(Beyond Pesticides, June 18, 2008) On June 17, 2008,  the European Union (EU) voted and approved limits for chemical contaminants in surface waters. This measure would expand the EU’s campaign to protect the environment and also reduce the cost of producing drinking water.This new measure will set limits for 33 chemicals, including pesticides and heavy metals, in lakes, rivers and coastal waters that may endanger the survival of ecosystems and, via the food chain, human health. EU member states, which approved this legislation, will have until 2018 to meet these water standards. States will have to reduce pollution from “priority substances,” cease or phase out emissions, discharges and losses of “priority hazardous substances” in order to achieve good surface water chemical status and to be in compliance with the objectives set by the water quality standards.“This directive will guarantee a higher level of the protection of water by principally applying the principal of polluter-pays and corrects,” said rapporteur Anne Laperrouze of France, after the vote.

(Beyond Pesticides, June 17, 2008) A recent study at Cardiff University in Wales shows that antimicrobial wipes, including those containing triclosan, may be spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria, rather than killing it. Researchers from the Welsh School of Pharmacy studied the bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and the ability of different types of wipes to remove or kill it. They found that in “normal use” conditions, or how hospitals in Wales have been using the wipes, bacteria is only moved from surface to surface, increasing potential exposure.

According to the university, “The research involved a surveillance programme observing hospital staff using surface wipes to decontaminate surfaces near patients, such as bed rails, and other surfaces commonly touched by staff and patients, such as monitors, tables and keypads. It was found that the wipes were being applied to the same surface several times and used on consecutive surfaces before being discarded.”

Furthermore, in laboratory replications, the team found “that although some wipes can remove higher numbers of bacteria from surfaces than others, the wipes tested were unable to kill the bacteria removed. As a result, high numbers of bacteria were transferred to other surfaces when reused.”

The findings raise concern from others in the field. Professor Mark Enright, an expert in hospital acquired infections at Imperial College in London, said, “Many cleaners use cleaning products more than just once, and if they are not using fresh disinfectant every time then they are effectively just spreading the infection.”

Professor Donna Duberg, of St. Louis University, concurred. “Our bodies are designed to handle a certain number of bacteria,” she said. “We use way too many antibacterial agents,” which can lead to resistant bacteria. “I personally believe there isn’t anything that good, hot soapy water can’t clean.”

Antibacterials, particularly triclosan, have been linked to a host of hazards, from bacteria resistance to endocrine disruption and environmental persistence. To learn more about these increasingly common products, visit our antibacterials program page.

Sources: Cardiff University, ABC News, Reuters, The Telegraph

(Beyond Pesticides, June 16, 2008) Due to concerns of children being exposed to pesticides on the town’s fields, Rockport, Maine has adopted a new pest management policy that prohibits the use of toxic pesticides on town-owned property, according to the Knox County Times Reporter. The Rockport select board passed the policy unanimously. The policy mirrors that of Camden with a few slight changes concerning the pest management advisory committee. Alex Arau, the board member who introduced the policy, became concerned after realizing that pesticides were sprayed on the towns’ fields where children played in the grass and dirt.

Steve McAllister, Rockport commission member, told the Knox County Times Reporter, “Sixteen years ago, the conservation commission asked the selectmen not to use [chemicals]. We were assured that it was OK and told it was more important to rid the town of dandelions than worry about chemicals.”

“Times have changed and it is time for us to look at how we manage our fields differently,” Mr. Arau told the paper.

The growth of the pesticide-free zone movement around the country and the passage of pesticide-free public land policies are very promising. Most recently, the General Services Administration has begun implementing an organic lawn pest management program, using organic fertilizer on the grounds of all its federal buildings in the National Capital Region. Over four acres of Washington, DC’s National Mall has been maintained organically by the National Park Service (NPS) over the past year. Voorhees, New Jersey parks are pesticide-free and posted with “Pesticide Free Zone” ladybug signs.

For more information on being a part of the growing organic lawn care movement, please visit our Lawns & Landscapes program page. To find a service provider that practices least- or non-toxic methods, visit the Safety Source for Pest Management.

(Beyond Pesticides, June 13, 2008) A recent study by Newcastle University, published in the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture, finds that organic farmers who let their cows graze as nature intended are producing better quality milk. The Nafferton Ecological Farming Group study finds that grazing cows on organic farms in the UK produce milk which contains significantly higher beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins than their conventional ”˜high input’ counterparts. During the summer months, one of the beneficial fats in particular — conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA9 — is found to be 60% higher.”We have known for some time that what cows are fed has a big influence on milk quality,” explained Gillian Butler, livestock project manager for the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at Newcastle University, who led the study. “What is different about this research is it clearly shows that on organic farms, letting cows graze naturally, using forage-based diet, is the most important reason for the differences in the composition between organic and conventional milk.“We’ve shown that significant seasonal differences exist, with nutritionally desirable fatty acids and antioxidants being highest during the summer, when the cows are eating fresh grass and clover.”

Sources: Newcastle University, The Times, The Telegraph, Health News Digest

(Beyond Pesticides, June 12, 2008) A new study reports that pesticides, including DDT and tributyltin (TBT), have been found in deep-sea squids and octopods. This study is the first to analyze the chemical contamination of these deep sea organisms, and adds to the body of literature that demonstrates the far-reaching effects of pesticide use on global ecosystems. Pesticide contamination has been documented as far away from the point of use as the arctic and now the deep sea.

In the study, to be published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, Michael Vecchione of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and colleagues from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science of The College of William and Mary report finding a wide variety of chemical contaminants in nine species of cephalopods, a class of organisms that includes cuttlefishes and nautiluses along with squids and octopods. Cephalopods are important to the diet of cetaceans, which are marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and porpoises. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the blubber of whales and some deep sea fish has already been documented.

The twenty-two specimens analyzed were taken from depths between 1000 and 2000 meters (approximately 3,300 and 6,600 ft.) in the North Atlantic Ocean. “The cephalopod species we analyzed span a wide range of sizes and represent an important component of the oceanic food web,” Vecchione said. “The fact that we detected a variety of pollutants in specimens collected from more than 3,000 feet deep is evidence that human-produced chemicals are reaching remote areas of the open ocean, accumulating in prey species, and therefore available to higher levels of marine life. Contamination of the deep-sea food web is happening, and it is a real concern.”

Pesticides discovered in the tissue of these organisms include tributyltin (TBT) and dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), along with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which have many sources, one of which is creosote used for wood preservation. The scientists also discovered high levels of other industrial pollutants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs).

TBT was once used on nearly all of the world’s 30,000 commercial ships as an algae and barnacle killer, but is now subject to an international ban because of its severe effects on marine wildlife and its persistence in the aquatic environment. However, TBT containing compounds are still registered for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as bacteriocides, microbiocides, fungicides, algaecides, slimicides, and virucides and can be used in livestock operations and hatcheries, materials preservation, and non pressure-treated wood operations. The EPA recently had a comment period for the reregistration of TBT-containing compounds.

The results of this study highlight how critical it is to take regulatory action on chemicals that are persistent in the environment and reach all ends of the food web, including humans who eat contaminated seafood. The ban on TBT used on ships will not signal an end to the presence of TBT in aquatic ecosystems for many years to come, just as the U.S. ban on DDT in 1972 did not put an end to DDT contamination within the U.S. (DDT is still in use in some countries for mosquito control, despite its toxicity and the availability of less toxic alternatives). Other chemicals that have similar persistence and chemical characteristics to DDT, such as lindane are still registered for some uses in the United States.

While the use of many persistent chemicals is on the decline because of mounting evidence of their lingering negative effects, the use of some persistent pesticides in different chemical families is increasing. Despite the public health and environmental threats they pose, these chemicals have largely avoided public scrutiny. One such chemical that Beyond Pesticides finds particularly disconcerting is the ubiquitous triclosan. This antimicrobial pesticide has been linked to numerous adverse health effects in humans and aquatic life, and triclosan levels in waste water have been steadily increasing. For more information on triclosan, please see the Beyond Pesticides antibacterials page. EPA’s comment period for the reregistration of triclosan is open and you may submit public comments here.

Source: NOAA

(Beyond Pesticides, June 11, 2008) The House of Representatives has passed legislation that will provide nearly $7 billion in grants to help K-12 schools go green. Entitled, “21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act” (H.R. 3021), the bill, sponsored by Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY), will help schools to become more energy efficient and healthier. There is a special emphasis on low-income schools where children are most at risk from unhealthy facilities and on schools that still suffer from the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

The legislation passed by the House on June 4, will allow the Secretary of Education to distribute funds to K-12 school districts according to a need-based formula, to make them more energy efficient, healthy, and high performing. Funding can also be used for asbestos removal services, energy efficiency improvements, lead abatements, and technology upgrades.

The bill will also help school districts, which are struggling to make essential improvements, to create better school facilities and save significant amounts of energy and help to reduce greenhouse gases. Thirty-nine percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, and each green and energy efficient school will lead to annual emission reductions of 585,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) — the principal greenhouse gas.

In order to promote energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools, the bill:

 
• Calls for school districts to use funds to meet one of three widely recognized green building standards or equivalent state or local standards.’
 
• Requires school districts to publicly report the educational, energy and environmental benefits of projects, how they meet green building standards, and the percentage of funds used for projects at low-income and rural schools.
 
• Requires the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to create a database of the best practices in school construction and to provide technical assistance to states and school districts regarding best practices.

A green school costs less than two percent more than conventional schools – or about $3 per square foot — but provides financial benefits that are 20 times as large, typically utilizing 33 percent less energy and 32 percent less water than a traditionally designed school — enough savings to hire two additional full-time teachers.

Close to 60 million students spend up to 40 hours a week in facilities that are often unhealthy and a hindrance to their ability to learn. Many school environments are a cause of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Improving the environment where children spend the majority of their time can significantly improve the health of students and increase student morale and confidence.

Along with energy efficiency and the removal of dangerous contaminants like lead and asbestos, green and healthy schools also need to protect children from the risks posed by pesticides through the adoption of school pest management policies and programs to create healthier learning environments. Pesticide exposure can adversely affect a child’s neurological, respiratory, immune, and endocrine system and have been shown to cause or exacerbate asthma symptoms. Beyond Pesticides believes that central to this effort to protect children’s health should be activities aimed at public education on pesticide hazards and efficacy of alternatives, and the continued development of model communities that serve as examples.

For more information on Healthy Schools, visit our Children & Schools program page.

Source: Earth Day Network Press Release

(Beyond Pesticides, June 10, 2008) According to scientists at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, real-world pesticide combinations, such as those found in Canada’s Nicomekl River, may contribute to latest decline in the region’s endangered salmon populations. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T), a publication of the American Chemical Society, examines the impact by simulating the river’s low-level pesticide mixture to examine its effects on fish. The study used steelhead trout, a member of the salmon family, and found that the pesticide mix can deaden the trout’s sense of smell. This could harm the fish’s ability to avoid predators, find mates, and migrate back to sea, the researchers say, and could contribute to the threatened and endangered status of salmon species.

“Most laboratory studies examine the effects of a single chemical, often at high concentrations, but real-world streams contain a mixture of chemicals at very low concentrations,” Keith Tierney, Ph.D., the study’s coauthor, told ES&T. Dr. Tierney and his colleagues re-created river water in the laboratory under controlled conditions with carefully measured levels of the 10 most frequently occurring pesticides in British Columbia’s Nicomekl River. The mixture contained four major classes of pesticides, including the commonly used agricultural pesticides atrazine and diazinon. The researchers exposed the trout to the mixture for 4 days instead of the more typical 30 minutes used in other studies. “Fish live in rivers [for long periods], so a longer exposure is more realistic,” Dr. Tierney said.

The research team also tested a pesticide mixture both at one-fifth and at double the concentrations found in the river. At the lowest pesticide levels, the fish’s response to odor was not impaired measurably, but they had higher levels of enzymes that detoxify contaminants. In some cases, animals can build up these enzymes and potentially gain protection from later pulses of the contaminant at higher concentrations, which occur commonly in streams during runoff events. However, that did not occur in this case. Regardless of the initial exposure level, the fish did not produce enough detoxifying enzymes to prevent damage from a later large pulse of pesticides.

“It’s the norm to find pesticides occurring as mixtures,” Nathaniel Scholz, Ph.D., ecotoxicology program manager at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center told ES&T. These mixtures can combine in ways that produce effects not caused by the individual chemicals. In his research, Dr. Scholz found that very low levels of copper impair salmon’s olfaction and thereby the fish’s ability to detect and avoid predators. Testing individual pesticides offers the advantage of ascribing effects to one chemical, he says, but testing all of the possible combinations in a stream quickly becomes “insurmountable.” The new study’s approach is more realistic, but “you don’t know which component drove the effect,” he says, so further tests are required.

Pesticides sprayed on agricultural crops are widespread in streams in the Northwest and half of the waters sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey contain six or more pesticides. Pesticides found in salmon watersheds were at concentrations at or above levels set to protect fish and other aquatic life. The pesticides used in Dr. Scholz’s study include the organophosphates malathion, chlopyrifos and diazion, among others. Organophosphates are neurotoxic and kill cells by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that helps neurons communicate. This in turn harms the ability of salmon to feed. Diazinon also reduces sperm production in male salmon even at extremely low levels.

In a 2002 order, a U.S. District Court in Seattle found that the federal government had failed to protect threatened species of salmon and 26 other endangered species from toxic pesticides. The judge ordered EPA to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to identify permanent measures needed to protect the salmon and others from pesticides. Despite the ruling, federal agencies have been negligent in their efforts to protect declining salmon populations. In November 2007, fishing and environmental groups seeking to force the federal government to uphold the five-year-old rule once again filed a lawsuit (See the November 7, 2007 Daily News Blog).

For more information on endangered salmon see articles from the Spring 2002 and Summer 1999 issues of Pesticides and You.

(Beyond Pesticides, June 9, 2008) The General Services Administration (GSA) has begun using organic fertilizer on the grounds of all its federal buildings in the National Capital Region. The region, which is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, includes the District of Columbia, as well parts of Virginia and Maryland. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), GSA is using 100-percent organic pelletized chicken manure at 64 sites, covering 84 acres. The poultry litter is being collected by a private company and converted to usable organic fertilizer, then transported by truck to the region, and applied at the GSA properties.

“Use of organic fertilizer is but one of many sustainable practices that GSA employs in our landscaping program,” commented GSA Regional Administrator Tony Reed. “In this first year of utilizing this approach for all of our buildings in the National Capital Region, we have applied 80 tons, enriching our landscapes at the same time we are helping to clean up Chesapeake Bay.”

Chemical fertilizer, pesticides, animal manure, and poultry litter are major sources of excess nitrogen and phosphorus that cause water quality problems in the Chesapeake Bay. These pollutants get washed into local rivers, streams, and groundwater and eventually reach the bay, where they contribute to massive algae blooms. As these blooms die off and decompose, they rob the bay of dissolved oxygen creating dead zones in which fish and other aquatic life cannot survive.

“GSA is providing a reasonable alternative for poultry farmers to traditional manure applications, creating a sustainable new market for this material. GSA’s switch to all organic fertilizer sets a good example of the kind of steps we all need to take to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay,” said EPA Regional Administrator Donald S. Welsh.

For more than a decade, GSA has implemented an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program in 30 million square feet, approximately 7,000 federal buildings, in the capital area without spraying toxic insecticides.

Over four acres of Washington, DC’s National Mall has been maintained organically by the National Park Service (NPS) over the past year. The growth of the pesticide-free zone movement around the country and the passage of pesticide-free public land policies are very promising. For more information on organic turf management, please visit Beyond Pesticides’ Lawns and Landscapes program page. To find a service provider that practices least- or non-toxic methods, visit the Safety Source for Pest Management.