(Beyond Pesticides, May 20, 2010) Dioxins derived from the antibacterial agent triclosan account for an increasing proportion of total dioxins found in water: researchers at the University of Minnesota found that though levels of all other dioxins have dropped by 73-90% over the last thirty years, the levels of four different dioxins derived from triclosan have risen by 200-300%. The study, which was a collaborative effort between researchers at the University of Minnesota, Pace Analytical (Minneapolis), the Science Museum of Minnesota and Virginia Tech appears in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Leading the research is the recent Ph.D. graduate in chemistry, Jeff Buth and supervisors William Arnold, a civil engineering professor, and his colleague Krostopher McNeill, all from University of Minnesota. Researchers looked at sediment core samples that contained pollution accumulation records from the past 50 years from Lake Pepin, a part of the Mississippi River 120 miles downstream from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. The sediment samples were then analyzed for triclosan, the four dioxins that are derived from triclosan and the entire family of dioxin chemicals. In papers published in 2003 and 2009, Dr. Arnold and Dr. McNeill discovered that triclosan, when exposed to sunlight, generated a […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 19, 2010) EPA has announced plans to place additional limitations on the use of three N-methyl carbamate pesticides — carbaryl, carbofuran and methomyl — to protect endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. The decision comes after manufacturers of the chemicals diazinon, malathion and chlorpyrifos refused to adopt the limits voluntarily. The new protections are based on recommendations by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in their April 2009 Biological Opinion relative to use of the three pesticides to ensure no likely jeopardy to 28 threatened or endangered Pacific salmon and steelhead species. In a May 14, 2010 letter to NMFS, EPA explains how the Agency plans to achieve protection goals through the methods outlined by NMFS in the Biological Opinion or by alternative methods that EPA’s scientific analyses determined will achieve the same purpose. For example, EPA will require pesticide drift buffers adjacent to salmon and steelhead habitat but will impose different width buffers, some wider and others narrower than those recommended by NMFS, depending on factors that affect how far the pesticide might drift from the application site. In correspondence to the EPA […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 18, 2010) A team of scientists from the University of Montreal and Harvard University have discovered that exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with increased risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the study focused on 1,139 children from the general U.S. population and measured pesticide breakdown product levels in their urine. The authors conclude that exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, at levels common among U.S. children, may contribute to a diagnosis of ADHD. “Previous studies have shown that exposure to some organophosphate compounds cause hyperactivity and cognitive deficits in animals,” says lead author Maryse F. Bouchard, a professor at the University of Montreal Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and scientist at the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center. “Our study found that exposure to organophosphates in developing children might have effects on neural systems and could contribute to ADHD behaviors, such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.” Marc Weisskopf, PhD, ScD, another study author told Reuters, “What this paper specifically highlights is that this may be true even at low concentrations.” For children with a 10-fold increase in the concentration of the most common dialkyl phosphate metabolites […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 13, 2010) Recent tests find that mosquitoes that are insensitive to DEET, the pesticide commonly used to repel the pesky flying insect, can pass this characteristic as a genetic trait onto their offspring. The findings are published in the May 3 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In order to hunt for blood, female mosquitoes use their antenna to locate humans; however, according to researchers, DEET temporarily destroys an insect’s sense of smell by hindering the function of certain odor receptors. The researchers observed which insects bit DEET-treated human arms and discovered that a gene alteration prohibited a sensory cell on the bugs’ antennae from detecting the chemical. “There is something in the antenna they use to smell that reacted differently,” Dr. Nina Stanczyk of Rothhamstead Research, an agricultural research center in the U.K., told the Toronto Star. Scientists studied one species of DEET-insensitive mosquitoes, the Aedes aegypti, a species that carry the diseases yellow fever and dengue fever. When mutated females were bred with males of unknown sensitivity in tests, the quantity of mosquitoes that were insensitive to DEET rose from 13 to 50 percent in one generation. Though scientists are […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 12, 2010) Disturbed to learn that an advisory committee in his community in Boulder, Colorado had approved two new herbicides for use on city parks, a 9-year-old environmental activist organized a group of some two dozen children to protest the potential use of the herbicides in front of the Boulder County Courthouse last Friday. Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez is a third grader who loves playing kickball and baseball in Boulder city parks. But then he heard that the advisory committee had approved two new herbicides for use on city parks. “I didn’t think it was right,” he said. “The children of this generation should be able to grow up without worrying about the air they’re breathing or the grass they’re playing on.” The Integrated Pest Management Subcommittee – made up of representatives of three city boards – recommended that Boulder add the herbicides, Tenacity and Barricade, to the list of allowed turf treatments. Xiuhtezcatl organized a group of some two dozen children to protest the potential use of the herbicides. They gathered Friday in front of the Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall waving hand-lettered signs that read “Let us play in clean parks,” “We love dandelions” […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 6, 2010) The European Commission has announced that triclosan has been formally withdrawn from the European list for use as a food contact additive; however, plastic materials that are intended to come in contact with food and placed on the market before November 2010 may still be sold until November 2011. The decision follows the European Union’s 2009 regulations to impose limits on the amount of triclosan contained in cosmetics. Ciba, the Swiss-based company that is a subsidiary of BASF, announced last year that they had withdrawn the application of triclosan as a food contact additive so that they could instead focus their sales in the personal hygiene, health care and medical device sector. The company declared this to be a “strategic business decision” and declared that triclosan use as as an additive in plastics intended to come into contact with food was no longer “appropriate.” In the U.S. in 2009, Ciba requested a voluntarily cancellation of the registrations for the technical grade triclosan regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and incorporated into plastics and textiles. Ciba continues to market triclosan for medical and personal care products, which are regulated by the U.S. Food and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 4, 2010) On April 30, 2010, despite significant cancer and reproductive health risk, especially to farmworkers and people living near agricultural fields, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) proposed the use of a new and highly toxic pesticide, methyl iodide, for widespread agricultural use in California. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registered methyl iodide in 2007 as a replacement for the ozone-depleting pesticide, methyl bromide. Environmental and public health advocates believe that blocking methyl iodide registration in California will prevent its use elsewhere, since the state will account for the vast majority usage and profitability nationwide. Public comments may be sent to [email protected]. If registered, methyl iodide will be used primarily to fumigate and sterilize the California’s strawberry fields, although the pesticide will also be used in nurseries and nut tree production. DPR’s proposal does not require neighbor notification before use of this extremely toxic chemical. As evidenced by California’s thriving organic industry, alternatives to fumigants exist and are in use in California. In a hearing on February 8, 2010, before the California Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture, two panels of California growers and researchers discussed a number of safe and effective alternatives to […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 30, 2010) The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in a case that prohibited Monsanto from selling genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa seed. A decision on the case of Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, the first time the Supreme Court has heard a case involving a genetically engineered crop, is expected in late June. The Center for Food Safety filed suit in 2006 on behalf of a coalition of organic farmers and environmental groups including Beyond Pesticides, arguing that the USDA violated the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) when it approved deregulation of GE alfalfa without an environmental impact statement (EIS). Roundup Ready Alfalfa is genetically engineered to resist the herbicide Glyphosate, sold by Monsanto under the trade name Roundup. Alfalfa is a bee pollinated crop used primarily for forage. The potential for cross pollination between GE and non-GE varieties of alfalfa is much higher than in other crops such as corn, because of the way Alfalfa is pollinated. In 2007, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordered a moratorium on GE alfalfa until the USDA completed an EIS. The USDA released a draft EIS in December of 2009 again calling for deregulation of the crop. […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 28, 2010) Having already requested the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) to assess whether an association can be found between the use of triclosan in cosmetic products and the development of resistance by certain micro-organisms, the European Commission is launching a public consultation on the preliminary opinion, which found in March that, “ Low concentrations of triclosan can trigger the expression of resistance and cross-resistance mechanisms in bacteria in vitro”¦.[which] warrants further investigation.” The preliminary report from the SCCS, entitled “Preliminary opinion on triclosan (Antimicrobial Resistance),” was published in March 2010 and open to comment. The committee was asked to answer the question: “Does the SCCS consider a continued use of triclosan as a preservative in cosmetic products as safe taking into account the new provided documentation of resistance development by certain micro-organisms and cross-resistance?” The SCCS also found that, “Some reported environmental concentrations in a number of geographically distinct areas are high enough to suggest that such triggering of bacterial resistance could also occur in the environment. This warrants further investigation.” However, it continues, “The applications of triclosan which contribute to those high environmental concentrations cannot be properly identified nor quantified at present.” As a […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 27, 2010) On April 22, 2010, Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) introduced H.R.5124, legislation to prohibit the use, production, sale, importation, or exportation of any pesticide containing atrazine. The bill’s introduction coincides with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) meeting this week to reevaluate the human health effects of the popular endocrine disrupting herbicide. Environmentalists point to the 2003-2006 reregistration of atrazine as a prime example of the broken system of pesticide regulation in the U.S. and call on EPA to reassess atrazine fairly and for consumers to support an end to all unnecessary pesticide use by supporting organic whenever possible. “On this 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, I can think of no better tribute to our planet and our people than protecting it from known harmful chemicals,” Rep. Ellison said. “No one should ever have to worry if the water they drink is making them sick or preventing fertility.” Rep. Ellison’s bill cites widespread environmental contamination, health and environmental effects, as well as bans in other countries, as justification for the ban. The current SAP meeting follows EPA’s October 2009 announcement that it would begin a new evaluation of atrazine to determine its effects […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 26, 2010) With the growing number of viable, cost-effective alternative pest management strategies, it has never been easier for schools to eliminate the unnecessary use of toxic pesticide in school buildings and on school grounds. In celebration of Healthy School Day, an annual event coordinated by the Healthy Schools Network, Beyond Pesticides, one of the event’s 25 co-sponsors, asks parents, school staff and administrators, government agencies, community activists, and those in political office to demand that our nation’s schools do a better job at providing environmentally safe schools for children. In the absence of federal law, such as the proposed School Environment Protection Act (SEPA), some states and local school districts have attempted to provide children with the protection they need from hazardous pesticide exposure while at school, yet the level of protection is uneven and inadequate across the country, with the majority of children left unprotected. There is no reason to expose children to hazardous pesticides and cleaning agents. The tools and experience are available to ensure environmentally safe schools for all children. “The vulnerability of infants and children to the harmful effects of pesticides continues to attract national attention. Schools from across the country document […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 22, 2010) In a new consumer factsheet posted April 8, 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) attempts to moderate the position it took in a February 23, 2010 letter to Congress in which it said, “[E]xisting data raise valid concerns about the effects of repetitive daily human exposure to these antiseptic ingredients” and “FDA shares your concerns over the potential effects of triclosan and triclocarban as endocrine disruptors that has emerged since we issued the TFM [Tentative Final Monograph] in 1994.” Instead, in bureaucractic-speak FDA is now saying, “[T]riclosan is not currently known to be hazardous to humans.” Safety advocates say that the FDA’s latest statement creates public confusion as the triclosan market continues to grow and manufacturers in the soap and cosmetics industry daily push misleading advertising claims about the protection from bacteria attributed to the toxic ingredient triclosan. While equivocating on the science on triclosan’s adverse effects, FDA does question the efficacy of the widely marketed triclosan products with the statement, “At this time the agency does not have evidence that triclosan in antibacterial soaps and body washes provides any benefit over washing with regular soap and water.” The new FDA factsheet, featured […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 20, 2010) Communities from six states filed a lawsuit last month in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Swiss chemical giant Syngenta AG and its American counterpart Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., the makers of Atrazine. The 16 municipalities in the states of Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa want Syngenta to pay for the expensive carbon filters needed to remove atrazine from their drinking water supply. The United States’ largest private water utility, American Water Company, has also joined the suit, representing 28 additional communities. Atrazine is used to control broad leaf weeds and annual grasses in crops, golf courses, and even residential lawns. It is used extensively for broad leaf weed control in corn. The herbicide does not cling to soil particles, but washes into surface water or leaches into groundwater, and then finds its way into municipal drinking water. It has been linked to a myriad of health problems in humans including disruption of hormone activity, birth defects, and cancer. Atrazine is also a major threat to wildlife. It harms the immune, hormone, and reproductive systems of aquatic animals. Fish and amphibians exposed to atrazine can exhibit hermaphrodism. Male […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 19, 2010) Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour last week signed a childhood asthma management and prevention bill into law that includes provisions requiring all public school districts to implement an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program and prohibiting the use of hazardous substances such as cleaning products and pesticides. Although the bill reads as though it will do a lot for children with asthma, with regard to the actual eliminatiion or significant reduction of toxic pesticide use at schools, the bill is weakly worded and will need strong regulations to be meaningful in protecting children from pesticide-asthma triggers. Specifically, this new law, effective July 1, 2010, requires schools to allow students to self-administer asthma and anaphylaxis medication; recommends students with asthma to have an Asthma Action Plan on file at the school; provides training for teachers, nurses, and all other school staff on asthma; requires buses to minimize idling time; requires local school health councils to adopt and support the implementation of a local school wellness policy that includes minimizing children’s exposure to pollutants that can aggravate asthma and prohibits the use of hazardous substances such as cleaning products and pesticides in and around school buildings during the hours […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 14, 2010) A new report shows that the large-scale cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) corn is causing the spread of a new pest in the US Corn Belt. The report, “The spread of the western bean cutworm causes massive damage in the US” published by Testbiotech for Greenpeace Germany finds that GE corn plants in the U.S. that have been genetically modified to express the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin classified as Cry1Ab are being infested by the larvae of the western bean cutworm (Striacosta albicosta). According to Testbiotech, a research based non-profit organization operating out of Germany, this new pest has been caused by the large-scale cultivation of genetically engineered plants expressing Cry1Ab such as MON810 (sold as YieldGard by company of Monsanto). The infestation has been observed since 2000, and the western bean cutworm is emerging as a new plant pest. Historically, this species of cutworm has been confined to very limited regions and did not cause any major problems in maize crops. However, for the past several years the pest has been spreading into more and more regions within the US Corn Belt causing substantial economic damage. Maize plants affected by the western bean cutworm […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 13, 2010) While the number of Minnesota school districts purchasing fresh food from local farms has more than doubled in the last 15 months, according to a survey released last week by the Minnesota School Nutrition Association (MSNA) and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), there is no mention of organically produced food as a priority to protect children, local health or the local environment from the pollution and contamination caused by pesticide use. Communities, such as Olympia, Washington have turned to local organic food in their school lunch program. According to the Rodale Institute, “[W]hile it’s true that food produced locally generally has a smaller carbon footprint than food transported across the country (or from another continent), the carbon emitted by transporting food is smaller than that released by growing it with chemical means. In fact, PepsiCo recently documented that, for its Tropicana orange juice, transporting the product accounted for only 22% of its carbon footprint.” Rodale suggests local organic food as the gold standard because it eliminates petroleum-based fertilizers and reduces fossil fuel use in the farming operation. Rodale suggests the following priority for food purchasing: 1. Local certified organic food, 2. Local […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 9, 2010) U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Mass), Chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, yesterday called for a ban on many applications of the antimicrobial chemical triclosan ””which is found in many consumer soaps and countless other products ranging from toys to lipstick. Rep. Markey called for the ban in conjunction with the release of correspondence from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that raise serious concerns regarding the use of the chemical triclosan. In response to the FDA and EPA letters, Chairman Markey also announced plans to introduce legislation that will accelerate the evaluation and regulation of substances such as triclosan that may harm the human endocrine system. “Despite the fact that this chemical is found in everything from soaps to socks, there are many troubling questions about triclosan’s effectiveness and potentially harmful effects, especially for children,” said Chairman Markey. In January 2010, Chairman Markey sent letters of concern regarding triclosan to FDA and to EPA. In FDA’s response letter to Chairman Markey, the FDA stated that, “existing data raise valid concerns about the [health] effects of repetitive daily human exposure to these […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 2, 2010) On Monday, Tyrone Hayes PhD, researcher and professor at University of California Berkley gave a speech at Illinois State University urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban atrazine completely. Though atrazine has been the go to broad leaf weed killer for America’s corn growers since the 1950’s, evidence continues to build that atrazine is an unacceptable danger to humans and wildlife, and controversy continues as spring planting looms. In response to mounting scientific research, EPA announced last October it would review atrazine’s registration status, and last month announced plans to overhaul drinking water regulations regarding atrazine and numerous other chemicals known to harm human health. Dr. Hayes is one of the preeminent researchers on the effects of atrazine on amphibians. He compares the current loss of amphibians to the bird die-offs in the 1960’s due to DDT. The Journal Star who covered the event called the atrazine issue “one of the most contested environmental debates since PCBs were banned in the 1970s.” The debate has pitted concerned farmers, environmentalists, and human health advocates against conventional corn growers and atrazine manufacturer Syngenta. Syngenta, the Swiss chemical giant, is also facing litigation from several municipalities […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 1, 2010) While most previous literature on melanoma has focused on host factors and sun exposure, new research shows a link between several pesticides and this deadly form of skin cancer. Epidemiologists from University of Iowa, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Cancer Institute found that agricultural workers who apply certain pesticides to farm fields are twice as likely to contract melanoma, providing support for the hypotheses that agricultural chemicals may be another important source of skin cancer risk. The study, “Pesticide use and cutaneous melanoma in pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Heath Study” was published last month in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. It examines cancer rates in 56,285 pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina as part of the federal government’s Agricultural Health Study, a large, long-term study of pesticide applicators and their spouses. Researchers asked the pesticide applicators how often they were exposed to 50 pesticides and compared their cancer rates. Each person’s exposure was then approximated by adding up the total days that the workers had been exposed and using information from survey results on how the chemicals were applied and what protective equipment was being used. The pesticides that […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 31, 2010) Last week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it was taking action aimed at improving residential safety and reducing risks associated with bug bombs, or total release foggers (TRFs). The agency is calling for significant changes to product labeling to address the most common causes of exposure incidents associated with TRFs. However, product labels do not adequately protect the public from toxic pesticide ingredients and calls to ban foggers and promote safer alternatives, action that has been urged for years both within and outside the agency, continue to go unheeded. Prompted by concerns raised by a 2009 petition from the New York City Department of Health to reclassify TRFs as restricted use pesticides, EPA sent a letter of notification to manufacturers on March 23, 2010 stating that the agency is now requiring a number of labeling changes by September 30, 2011. In spite of New York’s recommendation, the agency concluded that reclassification is inappropriate and would unnecessarily remove these inexpensive pest control tools from the residential market. Since, according to the agency’s analysis, the largest proportion of incidents is attributable to failure to follow label instructions, the changes are targeted at minimizing those […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 30, 2010) Searching for clues to the mysterious disappearance of bees, known as “colony collapse disorder”(CCD), Penn State University researchers have identified widespread pesticide contamination of beehives. The study, “High Levels of Miticides and Agrochemicals in North American Apiaries: Implications for Honey Bee Health,” was published March 19, 2010 in the scientific journal Public Library of Science (PLOS). The study finds 121 different types of pesticides within 887 wax, pollen, bee and hive samples from 23 states. The top 10 most frequently detected pesticides are fluvalinate, coumaphos, chlorpyrifos, chlorothalonil, amitraz, pendamethalin, endosulfan, fenpropathrin, esfenvalerate and atrazine. Miticides are the most common contaminant in the wax and bees, and fungicides are the most common contaminant of pollen. For the full results of the study, including several tables of wax, pollen and bee sample data, download the study from the PLOS website. “The pollen is not in good shape,” Chris Mullin, PhD, lead author of the study, told Discovery News. The authors state that the 98 pesticides and metabolites detected in mixtures up to 214 parts per million (ppm) in bee pollen alone represents a remarkably high level for toxicants in the brood and adult food of this primary […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 29, 2010) Prenatal exposure to pesticides at levels that do not cause adverse health effects in the mother can lead to delayed brain developmental in the child, according to the new study, “Neurobehavioral Deficits and Increased Blood Pressure in School-Age Children Prenatally Exposed to Pesticides,” published last month in the early online edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Many pesticides are suspected of being capable of damaging the nervous system, in particular the development of a child’s brain during pregnancy and the early postnatal years of life. Now an international research team led by Philippe Grandjean, M.D., from the University of Southern Denmark and Harvard School of Public Health, has shown a delayed brain development up to two years in school children, whose mothers worked in a greenhouse during pregnancy. The exposed children also had increased blood pressure, while the mothers do not suffered adverse symptoms themselves. “The results support the notion that, in this cohort of children, prenatal exposures to pesticides are more harmful than current exposures, thereby confirming previous results of other environmental studies of neurodevelopmental toxicity and the theory of window of vulnerability of central nervous system during uterine life,” write the authors. […]