to try to broaden the EPA’s 2006 exemption. The Court told them in no uncertain terms that their products are harmful to human health and the environment, and therefore EPA must regulate aquatic pesticide applications under the Clean Water Act.

“The decision today is a victory for clean water, and for fish and wildlife” declared Charlie Tebbutt, Western Environmental Law Center attorney and lead counsel for the environmental organizations and organic farms that challenged the rule. “Furthermore, this decision is another in a long line of rebukes to the Bush administration policies that overstepped their statutory authority and to the chemical manufacturers who peddle their poisons without concern to the effect on human health and the environment. We look forward to working with the new EPA to protect the environment rather than the chemical industry.”

With this decision, virtually all commercial pesticide application to, over and around waterways will now require National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The NPDES permits will allow for local citizen input, and provide for accountability and oversight. The permits will also require the regulatory agencies to evaluate effects on fish and wildlife from individual applications, to monitor exactly how much of a pesticide application goes into in our nation’s waters, and to evaluate the cumulative impact this residual effect has on aquatic organisms.

“Time and again during these past eight years EPA has walked into federal courts and tried to defend absolutely indefensible rules like the one vacated today,” said Waterkeeper Alliance Legal Director Scott Edwards. “And time and again they’ve been sent back to the drawing board to rewrite these unlawful rules. Hopefully, EPA’s days of pandering to industry and other polluters and wasting taxpayers dollars in illegal rulemaking are drawing to a welcome close.”

The organizations bringing the case include Baykeeper, National Center for Conservation Science and Policy, Oregon Wild, Saint John’s Organic Farm, Californians for Alternatives to Toxics, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Waterkeeper Alliance, Environment Maine, Toxics Action Center, Peconic Baykeeper and Soundkeeper.

The organizations are represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, the National Environmental Law Center, the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, the Columbia Environmental Law Clinic and Waterkeeper Alliance.

Alex Palluzzi, Jr., director of the Branford Parks and Recreation Department, says he once was “on the other side” but now is motivated by the results he sees with organic and wants to get others to do the same. The town’s organic program took off when a two-acre park was donated to the town and Mr. Palluzzi and his team began a pilot project converting the field to organic. Its success proved to Mr. Palluzzi that organic land management works. Now, all twenty-four of the town’s fields are maintained with organic practices.

“We have not used pesticides in years,” says Mr. Palluzzi. Instead, the town relies on properly aerating the soil, overseeding, mowing the turf high, adding compost and testing the soil. One reason the organic program is so cost effective is because the town collects residents’ leaves for its compost and mulch.

Chuck Sherwood, field maintenance subcontractor for the Parks and Recreation Department, states in an article in The Sound, “When you put down this organic matter, we simply [find] you don’t need pesticides and these other fertilizers. With synthetics you are creating an artificial environment and when you lay down pesticides you are knocking out beneficial organisms too”¦ Organics has become the better value.” Organic turf management results in healthier soils, which produce thicker turf, disease resistance, less soil compaction and a softer playing field. Mr. Sherwood goes on to say that, “You have much healthier root systems that can sustain the repeated us.”

Malathion is present in natural water sources that have been exposed to urban and agricultural runoff. This organophosphate pesticide can be applied by planes in mosquito control program, and as esult enters water from the air.

Although direct lethal and sublethal effects of chemical contaminants have been documented, latent and long-term effects have been less well documented. Therefore, researchers sought to fill this knowledge gap and found, as suspected, that tadpole survival rates decreased and malformations and susceptibility to parasite encystment rates increased as a result of exposure to malathion concentrations mimicking those found in actual water sources.

Tadpoles are being exposed to increasing numbers of parasites in waters that are warming as a result of global climate change, and the researchers who performed this study speculate that, as a consequence, those exposed to malathion will have weakened immune systems that render them less able to defend themselves from invasion. Indeed, trematode infection was observed in tadpoles seven weeks after embryonic exposure to low concentrations of malathion.

This study shows that declines in amphibian populations are related to the agricultural application of malathion, which causes various kinds of damage to frog embryos and tadpoles that are, as a consequence, increasingly susceptible to parasite invasion. A similar study, published in October, 2008, found that some tadpole populations are being further threatened by malathion, as the chemical kills zooplankton, their primary food source. A 2007 U.S. Geological Survey study found malathion’s breakdown product 10-100 times more toxic to amphibians than the parent product.

According to Carol Dansereau, an attorney with the Farm Worker Pesticide Project, and Liesl Zappler, PIRT Panel’s public member, the proposed cuts will eliminate half of the DOH’s Pesticide Program staff. DOH staff-time goes to pesticide incident interviews, toxicology research, sampling, gathering medical and spray records, analyzing and reviewing data, transmitting data, and writing reports including the PIRT report. DOH also works with growers and applicators to prevent accidental poisonings. The proposed DOH budget cuts also explicitly eliminate the PIRT Panel and its reporting requirements even though the PIRT Panel activities costs’ are minimal. Last year, DOH contributed $13,000 to PIRT; and with cuts instituted this year, the total cost is approximately $7,600 for a part-time coordinator. PIRT was created by the Washington State Legislature to address issues of health and environmental impacts from pesticide use and misuse.

PIRT has been under assault from pro-pesticide groups. In addition, controversy has surrounded the Panel’s toxicologist position. Last year, Governor Gregoire appointed Charles Timchalk, Ph.D., a scientist who works with Dow Chemical Company, to the Panel’s toxicologist position instead of reappointing Steven Gilbert, Ph.D., director and founder of the non-profit Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders. (Dr. Gilbert was instrumental in persuading PIRT to endorse pesticide drift monitoring.) After the news media reported on the new appointee’s financial conflicts of interest, he resigned before what would have been his first meeting. For over seven months, Governor Gregoire has left the toxicologist position on the Panel unfilled, despite available candidates without financial conflicts of interest.

“The elimination of PIRT,” states Ms. Dansereau, “is a political move falsely presented as a fiscal measure.”

The proposed budget cuts will also reduce funding for the Washington Poison Center by 50 percent to $1million although it is critical in referring pesticide poisoning cases to DOH. Poison Control Centers produce significant savings to the community by preventing expensive care at emergency rooms, and reducing the length of hospital stays.

“Washington State has one of the best pesticide poisoning surveillance programs in the country, it matches and may even exceed is some aspects California’s excellent program,” states Geoffrey M. Calvert, MD, MPH, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s unfortunate it’s under attack.”

Data compiled from these Washington State programs are vital in establishing a statewide and national perspective on pesticides’ impact on public health and the environment. For instance, a recent multi-state assessment study of acute pesticide poisonings among agricultural workers by Dr. Calvert used data pooled from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) and NIOSH’s Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks-Pesticides (SENSOR-Pesticides) program, which collects information from ten state health departments, including Washington State’s. The study finds the pesticide poisoning incidence rate among U.S. agricultural workers to be thirty-nine times higher than the incidence rate found in all other industries combined. A 2005 study finding that that students and school employees are poisoned by pesticide use at schools and from drift off of neighboring farmlands also used surveillance data from Washington States’ DOH PIRT program as part of the SENSOR data, CDPR and Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS).

A recently released Rodale Institute research paper, titled “The Organic Green Revolution” and reviewing replicated research, shows that the latest scientific approaches in organic agriculture offer affordable, immediately usable, and universally accessible ways to improve yields and access to nutritional food in developing countries.

A recent report cited in the paper from the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) notes that not only can organic agriculture feed the world but it may be the only way we can solve the growing problem of hunger in developing countries. UNEP states that its extensive study “challenges the popular myth that organic agriculture cannot increase agricultural productivity.” In an analysis of 114 farming projects in 24 African countries, UNEP reports that organic or near-organic practices result in a yield increase of more than 100 percent.

An Organic Green Revolution, using integrated farming practices such as cover crops, organic no-till and composting, not only substantially improves yields but it also protects and restores soil and environmental health.

“Yield data just by itself makes the case for a focused and persistent move to organic farming systems,” explains Tim LaSalle, Ph.D., co-author of the report and CEO of the Rodale Institute, a 60-year-old research and education nonprofit. “When we also consider that organic systems are building the health of the soil, sequestering CO2, cleaning up the waterways, and returning more economic yield to the farmer, the argument for an Organic Green Revolution becomes overwhelming. Since these methods build the soil they also increase drought and flood resistance as well as adaptability to climate change,” Dr. LaSalle added.

The term “Green Revolution” took hold in the 1960s to describe the combination of fertilizer, hybrid varieties and pesticides applied to single-crop fields to achieve maximum yield. Yet “the so-called Green Revolution was anything but green,” says Dr. LaSalle. “Initial production benefits have declined and societal costs increased. A paradigm shift, rather than incremental change, is therefore needed in the way we grow, buy and eat our food. The Organic Green Revolution provides that needed shift.”

A number of independent research studies shows that the commodity-oriented Green Revolution has not, and cannot, feed the world sustainably, the paper reports. Some 923 million people are seriously undernourished, 25,000 people die each day from starvation.

The Rodale Institute paper cites a major 2006 study which assessed results from 286 farms in 57 countries, finding that small farmers increased their crop yields by an average of 79 percent by using environmentally sustainable techniques, including organic farming and crop rotation. Organically managed soils have more physical soil structure, preventing erosion; more permeability, for healthier microorganism growth; and more availability of nutrients, which are vital for crop productivity. Furthermore, these soils sequester carbon in soil from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, making organic farming the most available strategy to fight global warming.

The data and analyses compiled in the “Organic Green Revolution” report make a compelling case that organic agricultural practices are established, commercially successful and applicable at any scale of operation as shown by farmers across the United States – from family market farms to commercial operations of thousands of acres. Regenerative organic techniques can adapt to virtually any location, make best use of local inputs, and creatively transform carbon-based waste streams into valuable products.

Updating government agricultural policy that currently perpetuates unsustainable practices to a strategy appropriate to these times by providing incentives for ecological restoration could include paying farmers and other land managers for the soil carbon they store rather than the volume of commodities that they produce.

The researchers determined the potential implication of climate change on chemical and pathogen inputs in agricultural systems and explored the effects of climate change on environmental transport and fate of different contaminants. These data were combined to assess the implications of climate change in terms of indirect human exposure to pathogens and chemicals in agricultural systems.

The study concludes that climate change will result in an increase in risks of pathogens and chemicals from agriculture to human health. It will fuel increased use of pesticides and biocides as farming practices intensify. Increased use will lead to increased exposure through food air and water, as well as increased occupational exposure for farmworkers. Extreme weather events will mobilize contaminants from soils and fecal matter, potentially increasing their bioavailability.

According to the researchers, climate change will also affect the fate and transport of pathogens and chemical contaminants in agricultural systems. While increases in temperature and changes in moisture content are likely to reduce the persistence of chemicals and pathogens while changes in hydrological characteristics are likely to increase the potential for contaminants to be transported to water supplies.

This study follows new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research shows weeds flourishing from increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Lewis Ziska, PhD, and his team of researchers, have found “noxious” weeds to be more adaptable to changing conditions than crops, predicting further growth of their productivity and range in urban and rural areas. Previous research by Dr. Ziska shows that common pollen allergens – including the troublesome ragweed pollen – may be getting worse as a result of global climate change.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) conducted 2-year drinking water studies of chromium VI (as sodium dichromate dihydrate) in male and female F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice. Exposure resulted in increased incidences of rare neoplasms of the squamous epithelium that lines the oral cavity (oral mucosa and tongue) in male and female rats, and of the epithelium lining the small intestine in male and female mice. The authors determined that chromium Vi is carcinogenic following administration in drinking water to male and female rats and mice.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) each have previously determined that hexavalent chromium is a known human carcinogen.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reports that breathing high levels of hexavalent chromium can cause irritation to the nose, resulting in runny nose, nosebleeds, and ulcers and holes in the nasal septum. Ingesting large amounts of hexavalent chromium can cause stomach upsets and ulcers, convulsions, kidney and liver damage, and even death. Skin contact with certain hexavalent chromium compounds can cause skin ulcers. Allergic reactions consisting of severe redness and swelling of the skin have been noted.

Chromium VI is still used as an ingredient in wood preservatives. Although, as of January 2004, most residential uses of CCA can no longer be manufactured for decks and patios, picnic tables, playground equipment, walkways/boardwalks, landscaping timbers, or fencing- already existing residential CCA-treated wood and structures may continue to be sold and used. Industrial uses, such as utility poles, continue to be manufactured and put workers and the public at risk.

Beyond Pesticides has called for a banning of these heavy duty wood preservatives and said that the voluntary phase-out of residential uses of these chemicals does not adequately protect public health or the environment. Occupational exposures increase the risk of cancers in workers. These chemicals also impact the environment and have been found in surface waters. In fact, the major source of contamination in surface waters and groundwater is wastewater from wood preserving facilities. Individuals living or working near wood preserving facilities are exceptionally susceptible to being exposed to surface water or groundwater, increasing their exposure and risk. These preservatives are also known to leach from previously treated wood. Children are also at risk if they put their unwashed hands in their mouths after touching soil or wood that is contaminated with these preservatives. As a result, public and environmental health continues to be compromised.

The incident reporting website is part of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) webpages. It was developed by the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) with input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Pesticide Program, AVMA’s Clinical Practitioners Advisory Committee and Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents “to capture the optimal amount of relevant information using a form that is quick for busy practitioners to fill out.” The data is to be evaluated by EPA.

According to EPA, “Most of the reports of more severe pesticide-related incidents EPA receives are neurological or dermatologic in nature. The reports from veterinarians will help improve the quality of all animal incident data.”

Numerous studies have documented the risk of pesticides to pets over the years. A 1991 National Cancer Institute study, finds that dogs whose owners’ lawns were treated with 2,4-D, four or more times per year, are twice as likely to contract canine malignant lymphoma than dogs whose owners do not use the herbicide. Exposure to herbicide-treated lawns and gardens increases the risk of bladder cancer by four to seven times in Scottish Terriers, according to a study by Purdue University veterinary researchers published in the April 15, 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Research published in the December 1988 issue of Preventive Veterinary Medicine links hyperthyroidism in cats to flea powders and sprays, lawn pesticides and canned cat food. Allethrin, a common ingredient in home mosquito products (coils, mats, oils and sprays) and other bug sprays, has been linked to liver problems in dogs, according to a 1989 study by the World Health Organization. The 1989 edition W.C. Campbell Toxicology textbook reports that chronic exposure to abamectin, an insecticide often used by homeowners on fire ants can affect the nervous system of dogs and cause symptoms such as pupil dilation, lethargy, and tremors. According to 2004 statistics compiled by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Animal Poison Control Center, 22% of approximately 880 cases of pet birds being exposed to common household items involved pesticides (including rat bait and insecticides).

“I can think of numerous cases over the years of abnormal neurologic signs in dogs after exposure to ”˜benign’ herbicides and a pretty severe contact dermatitis in a cat after exposure to a pesticide,” states an ER vet in California. “I will try to encourage my colleagues to report any questionable adverse event in the future.”

If you suspect your pet has been poisoned, contact the Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435. Encourage your veterinarian to document the pesticide poisoning through the new AVMA website. To be sure the incident does not go undocumented, complete Beyond Pesticides’ Pesticide Incident Report.

Daily News is taking a holiday break and will return on Friday, January 2, 2009 with restored energy and vision to keep charging ahead. In the meantime, we hope you will tell us your wishes and vision for change in the New Year as we seek to protect health and the environment. Please also consider a contribution to Beyond Pesticides this year. If you have already donated to the Beyond Pesticides’ program, we thank you deeply because you make it possible for us to continue our important work!

While you are writing your wish list for the New Year, consider Beyond Pesticides’ vision for the New Year:

1. Public recognition that it is a human right not to be poisoned by pesticides.

2. Engage residential, medical, public health and health-impacted communities in obtaining a pesticide-free environment and lead the pesticide reform movement.

3. Encourage individuals, institutions, corporations and local governments to routinely use least-toxic pest control methods.

4. Promote better understanding of the connection between chronic health issues, such as cancer, and pesticide exposure by the general public and health care community.

5. Help governments at all levels enact new laws and regulations prohibiting the use of toxic pesticides.

6. Ensure that there is an improved legal recognition of cradle-to-grave impacts of toxic chemicals (from production to use) and responsibility and accountability.

7. Organic integrity is expanded and strengthened.

Production agricultural use dropped by more than 11 million pounds, as did almost every other category. Reports in the state are mandatory for agricultural and pest control business applications, while most home, industrial and institutional uses are exempt.

“While pesticide use varies year to year based on weather conditions, economics, types of crops, acreage planted and other variable factors, the reduction in 2007 reflects the Department of Pesticide’s efforts to promote pest control through a combination of techniques that pose the lowest risk to public health and the environment” said DPR Director Mary-Ann Warmerdam. “I am especially encouraged to see an across-the-board drop in categories of pesticides with the greatest regulatory concern.”

Warmerdam referred to pesticides that have been identified as potential or known carcinogens, reproductive toxins, ground water contaminants, toxic air contaminants and chemicals that disrupt nerve function. All of these high-toxicity categories declined in 2007 as measured both in pounds applied and acreage treated.

DPR analysts noted that dry spring weather conditions in 2007 appear to have been a factor in reducing disease and weed levels and thus the need for pesticides compared with 2006, according to a DPR analysis of major crop applications prepared as part of the summary use data. Insect populations were generally lower in 2007 as well.

In addition to weather conditions, analysts attributed the drop in pesticide use to farmers continuing to do a better job of minimizing pesticide use when possible and shifting to newer products that are less toxic to people and the environment.

No rankings changed from 2006 to 2007 among the top five counties in order of most pesticide pounds applied. Fresno was first, followed by Kern, Tulare, San Joaquin and Madera. All are major producers of agricultural products. Sulfur was the most-used pesticide by total pounds applied. Other well known products like glyphosate, cloropicrin, and methyl bromide were also in the top ten.

Other details from DPR’s 2007 pesticide report compares 2006 and 2007 data:

*Use of organophosphate and carbamate pesticides — most of which are older compounds of high regulatory concern because of their toxicity and detection in surface water – continued to decline. In 2007, they declined by 1.1 million pounds and 756,000 acres treated, or 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively. For example, use of diazinon, an organophosphate insecticide that is mostly used on lettuce, almonds, broccoli and prunes, has been decreasing for years.

*Use of chemicals classified as reproductive toxins declined by 1.9 million pounds and 130,000 acres treated, or 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively. These chemicals are used on a variety crops.
Use of chemicals classified as probable or known carcinogens declined by 2.7 million pounds and 547,000 acres treated, or 10 percent and 15 percent respectively.

*Use of chemicals classified as toxic air contaminants declined by 2.5 million pounds and 452,000 acres treated, or 6.3 percent and 12 percent, respectively. These chemicals are used on a variety crops.

*Use of chemicals classified as ground water contaminants declined by 303,000 pounds and 275,000 acres treated, or 16 percent and 18 percent, respectively. These chemicals are used on a variety crops.

*Use of fumigants decreased by 294,000 pounds, or .8 percent, but acres treated increased by 1,235 acres, or .3 percent. Fumigants are gaseous pesticides that farmers use before planting to control disease, weeds and pests in the soil and mostly are used on strawberry, carrot and processing tomato fields and for structural pest control.

*Use of oil pesticides declined by 4.3 million pounds, or 13 percent, but increased by 118,000 acres treated, or 3.7 percent. Most oils serve as an alternative to high-toxicity pesticides.

Swanson’s Pest Management of Eugene, Oregon sent an employee to a home on June 29, 2005 to apply Conquer Residential Insecticide Concentrate, active ingredient esfenvalerate, and ULD BP-100 Contact Insecticide, active ingredient pyrethrin. The couple returned to their home two and a half hours later and immediately fell to the ground due to the fumes. Paramedics were called in and they too experienced respiratory distress or became ill when they entered the treated home. According to The Oregonian, Florence Kolbeck was 76 years old and died of cardiac arrest as a result of the exposure. Her husband, Fred, was hospitalized for respiratory distress.

The complaint was filed following a review of Swanson’s use of the two pesticides, finding that the company failed to properly ventilate the home prior to the occupants re-entering, and improperly applied Conquer as a “space spray” at nearly three times the allowable rate. All of which are violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The U.S. EPA complaint also contains alleged violations pertaining to an application at another residence that took place prior to the application that led to the women’s death. In this case, the applicator allegedly used the same tank mix of pesticides, though no adverse health affects were reported.

A 2006 article in the Seattle Times reported that Swanson’s general manager, Steve Fisher, “said his review of the case showed that the technician sprayed the home as he normally would”¦ ”˜Unfortunate things happen in just about every walk of life.’”

This past March, Fred Kolbeck settled a $2.5 million lawsuit against Swanson’s for an undisclosed amount, according to The Oregonian.

Swanson’s has 30 days from the day they received the U.S. EPA complaint to either arrange a settlement conference, file an answer to the Complaint, or pay the proposed penalty. Swanson’s operation manager, Joan Jensen told The Oregonian, “that the EPA’s allegations are not accurate” and that the “negotiations with the agency are ongoing.”

According to EPA, “The consequences of Swanson’s alleged violations were extremely serious,” yet the federal pesticide law limits the penalty EPA can seek to a maximum of $4,550.

With the phase-out of most residential uses of the common organophosphate insecticides, chlorpyrifos and diazinon, home use of pyrethrins and pyrethroids, such as the ones applied at the Kolbeck home, has increased. According to a 2008 report, pyrethrins and pyrethroids were responsible for more than 26 percent of all major and moderate human incidents involving pesticides in the United States in 2007, up from just 15 percent in 1998 – a 67 percent increase. This is based on an analysis of adverse reaction reports filed with the Environmental Protection Agency by pesticide manufacturers. While pyrethroids have been characterized as less toxic than organophosphates, the number of reported human health problems, including severe reactions and even deaths attributed to pesticides containing pyrethrins and pyrethroids, increased from 261 in 1998 to 1,030 in 2007, nearly a 300 percent increase. Pyrethrins and pyrethroids account for more incidents than any other class of pesticide over the last five years. EPA data shows at least 50 deaths attributed to this supposedly safer class of pesticides since 1992.

Pesticide products containing synthetic pyrethroids are often described by pest control operators as “safe as chrysanthemum flowers.” While pyrethroids are a synthetic version of an extract from the chyrsanthemum plant, they are chemically engineered to be more toxic, take longer to breakdown, and are often formulated with synergists, increasing potency and compromising the human body’s ability to detoxify the pesticide. Pyrethroids may affect neurological development, disrupt hormones, induce cancer, and suppress the immune system. Researchers at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) find that residential pesticide use represents the most important risk factor for children’s exposure to pyrethroid insecticides.

There are clear established methods for managing homes that prevent infestation of unwanted insects without the use of synthetic chemicals, including exclusion techniques, sanitation and maintenance practices, as well as mechanical and least toxic controls (which include boric acid and diatomaceous earth). Based on the host of health effects linked to pesticides, their use in the home is hazardous and unnecessary. Most pest problems can be solved without toxic pesticides, through sanitation, proper storage of food and trash, exclusion (sealing entryways), traps and non-volatile baits. For detailed information on preventing specific pests, see Beyond Pesticides’ Alternatives Factsheets.

Triclosan is a synthetic, broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent that in recent years has exploded onto the consumer market in a wide variety of antibacterial soaps, deodorants, toothpastes, cosmetics, fabrics, plastics, and other products. Studies link triclosan to a range of health and environmental effects, from skin irritation, allergy susceptibility, bacterial and compounded antibiotic resistant, and dioxin contamination to destruction of fragile aquatic ecosystems.

Many of Beyond Pesticides comments that were submitted on July 7, 2008 were considered and amendments were made to the risk assessment. However, despite many lingering issues related to triclosan continued threat to human and environmental health, the agency concluded that triclosan was eligible for reregistration. This means that the continued and expanding use of this chlorinated, bioaccumulative pesticide, with the ability to produce resistant strains of bacteria and cross resistance with antibiotics, with degradates unaccounted for is set to continue. EPA’s RED says that this is not a concern.

Please see comments on EPA’s Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for Triclosan. If you’d like to have your organization sign on, please let Nichelle Harriott know by 3:00pm (EST), Monday, December 22, 2008.

Background
In July 2008, over 50 groups and distinguished individuals signed onto comments criticizing the preliminary risk assessment and urging the EPA to reconsider the reregistration of triclosan. Triclosan, which is expected to reach a market value of $930 million by 2009, exploded on to the marketplace in recent years, growing 5 percent annually, in products from soaps, cosmetic and personal care products, toothbrushes and toothpaste, to plastic toys and clothing. EPA believes that levels of concern for triclosan have not been exceeded even though this pervasive chemical is shown to threaten human health and the environment.

In the RED document, EPA acknowledges that triclosan interacts with androgen and estrogen receptors and has effects on thyroid homeostasis in rat studies. The agency also mentions that it is aware of research looking at triclosan’s link to antibacterial and antibiotic resistance. However, the agency continues to be negligent on these serious impacts on public health by stating that it will continue to “monitor the science.” EPA also continues to ignore triclosan’s degradates and has once again failed to conduct any risk assessments for these hazardous chemicals. Methyl triclosan, a degradation product of triclosan, has been found to accumulate in fish, while DCP (2,4-dichlorophenol), another degradation product, is listed as a potential endocrine disruptor by the European Union and is an EPA priority pollutant. EPA also continues to ignore triclosan residues in fish and drinking water. The agency’s approach to these issues are neglectful and an unnecessary threat to human health.

It is clear from the RED document that the EPA conducted its reassessment of triclosan inadequately and improperly. This violates requirements of FIFRA and other federal laws, and would allow widespread use of a substance that is demonstrated threat to human health and the environment.

Please let us know if you’d like to sign-on to the comments.

Also, you can send your own comments (Please send us a copy if you do). Submit your comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2007-0513, by one of the following methods:

A coalition of groups, including the Pesticide Action Network Aotearoa New Zealand (PAN ANZ), Soil and Health Association and Safe Food Campaign, have long campaigned for the banning of endosulfan. Earlier this year, the three organizations carried out a number of residue tests on produce to draw attention to the extent of endosulfan residues, especially in tomatoes.

“We are delighted that ERMA has overturned its earlier ”˜proposed’ decision to keep using this pesticide,” stated Meriel Watts, Ph.D., co-coordinator of PAN ANZ. “It would have been deeply embarrassing for New Zealand to continue its use when the pesticide has entered the process for a global ban under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.”

In October the Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) agreed that endosulfan meets the screening criteria for a POP, and is now undertaking an assessment preparatory to listing it for a global ban, alongside DDT and its other persistent organochlorine relatives.

“ERMA has made the right decision to get rid of a pesticide that is contaminating the global food supply,” declared Alison White of the Safe Food Campaign. “Endosulfan has been found in body fat, breast milk, placental tissue and umbilical cord blood, largely as a result of residues in food. We would also welcome an urgent reassessment of other hazardous pesticides still used in New Zealand, notably the herbicide 2,4-D and the organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos,” she added. “Like endosulfan, these pesticides can have an effect on hormone function even at minute doses. Chlorpyrifos and 2,4-D have both have been linked to brain damage in young animals, embryos and fetuses.”

“Organic foods produced without such pesticides are the fastest growing sector of the food and beverage trade internationally and have been identified as best value products for New Zealand to be exporting,” said Soil and Health Association’s spokesperson Steffan Browning.

The U.S. EPA is currently considering action on endosulfan in response to petitions submitted in February 2008 followed by a legal brief from the Natural Resources Defense Council, technical letters, and some 13,000 individual signatures on petitions. Last May, concerned scientists and public health professionals issued an open letter calling on the U.S. EPA to cancel all uses of endosulfan on the grounds that it is a highly toxic, bioaccumulative, and persistent chemical. In July a broad coalition of groups represented by Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against the U.S. EPA to protect children, farmworkers, and endangered species from endosulfan’s long tail of lingering effects. The coalition also called on EPA to revoke all tolerances for endosulfan even though the agency will not address cancellation until early 2009.

According to the U.S. EPA, annual usage of endosulfan in the U.S. is approximately 1.4 million pounds. Current top uses by volume in the U.S. include cotton, cantaloupe, tomatoes and potatoes. It is registered as an acute toxicity class I (the most toxic) pesticide, and must bear the label “Danger.” Endosulfan affects the nervous system and has been one of the most frequently reported causes of farmworker poisoning. In addition, farmworkers and their children exposed to endosulfan have experienced congenital physical disorders, mental retardation, and death. While farmworkers are the population group most susceptible to the deleterious effects of endosulfan because of their close contact with the toxic chemical, endosulfan also poses a risk to the population at large because of common food, air, and water contamination.

A study released in September confirms that school children in Florida breathe air contaminated by hazardous pesticides, including endosulfan that are drifting from neighboring farms. Air monitoring near South Woods Elementary School in Hastings detected four agricultural chemicals in the air, often at levels that pose unacceptable risks to children. Endosulfan, the pesticide of greatest concern, was found in 87% of the samples, and, on several days, exceeded levels of concern.

Although the Philippines banned the use of endosulfan in 1993, multi-national food companies Dole and Del Monte have maintained exemptions to the ban and continued to use endosulfan in the country. But since the sinking of the ship MV Princess of the Stars, whose cargo hull contained ten tons of endosulfan, these two pineapple growing companies, have agreed to stop using endosulfan on pineapples grown on their plantations in the Philippines beginning next year. The ship capsized and partially sank on June 21 in a typhoon, killing nearly 800 people onboard. In the wake of that tragedy, leaders in the Philippine government called for an end to endosulfan exemptions granted to foreign companies.

Endosulfan is an organochlorine pesticide, in the same family as DDT and lindane, and bioaccumulates and has been found in places as far from point of use as the arctic. Acute poisoning can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, and in extreme cases, unconsciousness and even death. It is also a suspected endocrine disruptor, affecting hormones and reproduction in aquatic and terrestrial organisms. At low levels of exposure in the womb have been linked to male reproductive harm, and other birth defects. Preliminary research from the California Department of Public Health 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 are six times more likely to have children with autism compared to mothers who did not live near the fields.

Endosulfan mixed with other insecticides can adversely affect the environment and decimate amphibian populations even if the concentration of the individual chemicals are within limits considered safe, according to University of Pittsburgh research by Rick Relyea, Ph.D. Amphibians are considered an environmental indicator species because of their unique sensitivity to pollutants. Their demise from pesticide exposure could foreshadow the fate of less sensitive animals. Dr. Relyea also discovered that endosulfan is inordinately deadly to leopard frog tadpoles. By itself, the chemical caused 84 percent of the leopard frogs to die. This lethality was previously unknown because current regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do not require amphibian testing. His results show that endosulfan was not only highly toxic to leopard frogs, but also that it served as the key ingredient of the pesticide mixture that eliminated the bulk of leopard frog tadpoles.