{"id":32860,"date":"2023-05-12T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T04:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=32860"},"modified":"2023-05-16T14:13:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T18:13:54","slug":"persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/","title":{"rendered":"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made “Legacy” a Dirty Word as “Forever” Chemicals"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, May 12, 2023) With the growth of chemical-intensive land management over the last century, the world has been held captive by pesticide companies. For part of that time, it could be said the modern society has suffered from Stockholm Syndrome<\/a>, a theory about abusive relationships in which one party exerts power over the other using threats, fear, and lies and the victim comes to depend on the perpetrator emotionally. During the so-called \u201cGreen Revolution<\/a>\u201d (circa 1945-1985), the world came to depend on vast amounts of fertilizers and herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. Many people believed that food, clothing, and shelter made from naturally-occurring materials such as fruit, flax and wood could not be provided to the world without pesticides. It seemed that science and commerce could indefinitely raise the standard of living around the world, perhaps leading to world peace.<\/p>\r\n

This is not what happened. Soon observers noticed the harmful effects of many pesticides, including their persistence in the environment, their tendency to accumulate in the bodies of humans and wildlife, and their influence on the risk of contracting many diseases, from cancer to asthma\u2014not to mention the Darwinian inevitability of pest resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

By the turn of the 20th<\/sup> century, it was clear something had to be done. And something was done. After several years of exploration and negotiation by the United Nations, the Stockholm Convention<\/a> on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) came into being when some 90 countries signed the treaty in 2001. They agreed to reduce or eliminate the use of nine chemicals, minimize the inadvertent production of two more (dioxins and furans, formed in combustion), and more selectively apply one (DDT, against malaria). The full list of 12 was dubbed the \u201cDirty Dozen\u201d after the 1967 film<\/a> of the same name.<\/p>\r\n

The Convention went into force in 2004. For a while it appeared that society might escape its captors. Sadly, this has been delayed. A country can sign<\/em> a treaty without ratifying <\/em>it. This is what the United States has done. According to the U.S. Department of State<\/a>, \u201cThe United States signed the Stockholm Convention in 2001, but has yet to ratify because we currently lack the authority to implement all of its provisions<\/em>. The United States participates as an observer in the meetings of the parties and in technical working groups.\u201d [Emphasis added.] Signing is an aspirational act; ratification is a legal commitment. The U.S. has tried to have it both ways.<\/p>\r\n

To be fair, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) points out<\/a> that despite the failure of Congress to ratify the Stockholm Convention, the agency has taken many steps to reduce or eliminate the listed chemicals in the U.S. The first dozen Stockholm POPs were aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT, dioxins and furans. According to the EPA:<\/p>\r\n

“[N]one of the original POPs pesticides listed in the Stockholm Convention is registered for sale and distribution in the United States today and in 1978, Congress prohibited the manufacture of PCBs and severely restricted the use of remaining PCB stocks. In addition, since 1987, EPA and the states have effectively reduced environmental releases of dioxins and furans to land, air, and water from U.S. sources. These regulatory actions, along with voluntary efforts by U.S. industry, resulted in a greater than 85 percent decline in total dioxin and furan releases after 1987 from known industrial sources.”<\/p>\r\n

However, the U.S. is out of sync with international scientific consensus on the need to eliminate many persistent pesticides. Most notably, the wood preservative pentachlorophenol<\/a> and the insecticide lindane<\/a> are still permitted to be used in the U.S. (Lindane’s use is allowed by FDA as a pediculicide.)<\/p>\r\n

Unfortunately, the POPs chemicals are so persistent that people, animals, and ecosystems continue to be exposed to them in dangerous quantities. For example, for 40 years the Army Corps of Engineers dumped tons of waste containing PCBs and mercury<\/a> directly into the Columbia River at Bradford Island<\/a>, a small islet near the Bonneville Dam. Despite the Corps\u2019 actions to dredge the sediment, filter the water, and haul away 32 tons of solid waste, the fish residing within a mile of the island still have the highest levels of PCBs<\/a> in the nation. Both Oregon and Washington warn people not to eat the fish. According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality<\/a>, \u201csmallmouth bass were found at concentrations as high as 183,000 parts per billion. A safe level for human consumption of fish is less than 1 part per billion.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

So while there has been progress on letting the past be the past, it is two steps forward, one step back. This is partly owing to the chemical industry\u2019s propensity for substituting a new problem for an old one<\/a> by offering compounds that are chemically analogous to the hazardous ones, such as advertising \u201cBPA-free\u201d (bisphenol-A) water bottles that are made of BPS (bisphenol-S). Both types of bisphenol are endocrine disrupters<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

The Stockholm Convention continues to consider other chemicals for addition to the treaty. In June 2022 the parties added perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS)<\/a> to the Convention. PFHxS is one of the family of the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known as \u201cforever chemicals.\u201d PFAS are used in food wrappers, non-stick pans, climbing ropes<\/a>, guitar strings, ammunition, firefighting foam and many other products. They\u2019ve been available since the 1950s and there are at least 9,000 separate PFAS compounds<\/a>. The chemical bonds between their carbon and fluorine atoms are almost impossible to break<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

In the U.S., EPA has proposed new limits to PFAS levels in drinking water, and not a minute too soon; PFAS have been found in water supplies in nearly 3,000 locations<\/a> in all 50 states and two territories. PFAS chemicals have been found in<\/a> human breast milk, umbilical cord blood, deer meat, fish, and beef. They are found in pesticides. One study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found PFAS compounds in 97% of Americans<\/a>. Studies have suggested a wide range of health effects<\/a>, including raised cholesterol levels, high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia during pregnancy, and increased risk of kidney cancer.<\/p>\r\n

Congress and EPA have been relatively active in starting efforts to assess and measure the amount of PFAS chemicals in the environment, especially in water. President Biden<\/a> wants to fund more research and recently supported the classification of PFAS as hazardous substances for Superfund listing<\/a>. But these efforts move very slowly through the gears and conveyor belts of government. So far, they are piecemeal and mostly inadequate. For example, in March 2021 EPA began a process<\/a> to regulate perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate\u2014just two of thousands of PFAS varieties\u2014but the rulemaking process will likely take years. The U.S. military, notorious for polluting land and water worldwide, has tested drinking water at 63 installations but has formed remediation plans for only nine of 50 bases marked for cleanup<\/a>. Actual remediation is underway at only one Department of Defense site.<\/p>\r\n

While waiting for the federal government to act, about 35 states<\/a> have adopted various policies to limit exposures to PFAS, such as Alaska\u2019s prohibitions on firefighting foam, California\u2019s elimination of PFAS from cosmetics and menstrual products, and Georgia\u2019s disclosure requirements for PFAS, lead, formaldehyde and other hazardous chemicals in cosmetics. Illinois now requires landfills to capture PFAS-contaminated leachate before it escapes from the landfill or is transported for wastewater treatment. One problem with this is that PFAS pass through standard water treatment processes chemically unchanged<\/a>. According to EPA, several removal technologies are available<\/a>, ranging from ion exchange to activated carbon that could be applied at municipal plants and in consumer-grade water filters.<\/p>\r\n

Private businesses and farmers are taking action too. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association has developed a resource page<\/a> for members to keep abreast of testing and certification issues regarding PFAS. California and New York are requiring apparel to be PFAS-free<\/a> starting in 2025, and the footwear company KEEN has reduced PFAS in its products by 65%<\/a> simply by asking its suppliers to stop using it where possible.<\/p>\r\n

PFAS may seem like new chemicals, but it is just public awareness of them that is new. Like the Dirty Dozen POPs, they are actually \u201clegacy\u201d pollutants; according to the Environmental Working Group<\/a> (EWG), chemical giant 3M knew from its own mouse studies in the 1950s that PFAS bioaccumulate. (For a comprehensive timeline based on industry documents, see the EWG\u2019s major report<\/a>. This report also demonstrates the deep capture of academic researchers by industry.)<\/p>\r\n

Beyond Pesticides takes the position that these toxic chemicals are in the environment (including our bodies) mostly because of bad decisions in the past. We should be devoting energy to cleaning them up, but given their persistence (hence “forever”), unless we stop manufacturing them and releasing them into the environment, cleanup efforts will be futile. Further, if we do not develop true alternatives rather than knock-off chemical analogues to these chemicals, we will extend our legacy into forever. And then we will be back in Stockholm Syndrome captivity.<\/p>\r\n

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.<\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides, May 12, 2023) With the growth of chemical-intensive land management over the last century, the world has been held captive by pesticide companies. For part of that time, it could be said the modern society has suffered from Stockholm Syndrome, a theory about abusive relationships in which one party exerts power over the other using threats, fear, and lies and the victim comes to depend on the perpetrator emotionally. During the so-called \u201cGreen Revolution\u201d (circa 1945-1985), the world came to depend on vast amounts of fertilizers and herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. Many people believed that food, clothing, and shelter made from naturally-occurring materials such as fruit, flax and wood could not be provided to the world without pesticides. It seemed that science and commerce could indefinitely raise the standard of living around the world, perhaps leading to world peace. This is not what happened. Soon observers noticed the harmful effects of many pesticides, including their persistence in the environment, their tendency to accumulate in the bodies of humans and wildlife, and their influence on the risk of contracting many diseases, from cancer to asthma\u2014not to mention the Darwinian inevitability of pest resistance. By the turn of the 20th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[249,28,27,354,6,1,544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-chlordane","category-dieldrin","category-environmental-protection-agency-epa","category-international","category-uncategorized","category-united-nations"],"yoast_head":"\nPersistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made "Legacy" a Dirty Word as "Forever" Chemicals - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made "Legacy" a Dirty Word as "Forever" Chemicals - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Beyond Pesticides, May 12, 2023) With the growth of chemical-intensive land management over the last century, the world has been held captive by pesticide companies. For part of that time, it could be said the modern society has suffered from Stockholm Syndrome, a theory about abusive relationships in which one party exerts power over the other using threats, fear, and lies and the victim comes to depend on the perpetrator emotionally. During the so-called \u201cGreen Revolution\u201d (circa 1945-1985), the world came to depend on vast amounts of fertilizers and herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. Many people believed that food, clothing, and shelter made from naturally-occurring materials such as fruit, flax and wood could not be provided to the world without pesticides. It seemed that science and commerce could indefinitely raise the standard of living around the world, perhaps leading to world peace. This is not what happened. Soon observers noticed the harmful effects of many pesticides, including their persistence in the environment, their tendency to accumulate in the bodies of humans and wildlife, and their influence on the risk of contracting many diseases, from cancer to asthma\u2014not to mention the Darwinian inevitability of pest resistance. By the turn of the 20th […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-12T04:01:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-16T18:13:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\"},\"headline\":\"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made “Legacy” a Dirty Word as “Forever” Chemicals\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-12T04:01:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-16T18:13:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/\"},\"wordCount\":1519,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg\",\"articleSection\":{\"0\":\"Agriculture\",\"1\":\"Chlordane\",\"2\":\"Dieldrin\",\"3\":\"Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)\",\"4\":\"International\",\"6\":\"United Nations\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/\",\"name\":\"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made \\\"Legacy\\\" a Dirty Word as \\\"Forever\\\" Chemicals - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-12T04:01:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-16T18:13:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made “Legacy” a Dirty Word as “Forever” Chemicals\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\",\"description\":\"News on Pesticide Science, Policy and Activism\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2501,\"caption\":\"Beyond Pesticides\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/?hl=en\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Beyond Pesticides\"},\"description\":\"Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made \"Legacy\" a Dirty Word as \"Forever\" Chemicals - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made \"Legacy\" a Dirty Word as \"Forever\" Chemicals - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","og_description":"(Beyond Pesticides, May 12, 2023) With the growth of chemical-intensive land management over the last century, the world has been held captive by pesticide companies. For part of that time, it could be said the modern society has suffered from Stockholm Syndrome, a theory about abusive relationships in which one party exerts power over the other using threats, fear, and lies and the victim comes to depend on the perpetrator emotionally. During the so-called \u201cGreen Revolution\u201d (circa 1945-1985), the world came to depend on vast amounts of fertilizers and herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. Many people believed that food, clothing, and shelter made from naturally-occurring materials such as fruit, flax and wood could not be provided to the world without pesticides. It seemed that science and commerce could indefinitely raise the standard of living around the world, perhaps leading to world peace. This is not what happened. Soon observers noticed the harmful effects of many pesticides, including their persistence in the environment, their tendency to accumulate in the bodies of humans and wildlife, and their influence on the risk of contracting many diseases, from cancer to asthma\u2014not to mention the Darwinian inevitability of pest resistance. By the turn of the 20th […]","og_url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/","og_site_name":"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","article_published_time":"2023-05-12T04:01:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-16T18:13:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beyond Pesticides","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_site":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Beyond Pesticides","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/"},"author":{"name":"Beyond Pesticides","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4"},"headline":"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made “Legacy” a Dirty Word as “Forever” Chemicals","datePublished":"2023-05-12T04:01:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-16T18:13:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/"},"wordCount":1519,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg","articleSection":{"0":"Agriculture","1":"Chlordane","2":"Dieldrin","3":"Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)","4":"International","6":"United Nations"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/","name":"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made \"Legacy\" a Dirty Word as \"Forever\" Chemicals - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-12T04:01:52+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-16T18:13:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/chemical-intensive.pesticidespraying.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/05\/persistence-pesticides-and-other-chemicals-have-made-legacy-a-dirty-word-as-forever-chemicals\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Persistent Pesticides and Other Chemicals Have Made “Legacy” a Dirty Word as “Forever” Chemicals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/","name":"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","description":"News on Pesticide Science, Policy and Activism","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization","name":"Beyond Pesticides","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":2501,"caption":"Beyond Pesticides"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4","name":"Beyond Pesticides","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Beyond Pesticides"},"description":"Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/"],"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32860"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32906,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32860\/revisions\/32906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}