(Beyond Pesticides, October 18, 2022) Washington, D.C. Attorney General (AG) Karl Racine is suing chemical manufacturer Velsicol to recover damages caused by the company’s production and promotion of the insecticide chlordane despite full knowledge of the extreme hazards posed by the pesticide. Over 30 years after it was banned, chlordane is still contaminating homes, schools, yards, private wells and waterways throughout the United States, including DC’s Anacostia and Potomac rivers. While the District’s focus on restitution and remediation for this highly hazardous, long-lived insecticide is laudable, many advocates say the city is not doing enough to stop pesticide contamination currently entering the city’s waterways. Despite passage of a strong pesticide bill in 2016 limiting toxic pesticide use on schools, child occupied facilities, and within 75ft of a waterbody, D.C. Department of Energy and Environment (DDOE) director Tommy Wells has failed to update regulations and enforce the law.

Chlordane is an organochlorine insecticide, of the same class as DDT, and was likewise discussed extensively in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Like other organochlorines, it is bioaccumulative, increasing contamination levels as it works its way up the food chain, and highly persistent, remaining in the environment for decades and perhaps even centuries, with breakdown products of similar toxicity to the parent compound. The chemical has been associated with diabetes, developmental disorders, miscarriage, depression, bone marrow diseases, and is a potent carcinogen. More recent data have linked the chemical to autism and endometriosis. Sales of chlordane began in the mid-1940s and continued until 1988, when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally banned its remaining uses for household termite applications.

By that time, per EPA estimates, chlordane had been applied to 30 million homes in the United States. This contamination persists today. Chlordane has been discovered on the grounds of a New Jersey middle school at levels above EPA limits, in the private wells of many Connecticut residents,  in what were once considered “pristine” National Parks, and in coral reefs along the South China Sea.

In Washington DC, the year before chlordane was banned, it was found in Potomac and Anacostia River fish at levels three times above what the US Food and Drug Administration considered safe for human consumption at the time. AG Racine notes in the legal filing that 38 miles of D.C.’s waterways are out of compliance with water quality standards for chlordane, making it impaired under the Clean Water Act. D.C. has spent tens of millions of dollars adding filters in catch basins and stormwater outfalls and investigating chlordane contamination in Anacostia and Potomac river sediment.

In it’s release for the lawsuit, the Attorney General’s office explains that the harm caused chlordane pollution has fallen most sharply on the District’s communities of color. “The environment is a precious resource that belongs to everyone, and far too often Black and brown communities of color are forced to bear the brunt of pollution, toxic sites, and contaminated water supplies,” said AG Racine. “With today’s lawsuit, we are going after Velsicol which – for decades – made dollar after dollar of profit while poisoning DC residents with dangerous chemicals that they knew caused severe health problems, including cancer. The damage that Velsicol caused will continue to impact the health of communities in the District of Columbia far into the future, particularly Black and brown community members, as these chemicals persist in our environment and continue to wreak havoc on our natural resources.”

“The fact that there continues to be contamination from chlordane, decades after its removal from the market, is testament to the abject failure of our federal and state pesticide laws,” said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides. “EPA permits a legacy of health and environmental threats because of poor analyses on the front-end, ineffective mitigation measures, and slow negotiated phaseouts that extend the deleterious effects of pesticides well after findings of harm,” Mr. Feldman continued. Beyond Pesticides (then the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides/NCAMP sued EPA (see The Washington Post and The New York Times) in the late 1980’s when the agency negotiated an agreement with Velsicol to phase-out chlordane use and allow all existing stocks to be used up. Then the issue was cancer and the judge in the case found that the additional cancers that would be caused by leaving the chemical in commerce for the phase-out period, including the cost to cancer victims, were unacceptable. On a regulatory level, the judge also found that EPA’s failure to evaluate the harm caused during the phase-out period was a violation of the agency’s responsibility under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The District Court’s finding was reversed on appeal, but by then, EPA had negotiated a shortened phase-out period and established a recall/buy-back program, something the agency rarely does. For a history lesson in the failure of FIFRA, see National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, et al., Appellees, v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., Appellants, 867 F.2d 636 (D.C. Cir. 1989). “The chlordane story is a vivid telling of federal regulators’ failure to use their discretionary authority to curtail corporations from causing an “imminent hazard” with toxic pesticide use and the resulting decades of destruction and health threats that continue to destroy people’s lives and the environment,” said Mr. Feldman. “After repeating this tragedy with newer generations of pesticides, the only reasonable path forward is to stop the pesticide treadmill by phasing out all toxic pesticides, while transitioning to an organic society,” he said.

Pesticide use is an environmental justice issue. Yet unfortunately, many of the same practices that permitted this contamination to occur in the first place are being repeated today. EPA continues to register pesticides without full accounting of the impacts to health and the environment, particularly chronic, long-term effects, and impacts on vulnerable communities, such as children, pregnant mothers, immunocompromised individuals, and people of color. In the lawsuit, Velsicol is cited for covering up a study showing chlordane caused cancer, which resulted in criminal charges for Velsicol executives. As it currently stands, manufacturers are still permitted to conduct tests on the pesticides they produce, and because of the elimination of statutes like the Delaney Clause for pesticide registrations, which forbid the use of products found to induce cancer, a wide range of products on the market today are carcinogenic. Further, EPA has effectively provided cover for products like glyphosate, which published studies show to be carcinogenic yet are ignored by EPA in favor of studies conducted by the manufacturer. Federal regulators are similarly slow to take needed protective action. Use of chlordane began in the 40s yet continued until the late 80s;  like other ‘slow plays’ by the agency, as recently evidenced by how it dealt with the insecticide chlorpyrifos, EPA eliminates certain uses of a pesticide but keeps it on the market, registered for other uses. In the case of chlordane, termiticide uses continued to poison the homes, yards and private wells of families around the country, resulting in calls for a country-wide Superfund designation by advocates.

Not only is historical pesticide use still hurting communities of color, but current use pesticides are further compounding these harms. Chlordane contamination presents a significant threat to public health, yet so does glyphosate contamination. A study by the National Park Service found glyphosate and over a half-dozen other current-use pesticides present in vernal pools and waterways in D.C.’s Rock Creek Park. Research published by The Black Institute in 2020, titled Poison Parks, shows in detail how pesticides like glyphosate are disproportionately sprayed in communities of color. Although focused on data from New York City, this trend is likely to hold in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States.

In 2016, the D.C. City Council updated its pesticide laws to reflect a changing regulatory landscape, and better protect residents and the local environment from present-day pesticide contamination. The update was necessary after officials at DDOE failed to properly implement a 2012 law with similar provisions. Advocates returned to the D.C. Council and successfully passed the 2016 update. Yet now, after passage six years ago, DDOE Director Tommy Wells has still not implemented the law.

Thus, while the city makes efforts to remove historical contamination, it is doing nothing to prevent to new pesticides, which pose variety of hazardous chemistries and transformation products, from continuing to contaminate District waterways. Neither DC nor any other community in the U.S. can afford to continue to repeat the same mistakes when it comes to pesticide regulation. With EPA unable to provide effective protections, it is critical that localities take action to pass and implement safer practices for their residents and unique local environments. Help bring these safer practices to your community by telling your mayor or county executives to transition to nontoxic, organic land care practices today.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia press release, DC AG Legal Complaint

(Beyond Pesticides, October 17, 2022)  A recent report, Exposed and At Risk: Opportunities to Strengthen Enforcement of Pesticide Regulations for Farmworker Safety, by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School, in partnership with the nonprofit advocacy group, Farmworker Justice, again highlights the systemic racism of our country’s pesticide policies. Our nation depends on farmworkers, declared “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure sustenance for the nation and world. Yet the occupational exposure to toxic pesticides by farmworkers is discounted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while study after study documents the disproportionate level of illness among farmworkers.

While we are encouraged to see the formation of EPA’s new Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights, the agency has a historical bias against preventive action to ensure the protection of those disproportionately poisoned by toxic chemicals. While critically important to clean up contaminated communities, EPA must stop the flow of toxic pesticides at the front end because of the disproportionate poisoning effects of use, handling, transportation, and disposal. We live in an age of practices and products that make toxic pesticides unnecessary and their use unconscionable. Yet, EPA insists on the acceptability of harm (which it calls risk), despite its failure to (i) recognize comorbidities and preexisting health conditions, (ii) consider a combination of multiple chemical exposure interactions, and (iii) cite extensive missing health outcomes information (e.g., on endocrine disruption) and a resulting high level of uncertainty.

Tell EPA, Congress, and your Governor (Mayor in DC) to protect farmworkers from pesticides. Choose organic. 

The acceptance of harm to farmworkers is embodied in national and state policies under the purview of EPA, Congress, and state agencies. Correcting the injustice requires a concerted effort at all levels.

EPA’s Worker Protection Standards Are Inadequate to Protect Farmworkers. Worker protection standards are set by EPA under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The original standard was developed after field hearings in the 1970s in which EPA heard from growers, but not farmworkers. After several tries, the WPS still do not adequately protect farmworkers. These standards have been notoriously difficult to enforce and require no record keeping documenting whether the rules have been implemented and only minimal training—all of which can threaten farmworkers and their families.

Systemic Racism is Embodied in EPA’s Risk Assessments. Exposure assessments inevitably discount the impact workers, people of color, and those with preexisting health conditions or comorbidities. For example, EPA routinely calculates worker exposure separately from other exposures. In applying aggregate exposure assessments of pesticides, EPA does not include worker exposure. Risk assessments do not include exposures to multiple chemicals—and such exposures routinely occur to fenceline communities, farmworkers, and factory workers.

In the past, EPA has admitted that even with maximum feasible personal protective equipment (PPE) and engineering controls, including all provisions required by the WPS, risks to workers still exceed EPA’s levels of concern. A 2008 study analyzing poisonings of pesticide workers between 1998 and 2005 concluded that in 30% of the cases of high levels of pesticide exposure, all labeling requirements, including those involving re-entry and PPE, had been followed — clearly demonstrating that the WPS and/or labeling requirements are inadequate.

Farm work is demanding and dangerous physical labor. As the scientific literature confirms, farmworkers, their families, and their communities face extraordinary risks from pesticide exposures. Pesticide application and drift result in dermal, inhalation, and oral exposures that are typically underestimated. A 2004 study detected agricultural pesticides in homes near to agricultural fields. According to a 2010 study, workers experience repeated exposures to the same pesticides, evidenced by multiple pesticides routinely detected in their bodies. As a result of cumulative long-term exposures, farmworkers and their children, who often also work on the farms, are at risk of developing serious chronic health problems such as cancer, neurological impairments, and Parkinson’s disease. Children, according to an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report (2012), face even greater health risks compared to adults when exposed to pesticides. For more information, read our factsheet, Children and Pesticides Don’t Mix.

Congress Should Improve Farmworker Protection in the Law. By leaving farmworker protection entirely under the pesticide law, Congress removed it from the oversight of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Congress should restore partial jurisdiction over the regulation of pesticide-related occupational hazards to OSHA to ensure better coordination between OSHA and EPA. Simultaneously, Congress should eliminate the small farms exemption from the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Congress should also increase OSHA and EPA appropriations to improve the agencies’ capacity to inspect more of the worksites they regulate, particularly given the Biden Administration’s clear focus on racial equity and justice.

Protections that are present in other environmental statutes are missing in FIFRA, and Congress should correct this oversight. It should appropriate funds for more monitoring and enforcement.

Don’t Forget to Choose Organic Food. Our food choices have a direct effect on those who, around the world, grow and harvest what we eat. This is why food labeled organic is the right choice. In addition to serious health questions linked to actual residues of toxic pesticides on the food we eat, our food buying decisions support or reject hazardous agricultural practices and the protection of farmworkers and farm families. See Beyond Pesticides’ guide to Eating with a Conscience to see how your food choices can protect farmworkers. In addition to choosing organic, it is important to consider food labels that create standards for farmworker safety and fairness.

Tell EPA, Congress, and your Governor (Mayor in DC) to protect farmworkers from pesticides. Choose organic. 

Letter to EPA Administrator

A recent report, Exposed and At Risk: Opportunities to Strengthen Enforcement of Pesticide Regulations for Farmworker Safety, by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School, in partnership with the nonprofit advocacy group, Farmworker Justice, again highlights the systemic racism of our country’s pesticide policies. Our nation depends on farmworkers, declared “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic, to feed us. Yet the occupational exposure to toxic pesticides by farmworkers is discounted by EPA, while study after study documents the disproportionate level of illness among farmworkers.

This acceptance of harm to farmworkers is embodied in national and state policies under the purview of EPA, Congress, and state agencies. Correcting the injustice requires a concerted effort at all levels. While I am encouraged to see the formation of EPA’s new Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights, the agency has a historical bias against preventive action to ensure the protection of those disproportionately poisoned by toxic chemicals. While critically important to clean up contaminated communities, EPA must stop the flow of toxic pesticides at the front end because of the disproportionate poisoning effects of use, handling, transportation, and disposal. We live in an age of practices and products that make toxic pesticides unnecessary and their use unconscionable. Yet, EPA insists on the acceptability of harm (which it calls risk), despite its failure to (i) recognize comorbidities and preexisting health conditions, (ii) consider a combination of multiple chemical exposure interactions, and (iii) cite extensive missing health outcomes information (e.g., on endocrine disruption) and a resulting high level of uncertainty. This combination amounts to systemic racism.

EPA’s Worker Protection Standards are inadequate to protect farmworkers. After several tries, the WPS still do not adequately protect farmworkers. These standards have been notoriously difficult to enforce and require no record keeping documenting whether the rules have been implemented and only minimal training—all of which can threaten farmworkers and their families.

In the past, EPA has admitted that even with maximum feasible personal protective equipment (PPE) and engineering controls, risks to workers still exceed EPA’s levels of concern. A 2008 study analyzing poisonings of pesticide workers concluded that in 30% of the cases of high levels of pesticide exposure, all labeling requirements, including those involving re-entry and PPE, had been followed — clearly demonstrating that the WPS and/or labeling requirements are inadequate.

Farm work is demanding and dangerous physical labor. As the scientific literature confirms, farmworkers, their families, and their communities face extraordinary risks from pesticide exposures. Pesticide application and drift result in dermal, inhalation, and oral exposures that are typically underestimated. As a result of cumulative long-term exposures, farmworkers and their children, who often also work on the farms, are at risk of developing serious chronic health problems such as cancer, neurological impairments, and Parkinson’s disease. Children, according to an American Academy of Pediatrics report (2012), face even greater health risks compared to adults when exposed to pesticides.

Please implement strong Worker Protection Standards and reverse the weakening changes of the Trump administration. More fundamentally, EPA must base its pesticide risk assessments on the dangers to the most vulnerable people—farmworkers and their families. EPA must reverse its policy and require that risk assessments adopt a standard that protects farmworkers. Penalties for violations of the WPS should be increased to reflect the grave harm caused to human health and safety. Higher penalties are crucial to create a deterrent effect.

Thank you.

Letter to U.S. Senators and Representative

A recent report, Exposed and At Risk: Opportunities to Strengthen Enforcement of Pesticide Regulations for Farmworker Safety, by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School, in partnership with the nonprofit advocacy group, Farmworker Justice, again highlights the systemic racism of our country’s pesticide policies. Our nation depends on farmworkers, declared “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic, for ensuring that we are kept well-fed. Yet the occupational exposure to toxic pesticides by farmworkers is discounted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while study after study documents the disproportionate level of illness among farmworkers.

This acceptance of harm to farmworkers is embodied in national and state policies under the purview of EPA, Congress, and state agencies. Correcting the injustice requires a concerted effort at all levels. By leaving farmworker protection entirely under the pesticide law, Congress removed it from the oversight of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Congress should restore partial jurisdiction over the regulation of pesticide-related occupational hazards to OSHA to ensure better coordination between OSHA and EPA. Simultaneously, Congress should eliminate the small farms exemption from the OSH Act. Congress should also increase OSHA and EPA appropriations to improve the agencies’ capacity to inspect more of the worksites they regulate, particularly given the Biden Administration’s clear focus on racial equity and justice.

Protections that are present in other environmental statutes are missing in FIFRA, and Congress should correct this oversight. This could include consideration of a private right of action, a greater ability for EPA to address states’ nonattainment of minimum standards, and other measures to strengthen states’ incentives to remain in compliance.

While I am encouraged to see the formation of EPA’s new Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights, the agency has a historical bias against preventive action to ensure the protection of those disproportionately poisoned by toxic chemicals. While critically important to clean up contaminated communities, EPA must stop the flow of toxic pesticides at the front end because of the disproportionate poisoning effects of use, handling, transportation, and disposal. We live in an age of practices and products that make toxic pesticides unnecessary and their use unconscionable. Yet, EPA insists on the acceptability of harm (which it calls risk), despite its failure to (i) recognize comorbidities and preexisting health conditions, (ii) consider a combination of multiple chemical exposure interactions, and (iii) cite extensive missing health outcomes information (e.g., on endocrine disruption) and a resulting high level of uncertainty.

Congress should grant EPA greater authority to respond to states failing to meet enforcement goals, including the authority to impose sanctions related to the agriculture industry. Congress can look to other environmental statutes, such as the CAA, where it has given EPA the authority to impose sanctions for noncompliance in the interest of public health.

Congress should appropriate more funds to NIOSH’s SENSOR program to support states in consistently reporting data on acute pesticide-related illness and to expand the number of states in the program.

Thank you for taking action to protect farmworkers.

 Letter to Governor

A recent report, Exposed and At Risk: Opportunities to Strengthen Enforcement of Pesticide Regulations for Farmworker Safety, by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School, in partnership with the nonprofit advocacy group, Farmworker Justice, again highlights the systemic racism of our country’s pesticide policies. Our nation depends on farmworkers, declared “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic, for ensuring that we are kept well-fed. Yet the occupational exposure to toxic pesticides by farmworkers is discounted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while study after study documents the disproportionate level of illness among farmworkers.

This acceptance of harm to farmworkers is embodied in national and state policies under the purview of EPA, Congress, and state agencies. Correcting the injustice requires a concerted effort at all levels. While I am encouraged to see the formation of EPA’s new Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights, the agency has a historical bias against preventive action to ensure the protection of those disproportionately poisoned by toxic chemicals. While critically important to clean up contaminated communities, EPA must stop the flow of toxic pesticides at the front end because of the disproportionate poisoning effects of use, handling, transportation, and disposal. We live in an age of practices and products that make toxic pesticides unnecessary and their use unconscionable. Yet, EPA insists on the acceptability of harm (which it calls risk), despite its failure to (i) recognize comorbidities and preexisting health conditions, (ii) consider a combination of multiple chemical exposure interactions, and (iii) cite extensive missing health outcomes information (e.g., on endocrine disruption) and a resulting high level of uncertainty.

As Governor of our state, please commit to reducing the influence of industry over pesticide regulation. At a minimum, prohibit enforcement officials from being involved in sale, manufacture, or distribution of pesticides, as California has done.

Please implement a neighbor notification system to reduce the incidence of exposure caused by pesticide drift.

Mandatory reporting requirements, both for pesticide use and for incidents of pesticide exposure, would offer protection to both farmworkers and the general public. The state department of health should more authority to conduct inspections and investigations of suspected pesticide exposure incidents, independent of the state’s designated lead agency.

Penalties for violations of the WPS (or state-equivalent regulations) should be increased to reflect the grave harm caused to human health and safety. Higher penalties are crucial to create a deterrent effect.

Thank you.

(Beyond Pesticides. October 14, 2022) A team of researchers has taken on the challenge of integrating data from multiple and disparate sources in order to devise tools with which scientists can evaluate pollinator pesticide exposures and impacts more effectively at “landscape scale” (and at real-life exposure levels). Accessing data that are useful and relevant at this landscape level has been a significant problem for researchers and conservationists. This “zoomed out” view is critical because pollinators are highly mobile across thousands of meters of foraging area. A functional understanding of the risks pollinators encounter in their territories requires integrated data at this level, as opposed to the large geographic areas across which pesticide use is typically tracked. The team’s paper on their work — Putting pesticides on the map for pollinator research and conservation — was published in Nature.com in mid-September.

Pollinators are essential to healthy ecosystems and to a third of human food sources, as well as to plants used for commercial seed production. As the authors note, nearly 90% of flowering plant species benefit from the services of pollinators that help plants set their seeds and produce flowers and fruit (this last term includes foods widely considered to be “vegetables,” but which are the product of pollination). But for years, pollinators and insects broadly have been in dramatic decline, making worse the biodiversity crisis we face globally.

Pesticides are a chief driver of pollinator decline, along with habitat fragmentation and loss caused by human development and encroachment; these drivers are, according to the study authors, most documented for honey bees (including managed colonies), wild bees, and butterflies. The loss of appropriate habitat reduces food and nesting resources for these populations, and pesticide exposures can outright kill pollinators or lead to behavioral, immunological, and/or reproductive impacts. In addition, herbicide use can mitigate against pollinator health by reducing their plant food sources. Neonicotinoid and organophosphate insecticides are among the worst pesticides for these and other insect populations — and are commonly used; see here and here.

The coauthors explain their mission: “Scientists’ and conservationists’ ability to [evaluate pollinator decline] has been limited by a lack of accessible data on pesticide use at relevant spatial scales and in toxicological units meaningful to pollinators. Here, we synthesize information from several large, publicly available datasets on pesticide use patterns, land use, and toxicity to generate novel datasets describing pesticide use by active ingredient . . . and aggregate insecticide load . . . for state–crop combinations in the contiguous U.S. Furthermore, by linking pesticide datasets with land-use data, we describe a method to map pesticide indicators at spatial scales relevant to pollinator research and conservation.”

The datasets they have created include these, for 10 major crops (or crop groups) in each of the 48 contiguous U.S. states.

• average application rate of more than 500 common pesticide active ingredients (1997–2017)
• aggregate bee toxic load (honey bee lethal doses) of all insecticides combined (1997–2014); note that this dataset ends in 2014 because after that year, data on seed-applied pesticides were excluded, and these contribute significantly to bee toxic load
• reclassification tables relating these pesticide-use indicators to land use/land cover classes, enabling the creation of maps predicting annual pesticide loading (at 30–56 m resolution)

According to the study paper, researchers have heretofore generated useful models for predicting pollinator abundance and ecosystem services as a function of the landscape, especially for wild and honey bees, and monarch butterflies. But the subject researchers assert that these models could be vastly improved by integrating into them metrics on patterns of pesticide use, in the geographic areas under consideration, at landscape scale.

The team identifies several hurdles encountered in their work: (1) U.S. data on pesticide use, land use, and pesticide toxicity are spread across “disparate government databases, each with idiosyncratic nomenclature and organization”; (2) available pesticide use data are reported as averages at primarily county, state, or national scales, whereas data on pollinator populations are structured at smaller scales, e.g., hundreds or thousands of meters (for foraging ranges); and (3) because there are hundreds of commonly used active pesticide ingredients, the available data do not generally capture the relevant toxicity “doses” to which pollinators are exposed; translating pesticide use data into relevant “units of toxicity” would help researchers evaluate aggregate/cumulative and synergistic impacts.

The researchers tackle these obstacles, and created datasets and methods that allow mapping of pesticide use estimates to extant land use data. They recommend “matching state-level, crop- and year-specific pesticide use averages to land use estimated through remote sensing.” Through these methods, they say, it is “possible to generate maps of predicted bee toxic load and individual active ingredients at 30 m resolution, a finer spatial grain than reported in our county-level analysis, and one more suited to landscape research on pollinator populations and communities. . . . Moreover, while this work is motivated primarily by the effects of pesticides on pollinators, the estimates and mapping method we describe have potential application in a wide array of settings ranging from water quality monitoring to human epidemiology.”

The researchers note that their focus on bee toxic insecticides was largely because (1) the quality of available data on insecticides is both higher and more consistent than that for herbicides and fungicides; (2) insecticides have greater acute toxicity than the other two categories (“insecticides account for > 95% of bee toxic load nationally, even when herbicides and fungicides are included, and even though insecticides make up only 6.5% of pesticides applied on a weight basis”); and (3) focusing metrics on insecticides “increases their interpretability, reflecting efforts directed toward insect pest management, rather than a mix of insect, weed, and fungal pest management.”

To support other researchers and conservationists (and other interested parties) in exploring insecticide use patterns, the team created an interactive website: https://insecticideexplorer.shinyapps.io/insecticideexplorer/. It allows users to generate graphs showing trends in national and state-level insecticide use, and to download reclassification tables for bee toxic load for particular state–year combinations.

This research team tackled a troublesome byproduct of how pesticide use is evaluated — the “siloing” of information, which relates to how science “works.” For all the utility of the scientific norm of isolating variables, there is also great risk in making this the sole means of scientific inquiry. Traditionally, scientists break down phenomena into constituent parts, and look for mechanistic, linear causality. But the work of both Rachel Carson (on pesticide impacts) and Theo Colborn (on endocrine disruption and later, the dangers of fracking), for example, demonstrates that this “narrowed field” lens is not adequate to the systemic and highly interactive problems of our globalized, technological, and chemically saturated world. This is eminently so for attempts to understand the multiplicity of factors, among which pesticide use looms large, that attend the dramatic decline in pollinator populations and health, and the broader and global “insect apocalypse.”

Beyond Pesticides has long worked toward adoption of more holistic and precautionary approaches to evaluating and regulating pesticides. Beyond our clamor for more-comprehensive risk assessment and more-protective regulation stands the genuine solution for which we advocate: “eschewing pesticide use, and focusing on soil health, diversification, and sustainable practices — [essentially,] organic and regenerative farming and land management” practices that can help reverse the decline of pollinator health and populations. The public can contribute to this effort by purchasing organic whenever possible (whether at the supermarket or, even better, from local farms and CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] programs), planting diverse, pesticide-free habitat on your property, and encouraging local communities to follow suit.

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-022-01584-z

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

(Beyond Pesticides, October 13, 2022) Offspring’s exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) preceding and proceeding birth (perinatal) induces liver damage. A study published in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology demonstrates the role excess iron in the body from GBH exposure plays in liver toxicity via an increased uptake of calcium and oxidative stress. The liver, the largest solid organ in the human body, is an essential part of the digestive system, responsible for blood detoxification, nutrient metabolization, and immune function regulation. The rates of chronic liver diseases are increasing, representing the second leading cause of mortality among all digestive diseases in the U.S.

Because GBHs are ubiquitous in many herbicide products, studies report that these toxic chemical compounds are detectable in infants, children, and pregnant women. Children are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of pesticide exposure as their developing bodies cannot adequately combat exposure effects. Although studies show how chemical exposures affect overall human health, more research is now questioning how these toxic chemicals influence digestive health and the subsequent occurrence of diseases. Therefore, it is essential to understand how harmful chemical exposure impacts health and well-being during critical developmental periods. The study notes, “[T]he possible role played by perinatal exposure to GBH on the onset of adverse outcomes later in life show an urgent need for research to understand the impact of early life exposure to this herbicide to ensure well-being across life stages.”

The perinatal period is one of the more susceptible timeframes for adverse health effects among infants from environmental exposure. However, the consequences of perinatal exposure to GBH in children’s health outcomes lack complete understanding. To access how GBH exposure impacts offspring, researchers exposed pregnant Wistar rats to relevant doses of glyphosate in drinking water during the perinatal period, day five of gestation day until day 15 postpartum. During this period, GBH exposure increased calcium influx and iron accumulation in the offspring’s liver, resulting in oxidative stress and inflammation. The imbalance in calcium and iron depletes and alters the glutathione (GSH) enzyme responsible for the antioxidant defense against xenobiotics (e.g., external chemicals, drugs, pesticides, carcinogens) for detoxification by making these compounds more soluble. Moreover, excess iron levels present a biomarker for liver injury as excessive amounts of iron may increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), activating inflammatory enzyme pathways. 

Glyphosate is the most commonly used active ingredient worldwide, appearing in many herbicide formulations and readily contaminating soil, water, food, and other resources. Decades of extensive glyphosate herbicide use (e.g., Roundup) have put human, animal, and environmental health at risk. Four out of five U.S. individuals over six years have detectable levels of glyphosate in their bodies. Exposure to glyphosate has implications for the development of various health anomalies, including cancer, Parkinson’s disease, developmental and birth disorders, and autism. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies glyphosate herbicides as “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans,” stark evidence demonstrates links to various cancers, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma. EPA’s classification perpetuates adverse impacts, especially among vulnerable individuals, like pregnant women, infants, children, and the elderly. Glyphosate’s ubiquity threatens 93 percent of all U.S. endangered species, resulting in biodiversity loss and ecosystem disruption (e.g., soil erosion, loss of services, and trophic cascades). Moreover, chemical use has been increasing since the inception of crops genetically modified to tolerate glyphosate. Not only do health officials warn that continuous use of glyphosate will perpetuate adverse health and ecological effects, but that use also highlights recent concerns over antibiotic resistance. This increase in resistance is evident among herbicide-tolerant GE crops, including seeds genetically engineered to be glyphosate-tolerant.

This study demonstrates the role of iron accumulation in the liver, blood, and bone marrow plays in oxidative damage and inflammation, and the association with calcium influx. Therefore, the results of this study and others like it will clarify the mechanism ultimately involved in chemical-medicated liver dysfunction and associated diseases. Regarding glyphosate, past studies find links between chemical exposure and liver impacts. A 2015 study found that chronically exposing rats to ultra-low doses of glyphosate in drinking water results in tissue and organ damage, including changes to gene expression within the liver and kidneys. And a 2017 study, which also fed minuscule doses of glyphosate weed killer to rats, found an increased likelihood that exposed animals would develop non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Like this study, research suggests glyphosate exposure increases proinflammatory cytokine proteins in the blood, especially TNFα. Excessive iron accumulation in the body augments ROS availability and subsequent activation of proinflammatory enzymes in response. The overexpression of these proinflammatory proteins has associations with cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, and other diseases. 

Therefore, the study concludes, “The GBH-induced oxidative stress in rat liver is associated with iron accumulation and may induce early epigenetic changes that could lead to adverse outcomes later in life. […] Therefore, we suggest that the neurotoxic effects of glyphosate previously reported by us may be connected to the iron accumulation demonstrated in the present study. However, whether iron accumulation and developmental neurotoxicity after GBH exposure are linked needs to be further evaluated.”

Beyond Pesticides challenges the registration of chemicals like glyphosate in court due to their impacts on soil, air, water, and our health. While legal battles press on, the agricultural system should eliminate the use of toxic synthetic herbicides to avoid the myriad of problems they cause. Chemical exposures have real, tangible impacts not only on individuals but on society as a whole. Pesticides impose unnecessary hazards on children’s health. Early life exposures during “critical windows of vulnerability” can predict the likelihood or otherwise increase the chances of an individual encountering a range of pernicious diseases. Environmental disease in children costs an estimated $76.8 billion annually. Exposures that harm learning and development also impact future economic growth in the form of lost brain power, racking up a debt to society in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Therefore, it is essential to mitigate preventable exposure to disease-inducing pesticides. For more information about pesticides’ effects on human and animal health, see Beyond Pesticides’ Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database, including pages on immune system disorders (e.g., hepatitis [liver condition]), birth abnormalities, brain, and nervous system disorders, and more.

One way to reduce human and environmental contamination from pesticides is to buy, grow, and support organic. Numerous studies show that switching to an organic diet can rapidly and drastically reduce the levels of synthetic pesticides in one’s body. A 2020 study found a one-week switch to an organic diet reduced an individual’s glyphosate body burden by 70%. Furthermore, given the wide availability of non-pesticidal alternative strategies, these methods can promote a safe and healthy environment, especially among chemically vulnerable individuals or those with health conditions. For more information on why organic is the right choice for consumers and the farmworkers that grow our food, see the Beyond Pesticides webpage, Health Benefits of Organic Agriculture.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology

(Beyond Pesticides, October 12, 2022) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is asking a federal court for permission to go back and reconsider its decision to reapprove use of the highly hazardous herbicide paraquat, according to a filing submitted by the agency late last month. Advocates see the move as encouraging, since meaningful EPA action on this Parkinson’s-linked chemical is long overdue. Last year, advocates condemned the Biden Administration for its reapproval of the weed killer with fewer protections than those proposed by the Trump Administration, marking a deeply concerning sign for pesticide reform campaigners looking to the administration for positive change.

EPA’s request is the result of a legal challenge brought by the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Earthjustice, Farmworker Association of Florida, Pesticide Action Network, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.  The groups argued that the agency’s decision to reregister paraquat was not legal based on substantial evidence that the chemical poses unreasonable risks to human health and the environment.

While EPA made its initial decision to reapprove paraquat in the late days of the Trump Administration, it was under the Biden Administration that the agency reversed a proposed ban on aerial use, permitting broad-scale spraying of this dangerous chemical. According to reporting from EENews, the agency used information provided by an industry umbrella group dubbed the Agricultural Handler Exposure Task Force, a consortium of chemical companies that includes BASF, Bayer Monsanto, Corteva, FMC, and Syngenta/ChemChina, the primary producer of paraquat. Data produced by this cabal of chemical companies appeared to show that EPA miscalculated risks to workers, and as a result, aerial spray campaigns must be permitted. EPA’s decision to accept industry positions stands in sharp contrast to its interaction with farmworker, health, and environmental campaigners. Over 50 groups signed on to oppose the reregistration of paraquat, but were provided no substantive response from the agency.

Paraquat is the most dangerous herbicide still on the market. As the agency readily admits, “One small sip [of paraquat] can be fatal, and there is no antidote.” In addition to its high acute toxicity, it also presents a range of chronic concerns, including cancer, damage to the reproductive system and organs like the kidney and liver. It also poses hazards to birds and bees, and is prone to leaching into groundwater, where it disrupts the stability of aquatic ecosystems.

Standing out among the wide range of impacts that make clear this chemical poses unreasonable risks are its neurotoxic effects. Inhalation of low doses can disrupt one’s sense of smell, and past research has found the chemical can cause damage to the lungs of farmers who apply it. Data is increasingly showing that cumulative exposures over one’s life increases risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, and other factors such as genetics, and exposure to other chemicals further elevates the threat. Recent studies have even found that one’s zip code and proximity to paraquat’s use in farm field is likely playing a role in an individual’s Parkinson’s Disease risk. Strong links to this chronic condition are incredibly concerning given emerging evidence of a Parkinson’s pandemic, predicting that rates of the disease will double between now and 2040.

In addition to health and environmental risks from the use of paraquat are growing legal troubles for its primary manufacturer Syngenta, a Switzerland based company that was purchased by the Chinese National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) in 2016. Mounting lawsuits against Syngenta/ChemChina were consolidated and are set to begin jury trials next year for farmworkers and other individuals who worked with paraquat and are now suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Plaintiffs in the suit claim “that manufacturers and sellers of paraquat deliberately concealed the dangers of paraquat for at least four decades, hid evidence of its dangers from government safety agencies, and knowingly unleased a product they knew caused Parkinson’s Disease on the public.”

Advocates are uncertain how far EPA will go in restricting paraquat, and underline that more public pressure is needed for EPA to act meaningfully. Other recent decisions by the agency on dangerous herbicides dicamba and glyphosate are not cause for much hope. After acknowledging a range of problems with dicamba formulations registered for genetically engineered crops, including an Office of Inspector General Report, a court case that noted the chemical “would tear the social fabric of farming communities” and completely vacated the registration, and a mea culpa from EPA’s acting assistant administrator that “political interference sometimes compromised the integrity of our science,” EPA went ahead and reregistered dicamba formulations with very few additional restrictions. On glyphosate, despite a range of high profile lawsuits, and strong links to cancer, the agency waited for a federal court to void its registration.

Perhaps EPA is trying to get ahead of the curve with paraquat. Rather than wait for a court decision and completely fail to hit mandated deadlines as the agency has done with glyphosate, EPA is requesting the ability to review paraquat at its leisure, with no deadline for a decision. Yet, experience with the agency shows that remanding “without vacatur” – (i.e., without removing paraquat from commerce) permits pesticide manufacturers to continue to sell their products without any new, protective regulatory measures.

It is not acceptable to need to use the court system to force EPA to conduct the work it should always be doing to protect health and the environment. For too long, agrichemical companies have driven EPA to make decisions at the behest of their overpaid executives over the health and well-being of the general public. Join us in urging the Biden EPA to stand up to pesticide manufacturers by holding them accountable for the dangers associated with their products.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Ninth Circuit Court Filing, AboutLawsuits.com.

(Beyond Pesticides, October 11, 2022) Without continuously improving organic standards and certification, advocates maintain that there is no holistic way to combat the existential crises associated with petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers—the multiple and growing health threats, biodiversity collapse, and the climate emergency. Have you been confused at the egg case in your grocery store where egg carton labels proclaim “cage-free,” “free-range,” and “pasture raised” organic eggs? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting comments on proposed regulations to protect the welfare of livestock and poultry on organic farms. The Organic Livestock and Poultry Standard (OLPS) is a slightly revised version of the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices (OLPP) rule, which was promulgated after many delays in January 2017, then withdrew the rule before it became effective.

USDA acknowledges that a failure to act on OLPS undermines the organic market, saying “a market failure exists in the organic label,” and the intent of new standard is to “clarify and ensure consistent application of the USDA organic standards.” The inconsistent application of organic standards by certifiers has resulted in a plethora of add-on labels that ensure that organic livestock and poultry production meet the expectations of organic consumers.

However, the proposed OLPS lacks the specificity to meet the stated intention and if implemented, will allow the inconsistencies among certifiers to continue. In order to protect the meaning of the organic label, a few changes are needed. Since these changes are consistent with the stated intentions of USDA, they should not cause delay in implementing the OLPS. Please tell USDA to make the changes listed below.

This action requires a submission at Regulations.gov. Members of the public can copy and paste from Beyond Pesticides’ suggested comment below.

Suggested Public Comment

The proposed OLPS lacks the specificity to meet USDA’s stated intention and if implemented, will the inconsistencies among organic certifiers to continue. In order to protect the meaning of the organic label, a few changes are needed. Since these changes are consistent with the stated intentions of USDA, they should not cause delay in implementing the OLPS. Please make the following changes.

*Do not allow current producers to continue practices inconsistent with the proposed rule for 5-15 years. Three years is adequate for existing operations to provide the outdoor access required in the regulation.

*Define “outdoors” to be soil-based with maximal vegetative cover appropriate for the season, climate, geography, species of livestock, and stage of production.

*Define “access to the outdoors” for poultry to be “having sufficient exit areas that are appropriately distributed to ensure that all birds have ready access to outdoors no more than 10 feet from the house; exit areas for birds to get outside must be designed so that more than one bird at a time can get through the opening and to have a combined length of at least 12 ft per 1,000 ft² area of the house available to the birds.”

*Do not permit estimates of stocking rates to be based on expected mortality.

*Require that artificial light supplement rather than substitute for natural light. Adopt OLPP provision that required an inspector to be able to read and write with lights turned off on a sunny day. Do not allow any birds to be raised in darkness.

*Remove the provision that allows confinement in inclement weather, including when air temperatures are under 40 degrees F or above 90 degrees F. This loophole could allow confinement for as much as half the year. The provision for confinement in “conditions under which the health, safety, or well-being of the animal could be jeopardized” is sufficient and puts the onus on the producer to demonstrate ill effects of outdoor access, and birds can judge whether they want to go outside in “inclement” weather.

*Monitoring for ammonia levels in poultry houses must be performed frequently—automated continuous monitoring is possible in large houses—and must measure ammonia at the height at which the birds are breathing.

To compromise on the above foundational issues is to undermine public trust in the organic label and the growth of the organic sector. A failure to protect public trust in the USDA organic label for livestock and poultry is to a failure for all of organic and threatens the progress being made in the organic marketplace.

Thank you.

(Beyond Pesticides, October 10, 2022) The National Museum of the American Indian, a part of the Smithsonian Institution, sits on the National Mall in Washington, DC and as a part of its history program is commemorating Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 10. This year, President Biden, while commemorating Columbus Day, issued the second Presidential Proclamation on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The National Museum of the American Indian marks the day with an effort to teach the true history of the United States. This history is introduced on the Museum’s website with the following:

Unlearning Columbus Day Myths: Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day
“Many students learn the phrase, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. But Columbus was not the first foreign explorer to land in the Americas. Neither he nor those that came before him discovered America—because Indigenous Peoples have populated the Western Hemisphere for tens of thousands of years. European contact resulted in devastating loss of life, disruption of tradition, and enormous loss of lands for Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. It is estimated that in the 130 years following first contact, Native America lost 95 percent of its population.”

“Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere immediately experienced enslavement and theft of resources by the explorers turned settlers. Colonies created by the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and English grew throughout the Americas and increasingly encroached upon Native lives and lands. Warfare, enslavement, and forced relocation disrupted and altered the lives of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. Celebrating Columbus and other explorers like him dismisses the devastating losses experienced by Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere in the past and the ongoing effects of colonialism today.”

“Indigenous Peoples are still here. Contemporary Native Americans have led numerous movements to advocate for their own rights. Native people continue to fight to maintain the integrity and viability of Indigenous societies. American Indian history is one of cultural persistence, creative adaptation, renewal, and resilience. Native Peoples, students, and allies are responsible for official celebrations of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in such states as Maine, Oregon, Louisiana, New Mexico, Iowa, and Washington, DC. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated on the second Monday of October and recognizes the resilience and diversity of Indigenous Peoples in the United States.”

“We promote including Indigenous perspectives, like those of the Taíno Peoples, to provide a more complete narrative when teaching about Columbus. We encourage students to advocate for Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a replacement for Columbus Day in their school, city, state, and beyond.”

Fenway Community Health Center on Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Fenway Community Health Center in Boston, Massachusetts eliminated Columbus Day as an organizational holiday, replacing it with a floating holiday that individual staff can use for a religious or cultural observance/occasion or other purpose of their choosing. This step was taken in August 2020 as part of its broad organizational commitment to “racial equity in everything we do and to work to undo disparities and inequities that exist. Fenway Health explains that its mission “advocates for and delivers innovative, equitable, accessible health care, supportive services, and transformative research and education. It also centers LGBTQIA+ people, BIPOC [Black, indigenous, People of Color] individuals, and other underserved communities to enable our local, national, and global neighbors to flourish.” As Fenway Health says, “This day is a time to honor and celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of Native American people in the United States. It is also a time to acknowledge and reflect upon the grave mistreatment of Indigenous people throughout U.S. history.”

A Proclamation on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, 2022, The White House

When the first presidential proclamation on Indigenous Peoples’ Day was issued in 2021 (see 2022 Proclamation below), it said, “For generations, Federal policies systematically sought to assimilate and displace Native people and eradicate Native cultures. Today, we recognize Indigenous peoples’ resilience and strength as well as the immeasurable positive impact that they have made on every aspect of American society. We also recommit to supporting a new, brighter future of promise and equity for Tribal Nations — a future grounded in Tribal sovereignty and respect for the human rights of Indigenous people in the Americas and around the world.”

2022 Presidential Proclamation
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the sovereignty, resilience, and immense contributions that Native Americans have made to the world; and we recommit to upholding our solemn trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal Nations, strengthening our Nation-to-Nation ties.

For centuries, Indigenous Peoples were forcibly removed from ancestral lands, displaced, assimilated, and banned from worshiping or performing many sacred ceremonies.  Yet today, they remain some of our greatest environmental stewards.  They maintain strong religious beliefs that still feed the soul of our Nation.  And they have chosen to serve in the United States Armed Forces at a higher rate than any other group.  Native peoples challenge us to confront our past and do better, and their contributions to scholarship, law, the arts, public service, and more continue to guide us forward.

I learned long ago that Tribal Nations do better when they make their own decisions.  That is why my Administration has made respect for Tribal sovereignty and meaningful consultation with Tribal Nations the cornerstone of our engagement and why I was proud to restore the White House Council on Native American Affairs.  To elevate Indigenous voices across our Government, I appointed Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior, the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary, along with more than 50 other Native Americans now in significant roles across the executive branch.

My Administration is also directly delivering for Native communities — creating jobs, providing critical services, and restoring and preserving sacred Tribal lands.  We have made the biggest investment in Indian Country in history, securing billions for pandemic recovery, infrastructural improvements, and climate change resilience, and we are working together with Tribal Nations to end the scourge of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

These efforts are a matter of dignity, justice, and good faith.  But we have more to do to help lift Tribal communities from the shadow of our broken promises, to protect their right to vote, and to help them access other opportunities that their ancestors were long denied.  On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we celebrate indigenous history and our new beginning together, honoring Native Americans for shaping the contours of this country since time immemorial.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 10, 2022, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.  I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.  I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of our diverse history and the Indigenous peoples who contribute to shaping this Nation. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-seventh.

(Beyond Pesticides, October 7, 2022) Pyrethroid insecticides are associated with the growing worldwide epidemic of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition that causes swelling of the liver and can eventually lead to cirrhosis, cancer, or liver failure. According to research published in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, exposure to pyrethroids like bifenthrin can induce gut microbiota dysbiosis (an imbalance in microorganisms in the intestines). This dysbiosis results in abnormal lipid (fat) metabolism and subsequent accumulation of lipids in liver cells, contributing to NAFLD development. Gut microbiota plays a crucial role in lifelong digestion, immune and central nervous system regulation, as well as other bodily functions. Through the gut biome, pesticide exposure can enhance or exacerbate the adverse effects of additional environmental toxicants on the body. Since the gut microbiome shapes metabolism, it can mediate some toxic effects of environmental chemicals. However, with prolonged exposure to various environmental contaminants, critical chemical-induced changes may occur in the gut microbes, influencing adverse health outcomes. Considering NAFLD is becoming the most prevalent form of liver disease, impacting at least 25 percent of the globe, and a growing body of evidence demonstrates the significance gut microbiota play in overall health, safety analyses that currently do not consider the scientific findings disclosed in this research are viewed as dramatically insufficient.

To examine the impact pyrethroids have on NAFLD development, the researchers exposed adult African clawed frogs from Wisconsin, U.S., to environmentally relevant concentrations of the pyrethroid cis-bifenthrin. Following the American Society for Testing and Materials for human-animal testing guidelines, researchers analyzed the disruption of gut microbial communities in species after chemical exposure, noting the prevalence of specific microbial species. Evaluation of chemical processes involving metabolites (metabolomics) demonstrates bifenthrin exposure has an association with changes in intestinal metabolites involved in lipid absorption and microbial community. Exposure also altered the regulation of lipids in the liver and the accumulation of fat droplets in hepatocytes (liver cells). Specific changes in the metabolic byproduct of gut microbiota, deoxycholic acid, alter bile acid circulation, affecting fat metabolism in the liver and ultimately causing the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. 

The gut, also known as the “second brain,” shares similar structural and chemical parallels with the brain. Microbiota (i.e., groups of microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and fungi) in the gut play a crucial role in lifelong digestion, detoxification, immune and central nervous system regulation, and other bodily functions. Through the gut biome, pesticide exposure can enhance or exacerbate the adverse effects of additional environmental toxicants on the body. Since the gut microbiome shapes metabolism, it can mediate some toxic effects of environmental chemicals. However, prolonged exposure to various environmental contaminants induces a change in gut microbes, influencing adverse health outcomes. The impacts of pesticides on the human gut microbiome represent another pesticide assault on human health as the biome harbors between 10 and 100 trillion symbiotic microbes. The human gastrointestinal tract and its digestive processes (the “gut”) mediate the function of several systems. Dysfunction of the gut microbiome is associated with a host of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, some cancers, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, asthma, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as allergies, autism, depression, obesity, and other disorders or syndromes.

Although this study is one of the first to find a relationship between NAFLD development and pyrethroid-mediated gut dysbiosis, pyrethroids are not the only chemicals associated with NAFLD development. Obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and elevated liver enzyme resulting from endocrine disruption have an association with NAFLD, which can lead to liver cirrhosis. Many of these endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) include not only pyrethroids but organochlorines like chlordane, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and pesticides with antibiotic properties like glyphosate. For instance, researchers attribute endocrine-induced liver injury and liver cell death during childhood to the growing epidemic of pediatric NAFLD. Mixtures of various EDCs can induce synergism that may increase pesticide toxicity or result in changes to its characteristics, like the ability to permeate the body and ecosystem. Regarding glyphosate, past studies find links between chemical exposure and liver impacts. A 2015 study found that chronically exposing rats to ultra-low doses of glyphosate in drinking water results in tissue and organ damage, including changes to gene expression within the liver and kidneys. And a 2017 study, which also fed minuscule doses of glyphosate weed killer to rats, found an increased likelihood that exposed animals would develop NAFLD.

Exposure to pesticides can have a similar impact on soil microbiota as they do on gut microbes. Soil microbiota is essential for the functionality of the soil ecosystem. Toxic chemicals damage the soil microbiota by decreasing and altering microbial biomass and soil microbiome composition (diversity). Considering pesticides work similarly on microbial communities both inside (gut) and outside (soil) the body, their biological response to xenobiotics (foreign contaminants in the body or ecosystem) is worthy of further discussion. The study concludes, “Our results indicated the crucial role of gut microbiota in the host response to environmental toxicants. In particular, the interplay between gut microbes and xenobiotics may promote the unexpected development of toxicity, which is generally overlooked due to the lack of information on the direct-action sites of xenobiotic compounds in organisms. Collectively, our results highlight the potential implication of intestinal microbiota dysbiosis on pesticide exposure-induced chronic diseases related to liver metabolic syndrome, which unveils the unexpected ecological risks from the widely applied pesticides.”

Pesticides themselves can possess the ability to disrupt metabolic function, especially for chronically exposed individuals (e.g., farmworkers) or during critical windows of vulnerability and development (e.g., childhood, pregnancy). Health officials estimate about 100 million individuals in the U.S. have NAFLD, with NAFLD being the most common liver disease among children. Cases of NAFLD have doubled over the past 20 years. Therefore, it is essential to mitigate preventable exposure to disease-inducing pesticides. For more information about pesticides’ effects on human and animal health, see Beyond Pesticides’ Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database, including pages on diabetes, immune system disorders (e.g., hepatitis [liver condition], endocrine disruption, and more.

One important way to reduce human and environmental contamination from pesticides is to buy, grow, and support organic. Numerous studies find that levels of pesticides in urine significantly drop when switching to an all-organic diet. Furthermore, given the wide availability of non-pesticidal alternative strategies, families, from rural to urban, can apply these methods to promote a safe and healthy environment, especially among chemically vulnerable individuals or those with health conditions. For more information on why organic is the right choice for consumers and the farmworkers that grow our food, see the Beyond Pesticides webpage, Health Benefits of Organic Agriculture.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

(Beyond Pesticides, October 6, 2022) A new study finds alarmingly high levels of PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) “forever chemicals” in commonly used pesticides, calling into question assurances from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that contamination is limited to storage containers. For some pesticides, PFAS levels are nearly one billion times higher than the EPA’s recently updated Health Advisory for the PFAS chemical PFOS. “If the intent was to spread PFAS contamination across the globe there would be few more effective methods than lacing pesticides with PFAS,” said Kyla Bennett, PhD, of the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “These findings point to an appalling regulatory breakdown by EPA.”

A team of researchers based in Texas, including scientists from Texas Tech and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Cropping Systems Research Laboratory, participated in the study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters. Ten different formulated pesticide products were tested for 24 different PFAS substances. The pesticide products selected were determined based on unexpected PFAS contamination at USDA’s research facility. During the course of conducting a separate study on plant uptake of PFAS, detectable levels of PFAS were found in plants intended to be used as unexposed controls. Preliminary analysis determined that water, potting soil, and fertilizers on site did not contain PFAS, but soil, other research plants, and certain insecticides did.

Although the brand names of the pesticides tested were not provided, of the ten products, active ingredients of those found to contain PFAS include: abamectin, novaluron, mineral (petroleum) oil, imidacloprid, spiromesifen, and malathion. Those without PFAS detection include products with the active ingredients Beauveria bassiana, pyridalyl, spinosad, and spinetoram/sulfoxaflor.

The detection of any level of PFAS is cause for concern. The chemicals have been linked to cancer, liver damage, birth and developmental problems, reduced fertility, and asthma, among a range of other adverse health effects. As new drinking water health advisories issued by EPA show, PFAS levels as low as .02 parts per trillion (ppt) have the potential cause adverse health effects for public health.

The levels found in the tested insecticides are recorded to be as high as 19,200,000 parts per trillion in the spiromesifen product. The highest detection are found for the PFAS chemical PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), the same chemical used by the company 3M as part of its Stotchgard stain repellents. Reporting in the Intercept shows that the company suppressed information on the dangers of PFOS, resulting in widespread contamination and public health impacts to communities throughout the United States.

In addition to the disturbingly high levels of PFOS in the sprimesifen product, products containing two of the most widely used insecticides in the world also show high level detections. An imidacloprid (neonicotinoid) product was found to contain 13,300,000 ppt, while a malathion product contained 17,800,000 ppt.

While the study authors note that application levels are likely to be lower as the products tested were concentrates, levels found can still result in widespread contamination. As the study notes, “While the insecticides tested are commonly used on cotton, a non-consumptive agricultural product, PFAS are generally believed to not significantly degrade environmentally. Years of continuous use of PFAS and PFAS precursor-containing pesticides could lead to significant concentration of PFAS in the soil.”

In addition to remaining in the environment for the knowable future, a significant portion is likely to be taken up by crops grown where these insecticides were applied. According to researchers, “Future use of soils treated with PFAS contaminated pesticides for other crops or pesticide drift could lead to PFAS concentrations being found in crops used for human or animal consumption.” Researchers found that corn, beans, and peanuts grown on the USDA research site all contain PFOS at 3,230 ppt, 4,260 ppt, and 407 ppt, respectively.  

The products tested had all been in use for years, and may not represent current formulations, but it appears likely, if results are even somewhat similar for other pesticide products, that immense damage has already been done. These findings fly in the face of EPA’s recent determination that the primary source of PFAS pesticide contamination is coming from fluorinated HDPE (high density polyethylene) containers that store bulk pesticides. EPA’s testing measured PFAS at roughly 15 parts per billion, while the current detections are magnitudes higher.

At the same time as EPA released results on fluorinated containers, the agency announced it is eliminating a set of 12 inert ingredients that could be considered PFAS. While it is possible the formulations tested contained these inert ingredients, the data nonetheless point to a much wider problem.

“This research has alarming implications that demand immediate regulatory action: EPA must test all pesticides, and immediately ban the use of pesticides that contain PFAS,” said Dr. Bennett, arguing that EPA can no longer rely on voluntary manufacturer testing. “The level of absorption by plants suggests that a person could absorb a lifetime dose of PFAS from eating one salad made with produce treated with these pesticides.”

This news is yet another reason why local communities should not place their trust in EPA’s regulatory process to ensure safety for their residents and local environment. Join Beyond Pesticides in encouraging localities to move away from hazardous, contaminated pesticides and transition their public parks to organic land management practices. And for more background on the ongoing PFAS and pesticides saga, see Beyond Pesticides’ collection of PFAS articles.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters, PEER press release

Image Source: Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters

(Beyond Pesticides, October 5, 2022) Exposure to widely used synthetic pyrethroids, present in many mosquito adulticides and household insecticides like RAID, is associated with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, according to research published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research. This is the latest pesticide-induced disease associated with this dangerous class of chemicals – a harm to individual Americans that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not considering when it registers pesticides. To remedy the major deficiencies in EPA’s reviews, and protect residents from chronic disease, more and more communities are transitioning to safer, organic pest management practices that do not require pyrethroids and other toxic synthetic pesticides.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes systemic inflammation throughout the body, resulting in progressive damage to an individual’s joints. In the United States, roughly 1.3 million adults suffer from RA, accounting for nearly 1% of the adult population. Health care costs associated with the disease reach nearly $20 billion annually.

To better understand the etiology behind the disease, an international team of researchers from China, Illinois, and Missouri analyzed data from the 2007-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a long-running program that began in the early 1960s and has since become a continuous program focused on American health and nutrition measurements.

Exposure to synthetic pyrethroids was captured by analyzing levels of a metabolite called 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), a breakdown chemical that most synthetic pyrethroids form as they degrade. In their analysis, researchers include 4,384 individuals, including 278 RA patients that have been diagnosed with the disease.

Results generally find that higher levels of 3-PBA are associated with RA. A crude model that does not account for many confounders finds that when compared to individuals in the lowest quartile of pyrethroid exposure, those with high 3-PBA levels are associated with a 50% increased chance of having RA. However, after controlling for sex, race/ethnicity, education, body mass index, family poverty income, level of education, marital status, smoking status, alcohol usage, physical activity, hypertension, and urinary creatinine, this association lowers to a still concerning 23%. One of the most significant associations between urinary metabolites and RA is for individuals aged 40 to 59, who have an 82% increased risk of developing the disease.

“Taken together, our study suggested that pyrethroid pesticide exposure was positively associated with RA,” the study reads. “In addition, higher levels of pyrethroid exposure were linearly associated with increased prevalence of RA in adults.”

Synthetic pyrethroids are one of the most frequently detected chemicals in Americans’ bodies. Prior NHANES data shows that 78% of adults and 79% of children have some level of 3-PBA in their urine. These chemicals have increasingly come to replace organophosphate insecticides in homes, for mosquito management, in food production, and in local parks and playing fields. Often billed as “safe as chrysanthemum flowers,” they are less acutely toxic than organophosphates, but it is increasingly evident that they pose insidious chronic risks to health that are no less concerning than the hazardous pesticides that came before them.

In addition to the association with RA, research published in 2020 finds that synthetic pyrethroid exposure is associated with higher risks of death from all causes, and particularly cardiovascular disease. Yet, perhaps most concerning are impacts to children’s health. Multiple studies have been published linking synthetic pyrethroids to developmental problems in children. Most recently, a study published in Neurotoxicology finds that even infants with low levels of synthetic pyrethroid exposure at 6-8 months of age experience an association with increased risk of language development delays at age two. Additionally, a 2019 Danish study found that higher concentrations of pyrethroid insecticides correspond to higher rates of ADHD in children. In addition to motor skills and learning development, young boys exposed to synthetic pyrethroids are more likely to experience early onset of puberty.

Much of this exposure can occur from eating a diet laden with these toxic pesticides. However, those that switch from a conventional to organic diet can significantly reduce the amount of pesticide in their body, as evidenced by drastic drops in urinary 3-PBA after going organic. In fact, children that eat organic are more likely to score higher on cognitive tests than those that consistently eat conventional, pesticide-contaminated food.

Yet for many low-income and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities around the country, eating organic is not likely to limit all exposures. In public housing, synthetic pyrethroids are often used as bug sprays for common household pests that would not have been a problem if proper maintenance was kept up. Research finds that, after sprayed, synthetic pyrethroids can remain on surfaces for up to a year, representing a continuous source of re-exposure.

Synthetic pyrethroids are increasingly the first choice for mosquito management in many communities around the country. Just last week, New York City doused a number of neighborhoods throughout the city with the product Anvil 10+10, containing the synthetic pyrethroid sumithrin. Beyond Pesticides urged the NYC Department of Health to avoid the use of these adulticides. One reason noted in the letter is the risk to young children, pregnant mothers, and communities of color already exposed to disproportionate pesticide use. While a 2021 study found that disease carrying mosquitoes are found at higher rates in lower socioeconomic areas, a study published earlier this year found that children’s exposure to mosquito control operations was associated with significant increases in the risk of allergies and respiratory diseases. Put together, these data tell a story of low-income communities, and the children living there, being sprayed more often and placed at greater risk as a result of a lack of investment in maintenance and infrastructure that would prevent pest problems before they start.

While these risks are well-documented by independent scientific studies, a 2019 review of the available literature by EPA dismisses these concerns at the behest of an industry group dubbed the Pyrethroid Working Group. Rather than increased protections from synthetic pyrethroids, EPA in recent years has expanded their allowed uses, and the amounts applicators are allowed to apply, increasing exposure levels for everyday American and their children.

Communities aiming to address these environmental injustices are urged to consider a more holistic pest management approach – help residents find affordable organic food or grow their own, employ safer mosquito management, and take an organic pest management approach. For municipalities, schools, and homes, right now is the season to transition lawns and landscapes to organic. Take action today to urge your local leaders to bring these practices to your hometown.  

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research

(Beyond Pesticides, October 4, 2022) A study published in Environmental Pollution finds pyrethroid insecticides contribute to a secondary source of contamination in water resources. Various pyrethroids, including bifenthrin, are detectable in urban catch basins (storm drains) that collect runoff water before draining into the open environment. There is a lack of information regarding the pesticides’ presence in urban catch basins. However, pesticide contamination in water resources is historically commonplace and widespread throughout U.S. rivers and streams, with at least five different pesticides present in 90 percent of water samples. Moreover, thousands of tons of pesticides not only enter waterways (e.g., rivers, streams, lakes, oceans) around the U.S. through urban catch basins but agricultural and nonagricultural sources as well, contaminating essential drinking water sources, such as surface water and groundwater. Reports like these are essential for determining appropriate regulatory action to protect the human, animal, and environmental health from chemical toxicant contamination, especially if chemical contamination is highly detectable. The study notes, “The high detection frequency of bifenthrin and overall pyrethroid concentrations, especially for particle-bound residues, suggest that underground urban catch basins constitute an important secondary source for extended and widespread contamination of downstream surface waters by pesticides such as pyrethroids in urban regions.”

Many urban areas contain underground catch basins responsible for collecting runoff for drainage into waterways. However, pesticides contaminate runoff in these catch basins, implicating a secondary source of contamination in aquatic environments. Thus, the researchers gathered several water samples from urban underground catch basins throughout various U.S. California regions. The samples emphasize the occurrence and profile of pyrethroid insecticides during the spring, summer, and fall). Overall, the study finds that 98 percent of water samples contained detectable levels of pyrethroids. Of the individual pyrethroids, bifenthrin is the most detectable pyrethroid occurring in 97 percent of water samples, while the pyrethroid fenpropathrin is the non-detectable in samples. In addition to the highest detection frequency, bifenthrin also elicits severe toxicity to sensitive aquatic invertebrates in 89 percent of samples. However, during time frames when pesticide inputs decrease, all pyrethroid residues remain suspended in catch water basin soils, contributing to a secondary source of aquatic ecosystem contamination.

Synthetic pyrethroids are toxicologically similar derivatives of naturally occurring pyrethrins, which have dramatically shorter half-lives and extreme sensitivity to light, heat, and moisture. These insecticides can irritate the eyes, skin, and airways, causing high acute toxicity symptoms (e.g., asthma, incoordination, tremors, and convulsions) depending on the chemical formula. However, these chemicals also have links to chronic health problems from developmental and endocrine disruption adversely affecting reproduction and sexual development to immune system dysfunction and increased chances of cancers. Moreover, synthetic pyrethroids are extremely toxic to aquatic organisms, including crustaceans, fish, and macro/microorganisms responsible for ecosystem function and services. While synthetic pyrethroids pose significant dangers to the environment and human health, there is growing evidence that “inert” ingredients are causing just as much harm or more harm than the active ingredients in pesticide products. Toxic pesticide products can remain in the environment for months, years, and even decades. As the number of pesticides in waterways increases, it has detrimental impacts on aquatic ecosystem health, especially as some chemicals work synergistically (together) with others to increase the severity of the effect. In addition to adverse health effects on marine organisms, these chemicals harm terrestrial organisms relying on the surface or groundwater. Additionally, disease vector pests like ticks and mosquitos are developing resistance to chemical treatments, prompting the augmented use of chemical control methods, including the addition of toxic synergists like piperonyl butoxide (PBO), known to cause and exacerbate adverse health effects from exposure. 

The study highlights how pervasive pyrethroids are in waterways and how these chemicals contribute to secondary chemical pollution through sediments. Pyrethroids are hydrophobic (do not mix with water) and accumulate in soils/sediments in aquatic environments. Soils/sediments can have anaerobic conditions lacking oxygen and slowing the degradation rate of pyrethroids, prolonging their persistence in the ecosystem. Thus, high levels of pyrethroid contamination impair invertebrate communities within sediments. However, this study is not the first to highlight the pervasiveness of pesticide compounds in ecological resources. Previous reports demonstrate the pervasiveness of pesticides, including pyrethroids, in urban watersheds and other waterways and resources from agricultural, household, and community insecticide treatments and pet spray runoff. Moreover, the ubiquity and persistence of certain compounds make it difficult to limit the number of toxicants that enter waterways. Many of the most commonly used pesticides in the U.S. are detectable in both surface and groundwater, which serve as drinking water sources for half of the U.S. population, raising another issue of deficient waterway monitoring and regulations that allow pesticides to accumulate in waterways. 

The study concludes, “To improve understanding of pesticide behaviors in urban catch basins and USDSs [underground storm drains systems], further research should characterize runoff before and after it passes through a catch basin, the hydraulic retention of both water and solids in catch basins, and release of water and suspended solids from catch basins into the rest of the USDS. Efforts to design catch basins with reduced contaminant accumulation potential, and pest management practices to prevent the transport of pesticide residues from entering USDSs and catch basins, should be further explored.”

Beyond Pesticides has long advocated for healthier and more environmentally friendly pest management practices to protect the environment and wildlife, particularly water resources. Therefore, toxic pesticides should be phased out and eliminated to protect the nation’s and world’s waterways and reduce the number of pesticides that make their way into your drinking water. Additionally, Beyond Pesticides has long advocated for regulations that consider potential synergistic and additive threats, to ecosystems and organisms, from admixtures of pesticides — whether in formulated products or “de facto” in the environment. However, advocating for local and state pesticide reform policies can protect you and your family from pesticide-contaminated water. Furthermore, organic/regenerative systems conserve water, nurture fertility, reduce surface runoff and erosion, reduce the need for nutrient input, and eliminate the toxic chemicals that threaten many aspects of human and ecosystem life, including water resources. For more information about pesticide contamination in water, see the Threatened Waters program page and Beyond Pesticides’ article Pesticides in My Drinking Water? Individual Precautionary Measures and Community Action. 

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Environmental Pollution

(Beyond Pesticides, October 3, 2022) Fall is the best time to start transitioning lawns to organic. The key to a healthy lawn is healthy soil and good mowing, watering, and fertilizing practices. Healthy soil contains high organic content and is teeming with biological life. Healthy soil supports the development of healthy grass that is naturally resistant to weeds and pests. In a healthy, fertile and well-maintained lawn, diseases and pest problems are rare.

Lawns that are currently chemically-dependent may require more resources to restore the biological life. But in the long-term, an organic lawn uses fewer materials, such as water and fertilizers, and requires less labor for mowing and maintenance. More importantly, organic lawns will be safe for children, pets, and the local drinking water supply. Our treatment of lawns and landscapes is directly related to the health of our environment! Learn about the importance of maintaining a delicate balance from the Beyond Pesticides’ factsheet.

TAKE ACTION: In addition to priming your own lawns, and landscapes, tell your mayor or county executive to transition your public parks and lands to organic management practices! 

Get Started Now

Mow High Until the Season Ends – Bad mowing practices cause more problems than any other cultural practice. Mowing with a dull blade makes the turf susceptible to disease and mowing too close invites sunlight in for weeds to take hold.

Keep your blades sharp or ask your service provider to sharpen their blades frequently. For the last and first mowing, mow down to 2 inches to prevent fungal problems. For the rest of the year, keep it at 3-3.5 inches to shade out weeds and foster deep, drought-resistant roots.

Aerate – Compaction is an invitation for weeds. If a lawn is hard, compacted, and full of weeds or bare spots, aerate to help air, water, and fertilizer to enter. If you cannot stick a screwdriver easily into the soil, it is too compacted. Getting an aerator on the turf will be especially helpful. Once you have an established, healthy lawn, worms and birds pecking at your soil will aerate it for free!

Fertilize, but go easy! – Fertilizing in early fall ensures good growth and root development for your grass. Nitrogen, the most abundant nutrient in lawn fertilizers promotes color and growth. Adding too much nitrogen, or quick release synthetic fertilizers (which are not part of an organic program), will result in quicker growth and the need for more mowing. Too much nitrogen can also weaken the grass, alter the pH, and promote disease, insect, and thatch build-up. If applied too late, nutrients can leach directly into nearby surface waters. Be aware of local phosphorus or nitrogen loading concerns.

Grass clippings contain 58% of the nitrogen added from fertilizers, improve soil conditions, suppress disease, and reduce thatch and crabgrass. So, leave the clippings on the lawn. A mulching mower to leave the leaves on the lawn too – a great alternative to raking.

Compost is an ideal soil amendment, adding the much-needed organic content to the soil and suppressing many turf pathogens. In the fall and spring, preferably after aerating, spread ¼ inch layer of compost over your lawn. Compost tea and worm castings are also great additions. Learn more from Beyond Pesticides’ factsheet, Compost is Key to Successful Plant Management.

Analyzing soil is highly recommended to determine specific soil needs. Contact the university extension service to find out how to take and send in a soil sample. In addition to nutrients and pH, ask for organic content analysis, and request organic care recommendations. Ideal pH should be between 6.5-7.0, and organic content should be 5% or higher. Soil test results will ensure that only the materials that are needed are applied. Read Maintaining a Delicate Balance: Eliminating phosphorus contamination with organic soil management for in-depth information on the problem of fertilizer contamination, and how to apply fertilizer properly.

Overseed With the Right Grass Seed – Once again, fall is the best time to seed a lawn. Grass varieties differ enormously in their resistance to certain pests, tolerance to climatic conditions, growth habit and appearance. Endophytic grass seed provides natural protection against some insects and fungal disease —major benefits for managing a lawn organically. The local nursery will know the best seed for the area. Check to see the weed content of the grass seed and that there are no pesticide coatings.

Develop Your Tolerance – Many plants that are considered weeds in a lawn have beneficial qualities. Learn to read your “weeds” for what they indicate about your soil conditions. Monocrops do not grow in nature and diversity is a good thing. See more information on our Least Toxic Control of Weeds factsheet.

For instance, clover (considered a typical weed) is found in soil with low nitrogen levels, compaction issues, and drought stress—conditions that can be alleviated with the above recommendations. However, clover is a beneficial plant that takes free nitrogen from the atmosphere and distributes it to the grass, which helps it grow. Clover roots are extensive and extremely drought resistant, providing significant resources to soil organisms, and staying green long after turf goes naturally dormant.

There is lots more at Lawns and Landscapes on the Beyond Pesticides’ website. For more information about becoming an advocate for organic parks, see Parks for a Sustainable Future and Tools for Change.

Send the municipal parks department links to our factsheets on Establishing New Lawns and Landscapes and Maintaining Sustainable Lawns and Landscapes. Or print them out and take them to the parks manager.

TAKE ACTION: In addition to priming your own lawns, and landscapes, tell your mayor or county executive to transition your public parks and lands to organic management practices! 

And send them the following letter:

Letter to Mayors:

I’m reminding you with this note that Fall is the time to transition our public parks and lands to organic management practices. The key to a healthy lawn is healthy soil and good mowing, watering, and fertilizing practices. Healthy soil contains high organic content and is teeming with biological life. It supports the development of healthy grass that is naturally resistant to weeds and pests. In a healthy, fertile, and well-maintained lawn, diseases and pest problems are rare.

In the long-term, an organic lawn uses fewer materials, such as water and fertilizers, and requires less labor for mowing and maintenance. More importantly, the lawn will be safe for children, pets, and our local drinking water supply.

These important steps in the Fall will give lawns a good start:

*Mow high until the season ends. Poor mowing practices cause more problems than any other cultural practice. Mow with sharp blades. For the last and first mowing, mow down to 2 inches to prevent fungal problems. For the rest of the year, keep it at 3-3.5 inches to shade out weeds and foster deep, drought-resistant roots.

*Aerate to prevent compaction, an invitation for weeds. Aeration helps air, water, and fertilizer to enter.

*Fertilize, but go easy! Fertilizing in early fall ensures good growth and root development for your grass. Nitrogen, the most abundant nutrient in lawn fertilizers promotes color and growth, but too much nitrogen or synthetic fertilizers will result in quicker growth and the need for more mowing. Too much nitrogen can also weaken the grass, alter the pH, and promote disease, insect, and thatch build-up. If applied too late, nutrients can leach directly into nearby surface waters. Be aware of local phosphorus or nitrogen loading concerns.

*Grass clippings contain 58% of the nitrogen added from fertilizers, improve soil conditions, suppress disease, and reduce thatch and crabgrass. So, leave the clippings on the lawn. A mulching mower can turn both clippings and leaves into valuable organic matter, while eliminating the need for raking.

Compost is an ideal soil amendment, adding the much-needed organic content to your soil and suppressing many turf pathogens. In the fall and spring, preferably after aerating, spread ¼ inch layer of compost over your lawn. Compost tea and worm castings are also great additions.

*Soil analysis to determine specific soil needs is highly recommended. The Extension Service has information about how to take and send in a soil sample. In addition to nutrients and pH, the analysis should include organic content organic care recommendations. Ideal pH should be between 6.5-7.0, and organic content should be 5% or higher.

*Overseed with the right grass seed. Fall is the best time for seeding a lawn. Grass varieties differ enormously in their resistance to certain pests, tolerance to climatic conditions, growth habit, and appearance. Endophytic grass seed provides protection against some insects and fungal diseases—major benefits for managing a lawn organically. Check to see the weed content of the grass seed and that there are no pesticide coatings.

*Develop weed tolerance. Many plants that are considered weeds in a lawn have beneficial qualities. For instance, clover, considered a typical weed, is found in soil with low nitrogen levels, compaction issues, and drought stress—conditions that can be alleviated with the above recommendations. However, clover also takes free nitrogen from the atmosphere and distributes it to the grass, which helps it grow. Clover roots are extensive and extremely drought resistant, providing significant resources to soil organisms, and staying green long after turf goes naturally dormant.

It is time to go organic for community health, sustainable biodiversity, and a livable climate.

Thank you.

(Beyond Pesticides, September 30, 2022) In late September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the withdrawal of its Interim Decision on glyphosate, the active ingredient in multiple herbicides, most notably Monsanto’s (now Bayer’s) Roundup. The action follows a slew of developments related to the herbicide, including: the 2015 International Agency for Research on Cancer’s declaration of its carcinogenicity; legal judgments and massive rewards to victims who developed cancers after chronic exposures; advocate efforts to get EPA to recognize the dangers of, and curtail, its use; and pushback from industry — most of the latter two coming in the form of litigation. The withdrawal of that Interim Decision means, on the ground that this harmful compound can continue to be used until a next regulatory review decision by EPA. Beyond Pesticides has long been engaged in education on and advocacy against glyphosate use, and was a plaintiff in the 2020 lawsuit, with the Center for Food Safety (CFS), et al., against EPA for this 2020 Interim Decision (ID).

Under FIFRA (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act) each pesticide must be reviewed by EPA every 15 years “to ensure that existing pesticide products continue to perform their intended function without unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment.” Glyphosate’s review was begun in 2009. Such reviews have multiple aspects, which is why EPA says, in its press release, that it “is announcing its withdrawal of all remaining portions of the interim registration review decision.”

Comprehensive coverage, by Beyond Pesticides, of the risks associated with the use of glyphosate (Roundup) herbicides can be found here, here, and here. EPA’s webpage on glyphosate offers multiple assertions and justifications for its ongoing allowance of use of glyphosate-based herbicides, as well as a history of EPA actions and regulations. Among its claims, based on “independent evaluation of available data for glyphosate” are these findings related to human health: (1) no risks of concern to human health from current uses of glyphosate; (2) no indication that children are more sensitive to glyphosate; and (3) no evidence that glyphosate causes cancer in humans.

EPA’s Interim Decision on glyphosate likewise asserted that “there are no risks of concern to human health when glyphosate is used in accordance with its current label. EPA also found that glyphosate is unlikely to be a human carcinogen.” It did assert that there are “potential ecological risks to non-target organisms, primarily non-target plants through spray drift,” and pointed to anemic text changes as a fix — “interim risk mitigation measures in the form of label changes, including spray drift management language, herbicide resistance management language, a non-target organism advisory, and certain label consistency measures.” The ID came down, once again, on the side of industry and the status quo in concluding that “the benefits of glyphosate outweigh the potential ecological risks when glyphosate is used in accordance with labels.”

As Beyond Pesticides wrote at the time, “EPA reapproval of human carcinogens and chemicals contributing to the pollinator crisis is disappointing for health and environmental advocates, but not surprising to those watchdogging the agency. . . . ‘This is how a captured agency behaves,’ said Beyond Pesticides community resource and policy director Drew Toher. ‘When EPA’s decision making repeatedly reflects the exact wishes of the chemical industry, public trust erodes, and we must look to new policy mechanisms that support the protection of health and the environment.’”

The final Interim Decision was challenged in 2020 by the lawsuit brought by CFS, Beyond Pesticides, and several farmworker organizations to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Plaintiffs argued that:
• EPA’s finding that “glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans” flies in the face of both IARC and independent scientific research, as well as the tens of thousands of lawsuits, some extremely successful, brought by glyphosate victims.

• The agency has failed to evaluate thoroughly the endocrine and hormone-disrupting impacts of exposures to glyphosate.
• EPA violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to conduct effective assessment of the effects of the compound on threatened and endangered species and their habitats, as is required under FIFRA and ESA.
• EPA has not done adequate analysis of human health impacts, e.g., it has not gathered and evaluated data on the ingestion (via skin or inhalation) of glyphosate — the most common exposure vectors among farmworkers and others who work with or around the herbicide. (Beyond Pesticides noted the ubiquity of the compound’s presence in humans when it covered research showing that more than 80% of people in the U.S. above the age of six have detectable levels in their urine.)

In 2021, EPA sought, in response, the somewhat unusual “work-around” of a partial voluntary “remand without vacatur” — a judicial remedy that permits agency orders or rules to remain in effect after they are remanded by the reviewing court for further agency proceedings — for the ecological portion of the ID. In June 2022, the Ninth Circuit vacated the portion of the ID related to human health, finding that EPA’s cancer analysis was flawed.

The court commented, “EPA did not adequately consider whether glyphosate causes cancer.” Beyond Pesticides, in covering that development, wrote, “The court criticized EPA for its ‘disregard of tumor results’; its use of ‘bare assertions’ that ‘fail to account coherently for the evidence’; making conclusions that do not ‘withstand scrutiny under the agency’s own framework’; and ‘fail[ing] to abide by’ its cancer guidelines. In sum, the court noted EPA’s ‘inconsistent reasoning’ made its decision on cancer ‘arbitrary,’ and struck it down.”

The court also ruled that EPA’s Interim Decision triggered obligations under the ESA, and granted the request for remand without vacatur for the ecological portion, but gave EPA a deadline of October 1, 2022 for issuance of a new ecological section. In August, the court denied EPA’s “request for relief” from that deadline. The agency now maintains that it could not possibly meet the deadline, and thus, has withdrawn the Interim Decision.

EPA now says it plans to “revisit and better explain its evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate and to consider whether to do so for other aspects of its human health analysis. For the ecological portion, EPA intends to address the issues for which it sought remand, including: to consider whether additional or different risk mitigation may be necessary based on the outcome of ESA consultation for glyphosate, prepare an analysis of in-field effects of glyphosate on monarch butterfly habitat, consider whether there are other aspects of its analysis of ecological risks and costs to revisit, and consider what risk mitigation measures may be necessary to reduce potential risk following completion of analyses left outstanding in the ID. EPA also intends to complete ESA consultation with the Services [the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service], make a determination under the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, and respond to an administrative petition regarding glyphosate before issuing a final registration review decision.”

The agency’s registration review of glyphosate began in 2009; in its memorandum on withdrawal of the ID, EPA wrote that it “anticipates issuing a final registration review decision for glyphosate in 2026.” That represents, potentially, a 17-year period in which use of a harmful herbicide would have continued to be allowed because of EPA’s relative intransigence. This begs the question: how many additional non-Hodgkin Lymphoma cases, or other harms might EPA’s inability and/or unwillingness to act timely and protectively have allowed? The appellate court’s rejection of the ID should have impelled EPA to cancel glyphosate’s registration. But there is currently no indication that EPA will respond protectively to the documented threats to human health, pollinators, wildlife, and ecosystems, and ultimately — years from now — take that action.

Beyond Pesticides believes that EPA should acknowledge the significant risks of glyphosate use, as shown repeatedly by science, affirmed in some respects by the courts, and recognized by juries who have penalized industry for harms to human health. A responsible way to do that would be to issue a final registration review decision canceling the use of this noxious compound — the sooner the better.

Beyond Pesticides wrote in June: “Evidence is mounting against glyphosate, with research showing disruption of bumblebee reproduction, negative impacts on the gut microbiome, increased greenhouse gas emissions, oxidative stress and DNA damage, body burdens, threats to endangered species, and more. If EPA is to convince citizens that it is worthy of the job entrusted to it and not captured by the pesticide industry — in particular, Bayer/Monsanto — it must do a thorough review of all the evidence that finds glyphosate to be carcinogenic. That evidence shows that glyphosate must be banned immediately.”

Source: https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-withdraws-glyphosate-interim-decision

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

(Beyond Pesticides, September 29, 2022) A study published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health finds an association between retinoblastoma risk and prenatal exposure to pesticides. Retinoblastoma is a rare eye cancer, with over 200,000 cases in the U.S., most of which are children under the age of five. Despite occurring among offspring, this cancer is often not hereditary. Instead, a mutation in the RB1 gene during early development in the womb destabilizes and augments cell growth.

Although the etiology or cause of childhood eye cancer involves the interaction of multiple components like lifestyle and genetics, emerging evidence indicates that environmental contaminants like pesticides (e.g., occupational exposures, air pollution, pesticides, solvents, diet, etc.) play a role in disease etiology. Pesticide contamination is widespread in all ecosystems, and chemical compounds can accumulate in human tissues resulting in chronic health effects. Children are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of pesticide exposure as their developing bodies cannot adequately combat exposure effects. Already, studies find low levels of pesticide exposure during pregnancy or childhood cause adverse health effects from metabolic disorders to mental and physical disabilities. While medical advancements in disease survival are more prominent nowadays, childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease among children. Furthermore, childhood cancer survivors can suffer from chronic or long-term health complications that may be life-threatening. Therefore, it is essential to understand how pesticide accumulation and co-occurrence can increase the risk of latent diseases (e.g., cancers) among vulnerable populations, such as children/infants.

The study coauthor Julia Heck, associate research professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), notes, “Childhood cancer is one of the leading causes of death in children, but unlike adult cancers, there are not as many identified causes. Although retinoblastoma has high survival rates, children can suffer long-term effects from chemotherapy and radiation…, which is why it’s crucial to identify causes and prioritize prevention.”

The study evaluates the association between childhood eye cancer and exposure to pesticides during prenatal development via proximity to agrochemical pesticide applications. Researchers assess the risk for unilateral (one eye) and bilateral (both eyes) retinoblastoma among children aged five or younger using a population-based case-control study from the California Cancer Registry. Using addresses identified from the birth certificates of participants, the researchers applied Pesticide Use Reports and land use information in a geographic information system (GIS) to detect specific pesticides used within 4,000 meters of the residences. Prenatal exposure to acephate (an organophosphate insecticide) and bromacil (herbicide) has an association with increased unilateral retinoblastoma risk. However, in addition to acephate, pymetrozine (insecticide) and kresoxim-methyl (fungicide) have associations with both types of retinoblastomas.

There is a significant scientific connection between pesticides and cancer as several studies link pesticide use and residues to various cancers, from prevalent forms like breast cancer to rare forms like kidney cancer nephroblastoma (Wilms’ tumor). Sixty-six percent of all cancers have links to environmental factors, especially in occupations of high chemical use. In addition to the robust links between agricultural practices and pesticide-related illnesses, over 65 percent of commonly used lawn pesticides and 70 percent of commonly used school pesticides have links to cancer. Although general pesticide exposure can increase susceptibility to cancer, prenatal and early-life exposure to environmental toxicants can increase cancer risk. 

Many studies indicate prenatal and early-life exposure to environmental toxicants increases disease susceptibility. For decades, studies have long demonstrated that childhood and in-utero exposure to the U.S.-banned insecticide DDT increase the risk of developing breast cancer later in life. Moreover, a 2021 study finds previous maternal exposure to the chemical compound during pregnancy can increase the risk of breast cancer and cardiometabolic disorders (e.g., heart disease, obesity, diabetes) up to three successive generations. However, studies find numerous current-use pesticides and chemical contaminants play a role in similar disease outcomes, including mammary tumor formation. Even household cleaners, many of which are pesticides, can increase nephroblastoma (kidney cancer) and brain tumor risk in children. Furthermore, long-term exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides increases adverse health and cancer risks, specifically among women. Since DDT and its metabolite DDE residues, current-use pesticides, and other chemical pollutants contaminate the environment, exposure to these chemical mixtures can synergize to increase toxicity and disease effects.

This study is one of the first to examine the risk for childhood retinoblastoma with ambient exposure to specific pesticides during pregnancy. Just as nutrients are transferable between mother and fetus, so are chemical contaminants. Studies find pesticide compounds in the mother’s blood can transfer to the fetus via the umbilical cord. Therefore, pesticide exposure during pregnancy has implications for both mother and child’s health. Although there is a lack of understanding of childhood cancer risk from parental exposure to pesticides via residential areas adjacent to pesticide applications, the study demonstrates parents’ exposure to pesticides increases childhood cancer risk among offspring. Previous studies show women living near agricultural areas experience higher exposure rates that increase the risk of birthing a baby with abnormalities. Considering current and past-use pesticides and chemical contaminants play a role in multiple disease outcomes and the rate of chronic diseases like cancer continues to increase in the U.S., and additional studies find these diseases to be pesticide-induced, advocates urge the public to increase pressure on regulators and lawmakers to enact meaningful measures that eliminate pesticide use and the hazards.

Although the study authors say, “Identifying specific pesticides correlated with cancer is the first step toward banning or replacing them with less harmful options,” Beyond Pesticides advocates that studies like this help to eliminate reliance on pesticides with the adoption of organic practices rather than shift to another pesticide,  creating a treadmill effect. Additionally, several pesticides can work together to increase the severity (synergize) of health complications associated with chemical exposure. Therefore, it is impractical to associate disease risks with the identification of a single chemical pesticide.

The study concludes, “Future studies are needed to also assess agriculturally common pesticide mixtures and mixture effects. The associations we observed between retinoblastoma and residential proximity to applications for specific pesticides have previously raised concern as to their carcinogenic potential contribution to the growing body of knowledge concerning prenatal pesticide exposure and rare childhood cancers of the nervous system. Strategies for reducing exposure in those living near agricultural fields should be considered as a protective health measure.”

Globally, cancer is one of the leading causes of death, with over eight million people succumbing to the disease every year. Notably, the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) predicts a 67.4 percent rise in new cancer cases by 2030. Therefore, it is essential to understand how external stimuli—like environmental pollution from pesticides—can drive cancer development to avoid exposure and lessen potential cancer risks. Moreover, pediatricians strongly agree that pregnant mothers and young children should avoid pesticide exposure during critical development periods. Advocates say this is good advice for the general population, since the effects of pesticide exposure span the entire population. 

Fortunately, buying, growing, and supporting organic land management can reduce human and environmental contamination from pesticides. Organic agriculture has many health and environmental benefits, which curtail the need for chemical-intensive agricultural practices. Numerous studies find that pesticide metabolite levels in urine significantly decrease when switching to an all-organic diet. Moreover, there are widely available non-pesticidal alternative strategies that allow families and agricultural industry workers to apply these methods to promote a safe and healthy environment, especially among chemically vulnerable individuals. For more information on how organic is the right choice for both consumers and the farmworkers that grow our food, see the Beyond Pesticides webpage on the Health Benefits of Organic Agriculture.

Studies concerning pesticides and cancer help government officials and the public understand the underlying mechanisms that cause the disease. Beyond Pesticides tracks the most recent reports on pesticides through the Daily News Blog and Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database (PIDD). This database supports the need for strategic action to shift away from pesticide dependency. For more information on the adverse effects of pesticides on human health, see PIDD pages on cancer, including retinoblastoma, birth/fetal defects, and other diseases. Additionally, since pesticides can have multi-generation impacts on our health, you can learn more about the hazards posed to children’s health through Beyond Pesticide’s Pesticide and You Journal article, “Children and Pesticides Don’t Mix.”

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: UCLA, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health

(Beyond Pesticides, September 28, 2022) ‘Weedy rice,’ a close relative of cultivated rice that invades rice fields and reduces yields, is rapidly developing herbicide resistance in critical rice growing areas throughout the United States. According to research published this month in Communications Biology, the widespread planting of herbicide-resistant rice, developed through traditional, transitional (non-genetically engineered) breeding techniques, is driving this concerning phenomenon. The findings highlight the risk to agricultural production that relies on crops developed to tolerate repeated applications of synthetic chemicals, regardless of their method of development.

Weedy rice is a form of rice that was “re-wilded,” or “de-domesticated” from cultivated rice, independently evolving multiple times throughout the world. It is highly adapted to grow in areas where cultivated rice is produced, and can result in significant yield loses, as well as a reduction in quality that reduces marketability.

In the early 2000s, the agrichemical industry believed they had found a solution to the weedy rice. Multinational chemical corporation BASF developed a line of rice cultivars, produced through traditional breeding, that conferred resistance to imidazolinone class herbicides. This includes chemicals like imazapyr, imazaquin, imazethapyr, and imazamox, which poses cancer, reproductive, and neurotoxic risks to human health, and is toxic to bees and aquatic organisms. This line of rice, dubbed “Clearfield^TM rice,” now represents more than on third of all rice production in the U.S.

Farmers began noticing hybridization of weedy rice, and subsequent herbicide resistance soon after the herbicide resistant cultivars were introduced, and by 2010 one study found 80% of weedy rice to be resistant.  

With weedy rice causing an estimated $45 million annually in losses, scientists set out to better understand the current state of affairs. In 2018, weedy rice was sampled across five Arkansas rice fields, and its genome was sequenced. Researchers found that nearly all weedy rice is a crop-weed hybrid, yet its genomes shifted to become much more similar to its characteristically weedy forebears.

“The situation is somewhat analogous to human health and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. Widespread use of antibiotics ends up strongly selecting for the rapid evolution of the drug-resistant strains,” said senior study author Kenneth Olsen, PhD, of Washington University St Louis. “With weedy rice, herbicide-resistant weeds were being detected just a couple of years after herbicide-resistant rice was first commercialized.”

This cross-breeding can occur when herbicide sprays do not kill all the weedy rice plants, and they happen to flower concurrent to the cultivated, herbicide-resistant rice crop. “As a de-domesticated weedy relative, weedy rice has always been able to outcross with cultivated rice. Based on our results, this ability to interbreed is what led to most of the herbicide resistance that we see today,” study coauthor Marshall Wedger, PhD said.

Researchers note that the problem farmers are encountering is a result of an agricultural approach that relies on a single, streamlined method of weed control. “Just like in the case of antibiotic resistance, the rise of resistance to this particular herbicide will be met with a new technology that relies on a new herbicide,” Wedger said. “New herbicide-resistant cultivars are already in development, so I expect this process to repeat.”

While the scientific community studies this process, it is not enough for pesticide reform advocates to simply throw their hands in the air as the next version of this overly simplified agricultural practice is perpetuated. The story here is a perfect example of what many opponents of genetic engineering have espoused – although genetic engineering is a risky technology that should be highly regulated, it is the agronomic practices genetic changes propagate that are most concerning. In other words, it is not the fact that crop has been genetically engineered that is the primary issue, but the fact that its use supports a toxic system that increases reliance on highly hazardous pesticides as a regular course of crop production. Whether created from traditional or genetic engineering, such a system is inherently flawed and sisyphean, kicking the can of responsible management down the road for future farmers.

Yet as the chemical industry scrambles to create a new crop or chemical, traditional, effective management techniques are slowly lost. A recent study found that traditional, diversified rice production that integrated animals into the system was able to significantly outperform yields seen in the sort of monoculture rice fields that are reliant on toxic pesticides. And as new chemical solutions are developed with high cost to the environment and society, it becomes increasingly difficult for farmers to shift back to these traditional techniques. This is due to a range of factors, including not only lack of knowledge, but overhead investment in the chemical system and other economic factors, nearby cultivation of herbicide-resistant crops placing any non-resistant crops at risk from pesticide drift, and farmer culture and peer pressure, which in farming communities is often the primary method through which harmful agricultural practices are preserved.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Washington University St Louis, Communications Biology,

(Beyond Pesticides, September 27, 2022) Exposure to widely used neonicotinoid insecticides harms amphibians at multiple life stages, adversely affecting their ability to survive in the wild, according to research published in the Journal of Zoology. As long-lived, systemic insecticides, neonicotinoids are consistently found in U.S. waterways,  often above federal safety limits, making these findings particularly dangerous for frogs and other amphibians throughout the country. As troubling data piles up on this class of dangerous insecticides, which are damaging pollinators, birds, deer, aquatic wildlife, and human health, it is left to the public to place pressure on federal regulators and members of Congress to act.

To understand the impact of neonicotinoids on amphibian life stages, researchers conducted a range of  experiments. These were designed to investigate how exposure to the neonicotinoid imidacloprid affected larval survival, sexual development, locomotor skills, and avoidance behavior of the wood frog (Rana sylvatica).

Larval survival was examined by exposing tadpoles to 10 parts per billion (ppb) of imidacloprid, a rate lower than the lethal concentration expected to kill half of other frogs species in acute toxicity tests. Four treatment protocols were established, adding the variable of natural pond drying to half of the tested frogs to see if there was interplay between chemical exposure and natural stressors in the environment. Of the four groups, two were exposed to imidacloprid, one in a non-drying tank and another in a slowly drying tank, while the other two acted as controls, including one non-drying and one drying tank. Researchers observed larval survival, size at metamorphosis, and sex ratio.

To see how pesticide exposure affected frogs at the terrestrial stage of their life, they were also subject to endurance trials, assessing their ability to jump on a circular track. Frogs exposed to imidacloprid as tadpoles were evaluated, and then exposed to imidacloprid again and tested to see how subsequent environmental exposures impacted overall fitness. Lastly, neonicotinoid exposed frogs were placed in a tank where half of it was sprayed with imidacloprid to see if the frogs attempted to avoid exposure to the chemical.

Moreover, results showed that frogs exposed to imidacloprid in drying ponds experienced the highest mortality rate. Chemical exposure also resulted in an altered sex ratio. Unexposed frogs had 10% more males survive metamorphosis. And over 15% of exposed frogs could not be sexed due to “unclear morphology of the reproductive organs,” while one exposed frog was “clearly hermaphroditic,” implicating imidacloprid as a likely endocrine disruptor.”

Yet interestingly, exposed frogs developed into larger and heavier frogs than those in the unexposed control. However, this story is quite complicated and ultimately does not indicate a benefit from this phenomenon, but instead a likely detriment.

Study coauthor Cassandra Thompson, PhD, explained the situation in an Ohio University release: “Unexpectedly, we found that frogs from Imidacloprid treated tanks were significantly larger than control frogs and prior to exposing them to pesticides in the terrestrial environment, they outperformed control frogs in endurance trials. They may be able to travel further distances and are overall better marathon runners! Unfortunately, they also seem to crash harder,” Dr. Thompson said. “We wanted to know what would happen to a frog if [it] travel[s] across and temporarily settle in areas that have been recently sprayed with Imidacloprid. After 12-hour exposure to imidacloprid, we found reduced endurance capabilities of frogs from all treatments. Additionally, pre-exposure to imidacloprid as a tadpole caused greater declines in locomotor capability when exposed to imidacloprid again as a recently metamorphosed frog. So if you were exposed as a tadpole and were exposed again in the terrestrial stage, you could have reduced endurance capabilities or how far you can move in the environment.””

In the study, researchers indicate that neonicotinoid exposed frogs may have grown larger for a number of reasons, including greater access to food, and/or lack of competition due to the higher mortality rate among exposed tadpoles in their experimental group.

Neither exposed nor unexposed tadpoles appear to recognize or attempt to avoid imidacloprid in the environment. “If these frogs come across one of these drenched soil sites, they not only won’t be able to behaviorally assess and avoid the pesticide, but also risk mortality if they settle there for a short period as their locomotor abilities will be hampered,” said Dr. Thompson.

Frogs and amphibians are not specifically tested by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prior to the registration of a pesticide. At best, they are provided “aquatic life benchmarks” which are unenforceable, arguably arbitrary ranges that EPA indicates can be helpful “in identifying and prioritizing sites and pesticides that may require further investigation.”

While EPA effectively ignores the impacts of pesticides on sensitive amphibians with complex life cycles, independent science has shown a range of harm. Earlier research, published in 2017, found that imidacloprid-exposed wood frogs experience delayed metamorphosis, placing populations at risk of increased mortality. Frogs exposed to neonicotinoids have also been shown to display a weakened response to a predator attack. While unexposed frogs hopped away to avoid researchers mimicking a heron attack, those in contact with imidacloprid did effectively nothing to avoid becoming lunch.

Data indicating a disrupted endocrine system response with imidacloprid exposure is concerning in light of research on how other pesticides affect frog sexual reproduction. Renowned scientist Tyrone Hayes, PhD, of the University of California Berkeley, has published extensive research documenting a range of impacts to various amphibian species from exposure to the herbicide atrazine. Results have shown the ability for atrazine not only to skew sex ratios, but also cause hermaphroditism in male frogs, and in some cases make male frogs completely female with the ability to lay eggs.

Despite a range of concerning independent data on chronic effects that, while not outright killing an animal, increases its likelihood of death in the wild, EPA has done little to rein in the use of the insidious pesticides harming the health of both wildlife and humans. Skewed sex ratios in frogs, birth defects and increased mortality in fawns, immune system damage and lower nutritional value in shrimp and oysters, inability for songbirds to orient during migration, reduced fruit productivity resulting from disoriented and uncoordinated pollinators, and evidence of hormone-dependent breast cancer in humans are all findings in independent, peer-reviewed studies. Yet, EPA discounts or dismisses this data and relies on non-peer reviewed studies produced by the manufacturer of the pesticide in accordance with EPA protocol, but not subject to regular unannounced audits. 

If this information makes you queasy, take a breath, catch your breath, and then take action. Educate friends, family, neighbors, and your broader community about the dangers posed by neonicotinoids and other EPA registered pesticides. Protecting wildlife doesn’t mean reverting to a different pesticide or different way of applying a toxic pesticide, but by changing practices that embrace the pest management abilities of natural systems. Help move your community toward that approach by asking your local leaders to embrace organic land management, and push for changes at the top by urging your federally elected representatives to cosponsor the Saving America’s Pollinators Act (SAPA). By eliminating neonicotinoids, SAPA would not only protect pollinators, but frogs and entire ecosystems currently contaminated with these long-lived insecticides.  

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Ohio University press release, Journal of Zoology

(Beyond Pesticides, September 23-26, 2022) Comments are due 11:59 pm EDT September 29.  The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is receiving written comments from the public through September. This precedes the upcoming public comment webinar on October 18 and 20 and deliberative hearing October 25-27—concerning how organic food is produced. Sign up to speak at the webinar by September 29. Written comments must be submitted through Regulations.gov by 11:59 pm EDT September 29. Links to the virtual comment webinars and the public meeting will be posted on this webpage in early October.

For a complete discussion, see Keeping Organic Strong and the Fall 2022 issues page. In the spirit of “continuous improvement,” we urge you to submit comments (please feel free to use our comments on the KOS page) that contribute to an increasingly improved organic production system. Here are some high priority issues for us:

> The NOSB must take a precautionary approach in view of the unknown. Peroxylactic acid (POLA) is petitioned as an antimicrobial agent to be used in processing meat. While a comprehensive review of the needs for sanitizers and disinfectants in organic processing may reveal a need for additional materials, the existing data concerning POLA is incomplete, depending mainly on patents rather than peer-reviewed research. The petition should not be allowed.

• In its examination of ion exchange, the NOSB has learned that its application results in chemical change. Therefore, organic foods, such as apple juice or sugar, that have been processed with ion exchange are synthetic. Such synthetic “foods” must only be allowed if the NOSB has reviewed them and placed them on the National List.

> Genetic engineering is considered an “excluded method” according to organic regulations. The NOSB should continue to catalog excluded methods, and their use should be excluded at all levels of production—from crop production through inputs in processing.

> Organic Agriculture is Climate-Smart Agriculture. The NOSB draft letter to Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack is an excellent primer on how organic agriculture responds to the climate emergency. However, the letter needs to stress the need for USDA to promote conversion to organic farming. More important to addressing the climate crisis than the questions posed by NOP are questions concerning how USDA programs can assist organic producers and those seeking to convert to organic. The draft letter addresses these as well. It also points out the resiliency of organic agriculture: “Organic is the solution to mitigating climate change and responding to it.”In view of the climate benefits of organic and the incentives inherent in organic marketing, the real question is whether USDA will abandon its promotion of chemical-intensive agriculture supported by the biotech/chemical industry in favor of whole-hearted support for organic agriculture—because despite the astronomical growth in organic consumption in the U.S., conversion to organic agriculture lags behind demand. USDA could and should make adoption of organic/climate-smart practices a prerequisite for receiving the benefits of its programs.

> Biodegradable Biobased (Bioplastic) Mulch Film (BBMF) is under consideration for sunset this year. This is part of a larger issue of the use of plastic in organic production and handling. Awareness is growing about the impacts of plastic—and the microplastic particles to which it degrades—on human health and the environment. BBMF should not be relisted. Moreover, the NOSB should initiate action to eliminate all uses of plastic in organic production and handling—including packaging.

> The NOSB should use the sunset process to eliminate non-organic ingredients in processed organic foods. Materials listed in §205.606 in the organic regulations are nonorganic agricultural ingredients that are allowed to be used as ingredients as part of the 5% of organic processed foods that is not required to be organic. Materials should not remain on §205.606 if they can be supplied organically, and anything that can be grown can be grown organically. The Handling Subcommittee needs to ask the question of potential suppliers, “Could you supply the need if the organic form is required?” Two materials on §205.606 are up for sunset this year—pectin and casings. Both are made from agricultural products that can be supplied organically and thus should be sunsetted.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

(Beyond Pesticides, September 23, 2022) According to a September 15 Environment California press release, California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) data confirm more bad news on neonicotinoid (neonic) contamination: nearly all urban waterways in three counties show the presence of the neonic imidacloprid at levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) chronic benchmark for harm to aquatic ecosystems; in five other counties, well over half showed its presence at similar levels. Neonic use is strongly correlated with die-offs and other harms to a variety of bees and pollinators, and to other beneficial organisms. These startling metrics will make the state’s efforts to protect such organisms even more challenging, according to Environment California (EC). See Beyond Pesticides’ Poisoned Waterways report for a deep dive on neonics and their impacts in U.S. rivers, lakes, and streams.

The data represent 405 surface water samples taken between 2000 and 2020; those from urban waterways in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties showed that nearly 92% are contaminated at EPA benchmark violative levels; in Alameda, Contra Costa, Placer, Sacramento, and Santa Clara counties, 58% of waterways showed such levels. Many of the counties with significant contamination are in the central coast and southern regions of the state. Some of this contamination no doubt comes from intensive agricultural use of imidacloprid, causing migration of the compound into waterways, but some may also be from non-agricultural uses — such as flea prevention for pets and building pest control products — common in developed urban areas. According to CDPR, there are 253 pesticide products containing imidacloprid registered for use in California.

Environment California’s webpage hosts an interactive map of sampling sites (across much of the state) that are represented in those imidacloprid metrics. The percentage of samples from each location that contained the compound range from 0 to 91.67. The EC page notes that “very few samples were tested for imidacloprid prior to 2010. . . . [and that] the percentage of samples that detect imidacloprid remains fairly constant over time.” Detailed results can be found in CDPR’s Surface Water Database.

The 2017 Beyond Pesticides report mentioned above cited similarly alarming results in other of the state’s waterways a decade ago: “A 2012 [CDPR] study using 2010 and 2011 surface water monitoring data from three agricultural regions in the state finds imidacloprid in 89% of the samples collected. . . . In the three agricultural regions studied, imidacloprid was detected in 85% of samples in Salinas, 93% in Imperial Valley, and 100% in Santa Maria Valley. These levels exceed currently established chronic aquatic benchmark concentrations.”

Neonicotinoids (such as imidacloprid, acetamiprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin, and dinotefuran) are a family of insecticides that harm the central nervous systems of insects and can paralyze or kill them, as well as have deleterious effects on baby bee brains. They are used as foliar sprays, plant root drenches, and granules to kill or render impotent a variety of pests — particularly sap-feeding insects, such as aphids, and root-feeding grubs. But a very significant vector for these compounds is through seed coatings, often for commodity crops (e.g., corn, soy, cotton). Ironically, years ago EPA released a report concluding that neonic seed coating provides little or no overall benefit in controlling insects or improving yield or quality in soybean production.

No matter how they are deployed, neonics are systemic pesticides, meaning that plants germinate from coated seeds and/or take up the applied compound through their roots, after which it permeates the entire plant. This makes the plant’s pollen, nectar, guttation droplets, and fruits toxic to creatures that feed on them. Non-target organisms, such as birds, bees, butterflies, and bats, are poisoned when they forage among such contaminated plants. In addition to insects’ exposures through foraging for food, it turns out that soil contaminated by neonics can also harm ground-nesting bees.

Neonics can persist over long periods of time in soils and are highly water soluble; thus, they can be transported via rain and/or irrigation systems into groundwater and waterways. They are detected regularly in sampling of the nation’s waterways at concentrations that exceed acute and chronic toxicity values for sensitive organisms (as laid out in Beyond Pesticides “deep dive” report). Through a 2017 risk assessment, EPA found that “[C]oncentrations of imidacloprid detected in streams, rivers, lakes and drainage canals routinely exceed acute and chronic toxicity endpoints derived for freshwater invertebrates.” Imidacloprid, one of the oldest neonics in commercial use, is especially persistent in aquatic environments and does not biodegrade easily; its half-life in water is generally longer than 30 days.

The neonic contamination of waterways — in California and across the nation — is very concerning because these compounds pose serious threats to keystone aquatic organisms, and can result in a complex, cascading impact on ecosystems. Aquatic insects and crustaceans are highly sensitive to neonicotinoids; the mayfly, a keystone species, has been identified as the most sensitive.

As Beyond Pesticides’ Poisoned Waterways report notes, “Impacts on aquatic invertebrates can have cascading effects on food webs and healthy ecosystem function. [Even] low-level, sublethal exposures can result in decreases in species abundance, altered predator-prey relationships, [and] reduced water filtration and nutrient cycling.” In addition, it points out that current federal aquatic life benchmarks for neonics may underestimate the risks: standard test organisms used by EPA to establish these benchmarks are, by orders of magnitude, more tolerant of neonicotinoid exposure than other vulnerable species.

Beyond impacts on aquatic life, terrestrial insects, pollinators, birds, and bats, neonics — touted by the agrochemical industry as safe for mammals — nevertheless are associated with a host of human health issues, including reproductive and endocrine system harms; possible renal, hepatic, developmental, and neurological damage; and possibly, indirect carcinogenic impacts related to the endocrine system.

In response to this new CDPR dataset, Environment America’s Conservation Program Director Steve Blackledge commented, “Every Californian knows the importance of having access to safe, clean water. Neonics like imidacloprid are causing harm not only to our pollinators and birds on land but also to our aquatic wildlife. Neonics are also being found in our bodies and despite being framed as ‘mammal-safe,’ recent research suggests that neonic exposures may increase the risk of developmental and neurological harms.”

EPA has been extremely negligent in taking protective action against the neonic family of insecticides. Indeed, in March 2022, Beyond Pesticides covered its draft decisions on the registration review of five neonics: imidacloprid, dinotefuran, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and acetamiprid. We wrote then, “Despite the agency’s own findings of evidence of serious threats to pollinators, aquatic invertebrates, and other wildlife, it issued interim decisions on these neonics . . . that disregard the science on the pesticides’ impacts. EPA appears to be prepared to finalize these registrations. . . . [T]his would, barring further action, extend the use of these harmful compounds for 15 years.” The schedule for the review processes for these compounds can be found here.

California legislators have passed a “Save the Bees Bill,” Assembly Bill 2146, which currently awaits the governor’s signature. The bill aims to end nonagricultural uses of neonics on lawns, golf courses, and home gardens, beginning in 2024. News outlet KSBW8 has opined that if signed, the enacted law “could significantly impact the Central Coast and its agriculture.” No doubt this would also be true for other regions, watersheds, and waterways in the state.

Environment California is encouraging Governor Gavin Newsom to sign the bill ASAP. Said the organization’s state director, Laura Deehan, “We want to make California the next state, and the largest, to take this important step. The bill already passed through the Legislature, so we’re now urging Gov. Newsom to sign the bill into law. We must prioritize the preservation of our pollinators over the short-term convenience of massive pesticide use.”

Beyond Pesticide agrees that Governor Newsom should sign this bill, which would enact some protections in the state against the ravages of neonic use. We encourage readers who live in California to contact the governor to advocate for his signature: 916.445.2841 or via the state website. Other states, localities, and entities have taken action to restrict uses of this class of pesticides, including Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Portland, Oregon, and Emory University. At the federal level it is imperative that EPA create much stronger regulation of neonics — a ban being the most protective of organisms, ecosystems, public health, and water resources.

Source: https://environmentamerica.org/california/media-center/pesticide-linked-to-bee-die-offs-found-in-californias-urban-waterways/

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

(Beyond Pesticides, September 22, 2022) A study published in the International Journal of English, Literature, and Social Science (IJELS) finds an association between pesticide exposure and anemia among female farmers in Indonesia. Anemia is an autoimmune blood disorder negatively affecting the number of red blood cells (RBCs) and subsequent oxygen distribution via available hemoglobin proteins in RBCs. Types of anemia include iron deficiency, pernicious (lack of vitamin B-12 absorption), aplastic (lack of RBC production), and hemolytic (RBC destruction). Although risk factors for anemia consist of age, genetics, lifestyle, and gender, environmental factors such as pesticide use and exposure contribute to disorder development. Pesticides can interfere with cells in the body, causing blood profile abnormalities that affect blood cell formation and immune system function.

Anemia disproportionately impacts women and children across the globe, prevalent in over half a billion women. The disorder was more prevalent among pregnant individuals because of blood loss and iron deficiency, causing adverse reproductive outcomes among children. These outcomes include preterm delivery, low birth weight, and decreased iron stores, impairing cognitive and motor development. Considering research already demonstrates many chemicals (e.g., pesticides, heavy metals) can enter the bloodstream through ingestion, absorption through the eyes and skin, or inhalation, studies like this highlight the importance of understanding how chemical accumulation in the body can impact long-term health and disease prognosis. The study notes, “The contribution of this study is to increase public understanding that exposure to contaminants in the environment, especially pesticides, can worsen health conditions including the incidence of anemia. So that the community can make efforts to prevent the incidence of anemia, especially related to exposure to pesticides.”

While many studies demonstrate pesticide use and exposure negatively affect farmworkers’ and children’s health, few examine the correlation between pesticide exposure and blood disorder incidents among women farmers. Using a cross-sectional design, a type of observational analysis, researchers measured the exposure and health outcomes of 50 women farmers in Bandungan Sub-District, Semarang District, Indonesia. The results demonstrate an association between the length of pesticide spraying, the number of pesticides, and the type of pesticides with anemia in women farmer participants.

Toxic compounds can transfer from the blood to other organs and vice versa. Over 300 environmental contaminants and their byproducts, including pesticides, are chemicals commonly present in human blood and urine samples and can increase adverse health risks when crossing the brain barrier. Several studies find pesticide compounds in a mother’s blood can transfer to the fetus via the umbilical cord. Furthermore, a 2021 study finds that pregnant women already have over 100 detectable chemicals in blood and umbilical cord samples, including banned persistent organic pollutants (POPs). However, 89 percent of these chemical contaminants are from unidentified sources, lack adequate information, or were not previously detectable in humans. Blood diseases and disorders can also represent precursors for other severe chronic diseases like cancer. For instance, women with chronic anemia are at greater risk for certain cancers and other serious illnesses. Moreover, persistent symptoms from anemia can increase the risk for fatigue, heart palpitations, headaches, mood changes, infertility, poor circulation, and heart failure in severe cases.

This study is one of the few to identify an association between pesticides and anemia development. Blood tests analyzed the effects pesticide use over three days has on health indicators. Pesticide exposure significantly affected the percentage of monocytes and red blood cells, hemoglobin, average blood cell volume, the average concentration of red blood cell hemoglobin, red blood cell distribution, platelet count, and width of platelet distribution. Although the study shows that effects on health indicators decreased after three days, this may not be the case for farmworkers consistently exposed to pesticides outside of their occupation.

In this study, after exposure to various organochlorine pesticides (e.g., DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, chlordane, and lindane) and organophosphate pesticides, individuals report greater incidents of aplastic anemia. However, studies find long-term exposure to permethrin and legacy organochlorine pesticides increase the risk of developing monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a blood disease that likely precedes multiple myeloma (MM)—a type of blood cancer. Therefore, the co-occurring risk of blood diseases can result in more severe health consequences and even death. 

It is vital to understand how exposure to environmental pollutants like pesticides can increase chronic disease risk, especially if these diseases can progress to more severe health consequences. Beyond Pesticides tracks the most recent studies on pesticide exposure through our Pesticide Induced Diseases Database (PIDD). This database supports the need for strategic action to shift away from pesticide dependency. For more information, see PIDD pages on body burdens, immune system disorders, sexual and reproductive dysfunction, and cancer, among others.

One way to reduce human and environmental contamination from pesticides is by buying, growing, and supporting organic. Numerous studies find that pesticide metabolite levels in urine significantly drop when switching to an all-organic diet. Furthermore, given the wide availability of non-pesticidal alternative strategies, families, and farmers can apply these methods to promote a safe and healthy environment, especially among chemically vulnerable individuals. For more information on how organic is the right choice for consumers, see the Beyond Pesticides webpage, Health Benefits of Organic Agriculture. Furthermore, learn more about farmworker protection by visiting Beyond Pesticide’s Agricultural Justice page.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: International Journal of English, Literature and Social Science (IJELS)

(Beyond Pesticides, September 21, 2022) Strawberry plants pollinated by wild bees exposed to neonicotinoid insecticides produce smaller berries than those pollinated by unexposed bees, finds research published in the journal PLOS One. The findings are yet another piece of evidence pointing to the need for major reforms in the way pesticides are evaluated and pollinators are protected in the United States. As decades of evidence have piled up on the dangers posed by long-lived, systemic, neonicotinoid insecticides, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done little to address the damage to pollinator populations, while needed legislation, the Saving America’s Pollinators Act, has languished in Congress without a hearing or a vote, despite having over 75 cosponsors.

This new study describes a novel consideration for how neonicotinoids may harm pollinators and impact the food supply. “Previous studies have shown that clothianidin affects wild bees negatively in terms of foraging speed, development and reproduction. Our results indicate that it can also impair the bees’ ability to pollinate strawberry flowers,” says study coauthor Lina Herbertsson, PhD.

Scientists established 12 outdoor cages each with 10 strawberry plants and 11 canola plants. For half of the cages, the canola plants were grown with seeds coated in the neonicotinoid clothianidin and the synthetic pyrethroid cyfluthrin. A small population (5 male, 4 female) of the generalist foraging mason bee Osmia bicornis was permitted to forage within each cage. While cyfluthrin poses a range of risks to pollinators and may run off into water supplies, it is not systemic. As a result, despite its presence as a seed coating, it does not make its way into the pollen and nectar that bees forage, and researchers evaluated the bees under the expectation they would only be exposed to clothianidin.

Observations began by following a female bee from nest to forage and back, but this became too time consuming. As a result, the approach was shifted to observations on the time it took the first female pollinator out of the nest to visit 10 different flowers. Researchers also specifically observed strawberry plant visitation over the course of two minute intervals, which included 34 different sessions over the course of 5 days. At the end of the experiment, strawberries were harvested when completely red and weighed. Canola plants were removed and tested to confirm the presence of clothianidin.

Data analysis shows no significant difference in foraging during the first stage of the experiment, but this changed when observations focused on time to forage 10 flowers. Bees feeding on canola that had been seed-treated with neonicotinoids foraged 10% slower than those in the unexposed canola cages. There were also outliers where exposed bees took nearly triple the average time to visit 10 flowers.

In addition to slowing the bees rate of forage, strawberry harvests were recorded to be between 8 and 13% lower in cages were bees foraged on neonicotinoid exposed canola. “We studied bees that ingested clothianidin, a pesticide that was previously used in rapeseed to control flea beetles. Our study indicates that the substance made the bees slower and impaired their ability to pollinate the strawberry flowers,” said Dr. Herbertsson.

Scientists also found that as females constructed nests, more than one third of those in exposed cages did not seal their nest hole with mud, a common practice for the species. All but one nest in the control cages performed this action.

Impaired pollination associated with neonicotinoid exposure has been recorded in past research, adding weight to the study results. A 2015 paper in Nature found that bumblebees exposed to thiamethoxam visited apples less often and collected less pollen when they did. Critically, this resulted in apples with fewer seeds. Likewise, research published in 2016 in the journal Functional Ecology found that neonicotinoid exposure altered bumblebee foraging behavior of wild plants, affecting their ability to learn how to extract nectar and pollen, and causing them to take longer to do so.  

While decreases in foraging efficiency may not seem significant at first glace, extrapolating these data alongside real-world observations brings the problem into sharp contrast. In 2020, a study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B found that wild pollinator declines in the U.S. are already limiting crop production. This problem is quantifiable – with researchers finding the value of wild pollination services at $1.5 billion annually, with all pollinator-dependent crops totaling $50 billion each year. At the global scale, production of crops dependent on pollinators is worth between $253 and $577 billion. Even these numbers mask the true extent of how precarious a world with fewer, and less efficient pollinators would be. According to research published in PLOS One in 2015, such a world would be subject to rampant malnutrition. As lack of pollination reduces crop yields, access healthy crops like strawberries, apples, and others is likely to become accessible only to the wealthiest individuals in a given region.

We can avoid these worst case scenarios by making sure our leaders take this research seriously, and act upon these real and present risks. It is unacceptable for the U.S. to be a straggler on this issue, failing to meaningfully restrict neonicotinoids while the European Union eliminated them in 2018. As U.S. regulators and politicians fret over short-term impacts to farmers from the loss of a chemical tool, we are piece by piece losing our long-term ability to produce healthy, nutritious food. The Saving America’s Pollinators Act would address the pollinator crisis by eliminating neonicotinoids and establishing a board of experts without chemical industry influence to review pesticides for their impacts to pollinator health or habitat. Despite being introduced each year now for roughly a decade, and consistently attracting dozens of co-sponsors, members of the House Agriculture committee have still not even given the legislation a proper hearing. Help build momentum for this bill in Congress by urging your Representative to take action before it is too late.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Lund University press release, PLOS One

(Beyond Pesticides, September 20, 2022) A federal court this month declared that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acted unlawfully in allowing food retailers to label genetically engineered (GE, or GMO) foods with only a “QR” code. The decision, made by U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, comes as a result of a lawsuit against USDA by a coalition of nonprofits led by Center for Food Safety, along with organic retailers Natural Grocers and Puget Consumers Co-op. “This is a win for the American family. They can now make fully informed shopping decisions instead of being forced to use detective work to understand what food labels are hiding,” said Alan Lewis, Vice President for Advocacy and Governmental Affairs at Natural Grocers. “The public’s rejection of hidden GMOs has been weighed by the Court to be greater than the agrochemical industry’s desire to hide GMOs behind incomprehensible bureaucratic rules.”

In 2016, Congress passed the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standards Act, which established federal standards around labeling GE foods. That bill, dubbed by GE transparency advocates as the DARK (Denying Americans the Right to Know) Act, was the result of a deal between U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MO) and Pat Roberts (R-KS), and widely seen as an effort to block a strong GE labeling law passed by the state of Vermont as part of a wave of grassroots advocacy around the issue. Under the new law, all state-level GE labeling efforts became preempted (prohibited) by federal law, a weak definition of “biotechnology” provided several loopholes, and food retailers were to be given a choice of labeling options to be determined by USDA.

Congress mandated that USDA study the challenges associated with using electronic or digital “QR” code links. Based on the study, the USDA Secretary was to determine whether consumers would have sufficient access to information about the presence of GE materials in one’s food. If not, the Secretary was required to consult with retailers and provide additional disclosure options.

USDA refused to release the results of this study when it was completed. It took a 2017 lawsuit from Center for Food Safety to force the department’s hand, resulting in a public release less than two weeks after the legal challenge was launched. The study found that low-income, rural, and elderly Americans were most likely to encounter technological challenges in receiving information from a QR code. Reasons include lack of equipment like a smartphone, unreliable internet connections, and difficulty using QR technology. In general, it found Americans of all ages and backgrounds to be unfamiliar with QR codes.

The USDA study did find that over half of U.S. adults care and want to know whether their food is genetically engineered, a figure that cut across region, age, gender, and income. Yet USDA’s takeaway was not to embrace transparency, but instead the discriminatory approach of QR codes that keeps low-income, rural, and elderly Americans in the dark. Further, instead of utilizing the term genetically engineered or genetically modified organisms, names most Americans are familiar with, the department opted to have these products labeled as “bioengineered.” In its original proposal, USDA went as far as to suggest the use of a happy, smiling sun that would read either “bioengineered” or “may be bioengineered food.”

USDA significantly curtailed foods subject to the disclosure requirement, allowing a range of loopholes for manufacturers to avoid labeling foods that may in fact contain GE ingredients. For instance, foods that list either meat, poultry, eggs, broth, stock or water as the first ingredient are not required to be labeled, even if other ingredients in the product are GE. Even more egregiously, food products containing “refined” GE ingredients (such as oil from GE soybeans, or candy bars with high fructose corn syrup from GE corn) do not require disclosure as long as the refining process is “validated” by USDA.

CFS’s lawsuit challenged USDA on all of these aspects. “Americans deserve nothing less than clear on-package labeling, the way food has always been labeled,” said CFS legal director George Kimbrell. “Allowing companies to hide genetically engineered ingredients behind a website or QR code is discriminatory and unworkable.”

The court victory requires USDA to revise portions of its rules implementing GE disclosure, removing the option to use QR codes on the package, and adding an additional disclosure option that is accessible to all Americans. However, the court is continuing to permit USDA to use the unfamiliar term “bioengineered.” It also took no action on USDA’s loopholes for “highly refined” products. CFS indicates it is not ruling out an appeal on those unaddressed issues.

“We are very gratified that the District Court has acknowledged the flawed nature of the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard and has removed at least one of the very egregious aspects of it from the labeling standard,” said Mark Squire, co-owner and manager of Good Earth Natural Foods. “We will continue to fight for complete honesty and transparency in food labeling.”

Lax regulations are permitting more and more GE foods in the aisles of American supermarkets. Just recently, USDA approved a GE purple tomato, an unnecessary invention that adds pigments widely found in other fruits and vegetables. Yet most concerning among GE crops are those developed to withstand repeated spraying with highly hazardous pesticides. Not only are these crops likely to contain higher levels of toxic chemicals that threaten public health, but they also result in indirect damage to wildlife, water quality, and the wider environment.

Beyond Pesticides has long maintained that consumers should be able to discern whether the products they purchase are putting themselves or the local community where the crops were grown at risk. For more information on GE agriculture and the decades long fight for GE labeling transparency, see Beyond Pesticides’ Genetic Engineering program page.

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.

Source: Center for Food Safety press release

(Beyond Pesticides, September 19, 2022) Schools have been deeply concerned about providing safety from COVID-19, but often overlook that the toxic pesticides to which students, teachers, and other staff may be exposed in going back to school threaten their health, both short- and long-term. Beyond Pesticides identifies the health hazards that pesticides pose to the nervous, immune, and respiratory systems, as well as brain function, and their association with cancer and other chronic effects. At the same time, practical, and cost-effective pest management practices are available that do not utilize toxic pesticides (including disinfectants).

Tell your Governor to ensure that children, teachers, and staff in all schools throughout your state are protected from toxic chemicals.

Children face unique hazards from pesticide exposure. In the food they eat and the air they breathe, children take in greater amounts of pesticides (relative to their body weight) than adults, and their developing organ systems are typically more sensitive to toxic exposures. Children also come into closer contact with chemicals than adults, as a result of crawling behavior and hand to mouth contact.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a landmark report on children and pesticide use, wrote, “Children encounter pesticides daily and have unique susceptibilities to their potential toxicity. Acute poisoning risks are clear, and understanding of chronic health implications from both acute and chronic exposure is emerging. Epidemiologic evidence demonstrates associations between early life exposure to pesticides and pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive function, and behavioral problems.” Infants and toddlers in childcare are at risk of developmental delays.

The body of evidence in the scientific literature shows that pesticide exposure can adversely affect a child’s neurological, respiratory, immune, and endocrine system, even at low exposure levels. Several pesticide families, such as synthetic pyrethroids, organophosphates, and carbamates, are also known to cause or exacerbate respiratory symptoms like asthma. See the scientific references on why Children and Pesticides Don’t Mix.

As the science on the dangers that pesticides pose to public health continue to mount, school administrators, staff, and parents are working to change practices for the better. More and more school buildings and grounds are employing ecological pest management principles that focus on prevention, rather than the regular use of toxic pesticides.

Custodial staff and pest managers can ManageSafe by following simple steps. These include properly identifying pests, setting action or damage thresholds, monitoring and recordkeeping, and the use of structural, mechanical, cultural, and biological controls before using even least-toxic pesticides or organic compatible products. These principles can be applied to both indoor and outdoor environments, with ecological and organic methods.

In the indoor environment, an ecological pest management approach focuses on fostering a culture of pest prevention among both students and staff. It’s nothing special – just emphasize building good habits, such as cleaning up after eating, storing food in sealed containers, not leaving food or water out, and other methods that eliminate a pest’s access to food, water, or shelter.

In the outdoor environment, the organic principles apply with a focus is fostering healthy soils. School groundskeepers and landscapers play a pivotal role in this process. Rather than reaching for a chemical when a weed appears, the organic approach cultivates healthy soil biology through practices that work with, rather than against nature. We can help improve turfgrass resilience to pest and weed intrusions by caring for building the soil biological life and organic matter. Combine the use of natural soil supplements with cultural practices like mowing high, aeration, and overseeding. All of this leads to long-term cost savings from eliminating pesticides and fertilizers that are replaced by natural cycling of nutrients, and reduced watering because of increased soil tilth and water retention. In sum, these practices will save schools money and prevent children’s exposure to toxic pesticides while they focus on learning.

Tell your Governor to ensure that children, teachers, and staff in all schools throughout your state are protected from toxic chemicals.

Letter to Governor:

I am writing to ask you to ensure that our children are safe from toxic pesticides as they go back to school. Our schools have been deeply concerned about providing safety from COVID-19. Let’s not forget the toxic pesticides to which students, teachers, and other staff may be exposed. Please ask the Superintendent of Schools and your Commissioner of Education to eliminate pesticides from our schools.

Children face unique hazards from pesticide exposure. In the food they eat and the air they breathe, children take in greater amounts of pesticides (relative to their body weight) than adults, and their developing organ systems are typically more sensitive to toxic exposures. Children also come into closer contact with chemicals than adults, as a result of crawling behavior and hand to mouth contact.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a landmark report on children and pesticide use, wrote, “Children encounter pesticides daily and have unique susceptibilities to their potential toxicity. Acute poisoning risks are clear, and understanding of chronic health implications from both acute and chronic exposure is emerging. Epidemiologic evidence demonstrates associations between early life exposure to pesticides and pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive function, and behavioral problems.”  

The body of evidence in the scientific literature shows that pesticide exposure can adversely affect a child’s neurological, respiratory, immune, and endocrine system, even at low exposure levels. Several pesticide families, such as synthetic pyrethroids, organophosphates, and carbamates, are also known to cause or exacerbate respiratory symptoms like asthma.

As the science on the dangers that pesticides pose to public health continue to mount, school administrators, staff, and parents are working to change practices for the better. More and more school buildings and grounds are employing ecological pest management principles that focus on prevention, rather than the regular use of toxic pesticides.

Custodial staff and pest managers can ManageSafe by following simple steps. These include properly identifying pests, setting action or damage thresholds, monitoring and recordkeeping, and the use of structural, mechanical, cultural, and biological controls before using even least-toxic pesticides or organic compatible products. These principles can be applied to both indoor and outdoor environments, with ecological and organic methods.

In the indoor environment, an ecological pest management approach focuses on fostering a culture of pest prevention among both students and staff. It’s nothing special – just emphasize building good habits, such as cleaning up after eating, storing food in sealed containers, not leaving food or water out, and other methods that eliminate a pest’s access to food, water, or shelter.

In the outdoor environment, the organic principles apply with a focus is fostering healthy soils. School groundskeepers and landscapers play a pivotal role in this process. Rather than reaching for a chemical when a weed appears, the organic approach cultivates healthy soil biology through practices that work with, rather than against nature. We can help improve turfgrass resilience to pest and weed intrusions by caring for building the soil biological life and organic matter. Combine the use of natural soil supplements with cultural practices like mowing high, aeration, and overseeding. All of this leads to long-term cost savings from eliminating pesticides and fertilizers that are replaced by natural cycling of nutrients, and reduced watering because of increased soil tilth and water retention. In sum, these practices will save schools money and prevent children’s exposure to toxic pesticides while they focus on learning.

Please tell the state school superintendent to eliminate pesticides. Further information is available at: https://www.beyondpesticides.org/programs/children-and-schools/hazards-of-pesticides.

Thank you.

(Beyond Pesticides, September 16, 2022) A report issued on September 7 analyzes the U.S. regulatory structure that is supposed to protect agricultural workers from the harms of pesticide use. Its conclusion? The current, “complex system of enforcement . . . lacks the capacity to effectively protect farmworkers. . . . [and] the cooperative agreement[s] between federal and state agencies makes it nearly impossible to ensure implementation of the federal Worker Protection Standard.” The report, Exposed and At Risk: Opportunities to Strengthen Enforcement of Pesticide Regulations for Farmworker Safety, was developed by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School, in partnership with the nonprofit advocacy group, Farmworker Justice. Beyond Pesticides’ coverage of farmworker exposure to pesticides and resultant harms began in the late 1970s; it continues today, most recently with attention to incidence of kidney damage, systemic racism in the farmworker policies of EPA (the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and extra risks endured by farmworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exposed and At Risk is issued as part of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) Food System Workers Law and Policy Project. Previously, CAFS issued a report in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, titled, Essentially Unprotected: A Focus on Farmworker Health Laws and Policies Addressing Pesticide Exposure and Heat-Related Illness. The report authors, in addition to executing extensive other research, conducted interviews and gathered “stories from the fields” in Washington, Illinois, Florida, and California.

Pesticide risks to agricultural workers (and pesticide applicators) are significant. The farming sector uses roughly 90% of the one billion pounds of various pesticides deployed annually in the U.S. (across all sectors). Thus, agricultural workers are regularly exposed, at atypically high rates, to chemicals that can pose considerable safety and health risks to humans (in addition to their impacts on the environment, non-human organisms, and ecosystems broadly). These risks to farmworkers and pesticide applicators are made worse, according to the report, by inadequate training in handling pesticides, and subsequent improper handling and application “in the farm field” or on other kinds of sites, as well as by bureaucratic, regulatory, and policy issues, as detailed below.

The federal Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is the premier regulation, authorized under a provision of FIFRA (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act), for protection of farmworkers and pesticide handlers from “pesticide poisonings and injuries.” Although the WPS is a federal regulation, it is largely administered by states through “cooperative agreements” — negotiated with states by EPA’s 10 regional offices — that allow states to enact enforce federal pesticide protections (e.g., via WPS and FIFRA). Farmworkers are uniquely not generally covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The chief goal of these cooperative agreements is to enforce federal law and tailor the enforcement to regional/state needs. Typically, a state will task a lead agency, such as a department of agriculture, with primary enforcement responsibility (more on this below). These state systems (of enforcement) vary widely, exacerbating the risks to agricultural workers, causing disproportionate risks from one state to the next, and in some cases, reflecting what the report calls, “the persistent realities of systemic racism and the routine dehumanization of noncitizen workers.” For more about pesticides and structural racism, read Beyond Pesticides’ 2021 reporting, Disproportionate Pesticide Harm Is Racial Injustice / Documenting Victimization: Structural Racism.

The CAFS report outlines the parameters of how this all works: “As with many environmental laws in the United States, the federal government sets broad national standards and works cooperatively with states to enforce them. In addition, states may enact laws regarding the use of pesticides, with the caveat that FIFRA expressly preempts states from creating supplemental or different labeling requirements. However, FIFRA provides only the floor of protection for the issues states are not preempted from regulating. This means, for example, that states can prohibit use of a pesticide that EPA would otherwise allow, but it cannot allow use of a pesticide that is prohibited by EPA.”

Beyond Pesticides has written that the original, 1974 WPS “offered virtually no occupational safety standards for workers being exposed to highly toxic pesticides.” Indeed, in 1983, EPA finally and “officially” found it inadequate to offer adequate protections, but it was not until 1992 that the agency updated the regulation. (Read about the role Beyond Pesticides played in the 1983 assessment here.) We wrote: “Those 1992 updates to the WPS were intended to eliminate or reduce exposure to pesticides, mitigate exposures that occur, and inform employees about the hazards of pesticides. Despite these intentions, the updated WPS still did not adequately protect farmworkers.”

In 2015, the Obama EPA again updated the WPS, this time strengthening the regulation via, for example, more training for handlers, and a minimum age at which children would be allowed to work around pesticides. Then, the Trump administration weakened the standard, including reducing protections via Application Exclusion Zones (AEZs, or buffer zones), which were to have gone into effect in late 2020. In early 2021, the federal GAO (Government Accountability Office) issued a report asserting that EPA was failing to administer the 2015 changes to WPS effectively.

In early 2021, Beyond Pesticides noted that the protection of farmworkers from the threats of pesticide exposures had been the subject of multiple recent developments and actions, including a finalized rollback of aspects of EPA’s pesticide Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) rules; a temporary stay on implementation of those rule changes by SDNY; the recommendations from GAO mentioned above; and advocacy by Beyond Pesticides and others, including Farmworker Justice and Earthjustice. Beyond Pesticides has called attention to the inadequate state of farmworker protections from pesticides, and advocated for robust regulation to ensure the health of these essential workers, including extra protections during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Another of those developments was 2020’s litigation against EPA, by a five-state coalition led by New York’s Attorney General Letitia James, for the agency’s retrograde October 2020 rule on AEZs. The suit argued that “EPA violated federal law when it adopted a regulation that allows pesticide spraying to continue even if farmworkers or other persons are within the area immediately surrounding the spraying equipment, if that area is outside the farm’s boundaries.” Plaintiffs added that the AEZ regulation “puts many more people at significant risk of dangerous exposures to pesticides,” and that EPA was “ignoring its obligation to identify and address the disproportionately high and adverse effects of this policy change on minority and low-income populations.”

Ms. James commented, at the time of the announcement, that pesticides are “extremely dangerous to the health of farming communities. . . . Trump’s EPA knowingly increased the risk that farmworkers, their families, and others will be exposed to these dangerous chemicals. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, farming communities have been our front-line workers, underpinning our economy and ensuring we have enough food on our tables. To further endanger their health and safety is as unconscionable as it is illegal.”

An important aspect of the CAFS report’s findings is that, even with regulations and laws for farmworker protection in place — such as the federal WPS — enforcement of these is weak. In a fairly clear “fox and henhouse” example, the report notes that, often, the very state agencies (such as agriculture departments) that are charged with enforcement of federal and state pesticide laws are also the entities whose tasks include promotion of the state’s agriculture sector and its economic interests. Thus, the report opines that “the agencies charged with pesticide regulation at the state and federal level may not be the best suited for this [enforcement] role. Further, because the current enforcement system lacks capacity to inspect all farms, the likelihood of catching violators is low, resulting in frequent violations by growers.”

The report names multiple problems the research has unearthed in its section titled, “Effect of our Current Structure of Pesticide Regulation Enforcement” (p. 22):

• inappropriate agencies take the lead on pesticide regulation enforcement at the federal and state levels
• different agencies sharing some degree of regulatory jurisdiction can create confusion
• substantial discrepancies between data reported by EPA and the states make it difficult to understand the performance of pesticide regulation enforcement programs
• EPA rarely exercises its authority to conduct inspections
• EPA has failed to issue standard expectations for state enforcement programs
• EPA lacks meaningful recourse to discipline states for poor enforcement
• states lack sufficient mandatory reporting requirements
• the rate of state inspections is low and many inspections are substandard
• nationally, the rate of violations resulting from inspections is high while the rate of enforcement actions taken in response to violations is low
• penalties for violations are disproportionately low
• farmworker victims of WPS violations have limited individual recourse for enforcement and no opportunities to receive support under FIFRA

Exposed and At Risk notes that, not only is there often inadequate state agency response to reported worker protection violations, but also, that farmworkers themselves are frequently reluctant to report violations of such regulations because of poor access to resources and/or fear of retaliation or even deportation. According to a press release from Vermont Law and Graduate School, the report “identifies gaps in pesticide safety enforcement and proposes a set of policy recommendations that were formulated with the lived experience of farmworkers in mind,” and focuses on recommendations to address structural flaws in the enforcement system.

The reports introduces its recommendations with this: “To ensure that [farmworkers] receive sufficient health and safety protection, significant social, cultural, and political conditions must be addressed. At a minimum, the regulatory system that has the potential to protect them should not be working against them. To start, law and policymakers must address the structural flaws in pesticide law enforcement. The following recommendations reflect steps that can be taken to further this objective.” The report goes on to make recommendations to Congress, to EPA, and to states:

1. Congress should:

• restore partial jurisdiction over the regulation of pesticide-related occupational hazards to OSHA (the federal Occupational, Safety and Health Administration) to ensure better coordination between OSHA and EPA
• consider amending FIFRA to model other environmental statutes administered by EPA
• grant EPA greater authority to respond to states failing to meet enforcement goals, including the authority to impose sanctions related to the agriculture industry
• appropriate more funds to NIOSH’s SENSOR program to support states in consistently reporting data on acute pesticide-related illness and to expand the number of states in the program

2. EPA should:

• incorporate more “pick-list” program areas (see p. 13 of the report) into its required program area list, especially those areas that affect human health and safety, such as spray drift and emerging public health pesticide issues
• through its rulemaking process, engage stakeholders in order to understand what factors are most important in assessing compliance with WPS (e.g., number of exposures, quality of response to exposures, etc.), and establish clear metrics through which it can measure that compliance
• issue mandatory and universal standards for inspections and responses to violations, at least for federally funded enforcement activities
• mandate “whole of program” annual reporting as a condition of receiving federal grants
• require that state lead agencies for pesticide regulation enforcement be departments of labor, departments dedicated to pesticide regulation, or another department whose main priority is human health and safety
• Also, regional EPA offices should conduct more inspections as part of their routine oversight duties; EPA should consider a public-private partnership to fulfill this obligation.

3. States should:

• streamline their administration of pesticide regulations
• commit to reducing the influence of industry over pesticide regulation
• implement a neighbor notification system to reduce the incidence of exposure caused by pesticide drift, and receive federal assistance to do so
• implement mandatory reporting requirements, both for pesticide use and for incidents of pesticide exposure
• conduct more routine inspections without providing advance notice to growers

Additional recommendations are (1) state legislatures should grant state departments of health more authority to conduct inspections and investigations of suspected pesticide exposure incidents, independent of the state’s designated lead agency; and (2) penalties for violations of the WPS (or state-equivalent regulations) should be increased to reflect the grave harm caused to human health and safety.

This report responds to the somewhat chaotic state of enforcement of pesticide regulations across the country. Its recommendations would likely be helpful in addressing the risks experienced by farmworkers and others vocationally exposed to pesticides. (See Beyond Pesticides’ webpage on Agricultural Justice.)

That said, Beyond Pesticides maintains that a far better use of the energy, time, and expense that goes into evaluating and regulating pesticides, and enforcing rules about them, would be to undertake the broad and necessary transition away from toxic synthetic pesticide use and to employment of organic regenerative agricultural systems. Organic practices avoid industrial agriculture’s reliance on these chemical pesticide inputs (and on harmful synthetic fertilizers). They have been proven to be successful, cost-effective, and beneficial for soil health, the environment, the food supply, public health, biodiversity, climate, and natural resources.

The removal of toxic pesticides from agriculture through adoption of these practices would also be a huge boon for farmworkers, on whose work we all depend for sustenance, and who deserve a work environment free of pesticide risks and harms. To these ends, please join Beyond Pesticides, participate for the balance of our 2022 National Forum Series on Health, Biodiversity, and Climate, and/or reach out to us about pesticide concerns for your own community.

Sources: https://www.vermontlaw.edu/news-and-events/newsroom/press-release/new-report-exposes-significant-gaps-in-pesticide-safety and https://www.vermontlaw.edu/sites/default/files/2022-09/Exposed-and-At-Risk.pdf

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.