"Chemicals have replaced bacteria and viruses as the main threat
to health. The diseases we're beginning to see as the major causes of
death in the latter part of this century and into the 21st century
are diseases of chemical origin." -- Dick Irwin, toxicologist at
Texas A&M Universities
WHAT ARE PESTICIDES? Pesticides are poisons designed to kill a variety of plants and animals such as insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), and mold or fungus (fungicides). Pesticides include active ingredients (chemical compounds designed to kill the target organisms) and inert ingredients which may be carcinogens or toxic substances. They also include rodenticides and wood preservatives.
HOW DO PESTICIDES REACH US? Pesticides can be absorbed through the skin, swallowed or inhaled (most toxic). During application pesticides drift and settle on ponds, laundry, toys, pools and furniture. People and pets track pesticide residue into the house {3}. Only 5% of pesticides reach target weeds. The rest runs off into water or dissipates in the air. Drift from landscaping ranges from 12 feet to 14.5 miles {1}. More serious effects appear to be produced by direct inhalation of pesticide sprays than by absorption or ingestion of toxins. {2}
ARE REGISTERED PESTICIDES SAFE? NO. Many of the "safety tests" used to test these products are fundamentally inadequate: they test for the acute (not chronic) effects of single (not multiple) chemicals on healthy (not sick, chemically sensitive or immuno-suppressed etc.) adult (not feta l or young) animal (not human) subjects exposed over short (not long) periods of time {10}. Some of the companies testing pesticides have been charged and convicted of falsifying residue and environmental studies that were used to support pesticide registration in the US and Canada {10}. Some pesticides become even more toxic as they break down. (In the US it is a violation of federal law to state that the use of pesticides is safe.)
Pesticides initiate and propagate multiple chemical
sensitivities. About 16 million US citizens are sensitive to
pesticides (i.e. they have compromised immune functioning as a result
of pesticide exposure). {10}
Children whose homes and gardens are treated with pesticides
have 6.5 times greater risk of leukemia than children living in
untreated environments.
{1,2}
Known Effects:
2,4,-D is under special review by the Environmental Protection Agency in the US because of concerns about chronic health and environmental effects {10} and it is still being used!
WHAT ARE SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS? Simultaneous exposures frequently cause synergistic effects, where toxicities of individual toxins can be vastly magnified. Most pesticides contain more than one chemical and during spraying season, most people are exposed to more than one product as they move around their neighbourhoods.
Studies for synergistic effects are not required by the EPA
for registration of these substances {1}, even
though these effects regularly occur when chemicals interact in
nature {10}.
(ie. Reyes Syndrome was linked to an ingredient additive that
allowed the pesticide to stick on the trees.)
WHAT ARE THE
ALTERNATIVES?
Non-toxic chemical-free lawn care is available. Indoor and
outdoor Bio-Tool kits are available for institutions, golf courses,
schools, green houses and many applications. These approaches are
compatible with composting, with home vegetable gardens, gardening
for wildlife, and with children walking to school safely.
Chemical Pesticides have only been in existence for about 50
years. Gardeners, farmers, and foresters have always had to control
pests,using methods like crop rotation, companion planting,
biological controls. It is only recently that pest management has
become virtually synonymous with the use of chemical pesticides. We
must reverse this unsustainable trend. Ecological methods of pest
control must replace the over-dependence on chemicals that now
threatens us all.
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE LAWN
CHEMICALS?
Chemical fertilizers and pesticides on lawns weaken the grass
and destroy the natural balance of microbes and beneficial insect
predators, thus promoting weed and insect proliferation.
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS When it comes to pesticide use in
Canada, we are a human experiment without records being kept. We have
chemical warfare going on in our neighborhoods. The spreading and the
spraying of chemicals on lawns, trees and in houses is against the
common right of all citizens to breathe clean air and to remain in
good health {4} -- Dr.J. Irwin
{1}Rea, William J., 1996, Pesticides. Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine 6, 55-124.
{2}Lowengart, et al., 1987, Journal of National Cancer Institute, 79: 39-46.
{3} Eagles Eye, World Wildlife Fund Publication. Summer 1995.
{4}Irwin, J. Pesticides, Are They Silent Killers? Family Practise July 20,1991
{5}Journal of the American Medical Association 1989;30:1306. Mayo Clinic;Medical Toxicology 1988;3:350-75. National Poisons Unit, Guy's Hospital, London, England.
{6} Goodman and Gillman, The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 1985, Macmillian Publishing Company, New York.
{8} Seilier J.P. 1979, Phenoxyacids as inhibitors of testicular DNA syntheses in male mice. Bull. Environ. Cont. Toxic vol. 21:89-92.
{9} Lerda, D. & R.Rizzi, 1991, Study of reproductive function in persons occupationally exposed to 2,4-dichloraphenoyactetic acid (2,4-D) Mut. Res. 262: 47-50.
{10} Hammond, M., 1995, Pesticide Bylaws: Why We Need Them and How to Get Them. Consultancy for Alternative Education, Quebec.