PETS AND PESTICIDES

• Every time your pet munches on lawn grass or cleans itself while lounging on a chemically treated lawn, it ingests lawn care poisons.

• Exposure to herbicide-treated lawns and gardens increases the risk of bladder cancer by four to seven times in Scottish Terriers, according to a study by Purdue University veterinary researchers...

•  REGISTRATION OF A CHEMICAL DOES NOT IMPLY THAT THE CHEMICAL IS SAFE.
In fact, Nearly 100,000 accidental pesticide exposures are reported to poison control centers each year. Many of these exposures involve children, providing clear evidence that current efforts to protect children are inadequate.

• All pesticides have one thing in common in common - they are poisons designed to "KILL" things and they have the potential to kill humans and animals when ingested in sufficient amounts.

• Lawn care pesticides are not tested for their chronic health effects, unless they are also licensed for food uses. The third most heavily used herbicide in the U. S., MCPP, has not been fully tested for chronic health effects since it is not allowed for use on foods. MCPP is commonly found in weed and feed products.

• Many chemicals, that are initially marketed as "TOTALLY SAFE" for humans, are later found to be "HARMFUL.".

• Toxicology and Industrial Health published a study showing that the natural mix of chemical pesticides and fertilizers – in concentrations mirroring levels found in groundwater – can significantly affect immune and endocrine systems as well as neurological health.

• Pesticides are intentionally toxic substances. Some chemicals commonly used on lawns and gardens have been associated with birth defects, mutations, adverse reproductive effects, and cancer in laboratory animals.

• Nearly 30 million acres of lawn are routinely treated with lawncare chemicals. Some of these treated lawns may be toxic to birds. Recent Canadian studies found that between three and 14 bird deaths may occur due to pesticides per acre of farmland. It only takes one granule of diazinon to kill a bird.14 Recent testing of dead birds for the West Nile virus by the State of New York found that birds had commonly died from pesticide poisoning. Lawn-care pesticides were found to be among the most common causes of death among the birds tested.

• Many Canadian municipalities have banned or severely restricted the use of lawn-care pesticides. The Province of Quebec recently set “the highest standards in North America to decrease exposure to pesticides” when it prohibited some commonly used lawn care pesticides (including 2,4-D and MCPP) from use on public lawns. These pesticides will be prohibited from use on private and commercial lawns in 2006.

• Pesticides are composed of active ingredients and inert ingredients. Some inert ingredients may be more toxic than active ingredients and can comprise 90 to 95 percent of the product. Some inert ingredients are suspected carcinogens, while others have been linked to central nervous system disorders, liver and kidney damage, birth defects, and some short-term health effects.

• Most lawn-care chemicals have the potential to contaminate underlying groundwater. The top five selling lawn-care pesticides, 2,4-D, glyphosate, MCPP, dicamba, and diazinon, are all listed by the State of California as having the potential to contaminate groundwater based on their physical and chemical characteristics.

• On December 5, 2000 the EPA announced the elimination of all indoor uses of the widely used pesticide DIAZINON. Diazinon is used by homeowners on lawns and gardens. More than 15 million pounds of the pesticide is applied in the us annually in the US alone.

• In the 1950s, DDT was hailed as a safe insect control. More than 30 years later it was found to be almost completely non-biodegradable. It remained in the soil and built up in the food chain and could be deposited in the fatty tissue of humans. DDT was eventually banned, but its offspring, lindane, dieldrin, chlordane and other chlorinated hydrocarbons, remained in use.

• Only two of the top five lawn care pesticides, 2,4-D and glyphosate, are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, despite governmental acknowledgement of the intensity of effects of their release on the environment, and their potential to leach into groundwater supplies.