Mother and Children, Hurt By Widely Used Lawn Care Pesticides, Issue Holiday Wish to Stop the Poisoning. This is a story of a trusting consumer, Brenda Jones, who explains that she hired a lawn care service, TRUGREEN ChemLawn, only to find that the pesticides being used were poisonous...Continue

  Lawn Pesticide Poisoning:
A Timeline of Ms Jones's Story...Continue

According to a new study, published in the December 2008 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, pregnant women continue to be exposed to pesticides in the home. In fact, 75% of the sampled homes of pregnant women in inner-city New York are contaminated with piperonyl butoxide (PBO), a pesticide synergist linked to cancer and other health problems...
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A coalition of farmworker advocates and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the continued use of four deadly organophosphate pesticides. These pesticides were derived from nerve gas developed during World War II. Some of these pesticides have been detected in California’s rural schoolyards and homes, Sequoia National Park, and Monterey Bay. The four organophosphates at issue in the case filed April 4 are methidathion, oxydemeton-methyl, methamidophos, and ethoprop. They are used primarily in California on a wide variety of fruit, vegetable, and nut crops...
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(Beyond Pesticides, December 12, 2008) A new study has found pesticides in surface waters around the United States. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) analyzed water from nine selected rivers, which are used as a source for public water systems and found that low levels of certain xynthetic chemicals remain in public water supplies after being treated in selected community water facilities...
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Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington, New York, and Virginia are the nation’s top Christmas tree producing states, and together account for more than half of the trees grown in the U.S. The Cooperative Extension Service of North Carolina reports that glyphosate -a pesticide linked to increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other health issues...
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On November 10, 2008, the Austrian government released a report of long term research showing genetically engineered (GE) corn fed to mice significantly reduced their fertility over three to four breeding cycles within one generation. Similar effects were found in mice fed GE corn and bred over four generations...
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Professor Dominique Belpomme, a medical oncologist from the University of Paris, has new research showing that environmental exposures to pesticides and other contaminants are now more significant as a cause of cancer ...Continue

Residential properties in Saginaw, Michigan contain unacceptably high levels of dioxin contamination, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5. Soil from the Riverside Boulevard area, a neighborhood along the Lower Tittabawassee River and downstream from the Dow Chemical Company’s manufacturing...Continue

A STUDY published in the May issue of Environmental Health Perspectives shows a link between prenatal exposure to the pesticide DDT and poor attention related skills in early infancy. This study follows in a long line of recent studies associated with the negative health effects of DDT including: diabetes; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; breast cancer; and autism...Continue

A recent study has linked the common herbicide atrazine with endocrine disruption in both fish and human cells. Entitled “The Herbicide Atrazine Activates Endocrine Gene Networks via Non-Steroidal NR5A Nuclear Receptors in Fish and Mammalian Cells,” the University of Califonia, San Francisco (UCSF) research examines the reaction of zebrafish to environmentally relevant levels of atrazine, and mirrors the study in human placental cells...Continue

A population-based study looking at how genes and environmental factors interact shows that pet shampoos containing insecticides may trigger autism spectrum disorders (ASD), reports New Scientist. The study findings, presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, show that mothers of children with an ASD are twice as likely to have used an insecticidal pet shampoo during the prenatal and/or postnatal period when compared to...Continue

Many U.S. residents carry toxic pesticides in their bodies above government assessed “acceptable” levels. Chemical Trespass: makes public for the first time an analysis of pesticide-related data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...Continue

Fifteen high-school students in Bronx, NY were treated on April 20 after exposure to a cloud of herbicide that parks employees were spraying on grass nearby, according to New York Newsday. Fire department officials say the pesticide drifted through a window into a room the students were occupying. Most of the students were treated on the scene, however one...Continue

Controlling pests Without the use of Pesticides...Continue

Proposed changes in Farm Bill conservation program could hurt farmers, environmental cleanup...Continue

Belgium officials said on Tuesday they had found the same cancer-causing chemicals in pig feed that it had found in chicken feed made by a local compounder, raising fears of another dioxin-type scandal...Continue

The Observer suggested a possible link between the exposure of mothers during pregnancy to the pesticide Benlate (active ingredient benomyl) manufactured by DuPont and the development of microphthalmia and anophthalmia, conditions where children are born either with poorly developed eyes or without eyes...Continue

Recent independent research indicates that glyphosate i.e. Roundup may not be as safe as previously thought...Continue

Pesticide residues were detected in 49 of the apple samples tested. In one sample, a residue of the carcinogenic pesticide, captan, was illegally high. According to the official analysis, it was...Continue

A new report on pesticide problems and regulatory concerns in Costa Rica, Tanzania and Vietnam recommends steps towards improved control and reduction of pesticide use...Continue

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman announced on October 31 that the arsenic standard in drinking water will be 10 parts per billion (ppb). "Throughout this process, I have made it clear that EPA intends to strengthen the standard for arsenic by...Continue

Four university scientists, three from the U.S. and one from Scotland, experienced a backlash, either personally or professionally, after their research showed results that could harm the well-invested biotechnology industry...Continue

Farmworker groups filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Environmental Protection Agency for approving the reregistration of two organophosphate pesticides, azinphos-methyl (AZM) and phosmet, that they say continue to poison workers, their children, communities and the environment...Continue

Imidacloprid is a relatively new insecticide which is the first insecticide of its chemical family, nicotinoids, which are modelled after nicotine, to be registered for use. Common trade names include Merit™, Admire™, Premise™, Pre-Empt™ and Advantage™. Effects of exposure to imidacloprid include apathy, difficulty breathing, loss of the ability to move, staggering, trembling and spasms. Studies on rats indicate that the thyroid is particularly sensitive to exposure of imidacloprid causing thyroid lesions...Continue

Malathion is mutagenic, carcinogenic, has been implicated in vision loss, kidney damage, and lung damage. It has been shown to cause DNA abnormalities, and has been linked to child leukemia, aplastic anemia and adult leukopenia. Acute (short term) effects of malathion include headaches, nausea, dizziness, salivation, tearing, urination, diarrhea, convulsions, muscle weakness, incoordination, abdominal cramps, blurred vision, pupil constriction, abnormal eye movement, slowed heart beat, depressed respiratory system, skeletal muscle damage, paralysis and coma...Continue

If you must use a pesticide, Look for the least-toxic solution. Read and understand the label before purchasing the product.

TYPICAL LABELS

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Endosulfan is an organochlorine, part of the same family of chemicals as DDT, which EPA banned in 1972. Like other organochlorine pesticides, endosulfan is persistent in the environment and poisons humans and wildlife both in agricultural areas and in regions far from where it was applied...Continue

Elevated Cancer In Dogs Exposed To Lawn Chemicals, American Veterinary Medical Association Warns...Continue

Paraquat, the most deadly weed killer...Continue

Stealth Poisons - New disclosures in a report from Pesticide Action Network UK reveal pesticides everywhere. For the first time, a year’s official reports of pesticides in our food, water, and the environment have been brought together...Continue

Study Finds Over One-Quarter of U.S. School Districts Adopt Plans to Restrict Children's Exposure to Pesticides...Continue

99% of GM crops across the world are designed either to tolerate or to produce pesticides. Seventy five percent tolerate pesticides, mostly Roundup. For example, 90% of transgenic soya is designed to tolerate Roundup...Continue

Hospitals have a special obligation to demonstrate leadership in instituting effective and safer pest management in keeping with the medical profession's basic tenet of "first, do no harm...Continue

The national environmental group Beyond Pesticides today asked major retailers to immediately pull off their store shelves tick and flea repellents identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as deadly. Last month, EPA struck a deal with Hartz Mountain Corporation to stop shipping and re-label two repellent products for which EPA has received thousands of reports detailing illness and death in kittens and cats...Continue

Ethyl carbamate is used as an intermediate in the synthesis of a number of chemicals. Acute (short-term) exposure of humans to high levels of ethyl carbamate may result in injury to the kidneys and liver and induce vomiting, coma, or hemorrhages...Continue

A recent case-controlled study (2003) by Greenlee et al published in Epidemiology showed that infertile women who live near U.S. farmlands were 27 times more likely to have mixed or applied herbicides and 3.3 times more likely to have used fungicides within two years of conceiving than women who were fertile...Continue

Contaminated without Consent: Why our exposure to chemicals in air, food and water violates human rights...Continue

A subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co. will pay a $2 million fine for making illegal safety claims in advertising of its pesticides, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Monday...Continue

An ambitious approach in tackling pesticide hazards is needed...Continue

While deaths and illness from pesticides remain at an all-time high, the urgency of taking action has been delayed over different interpretations on patents and data protection...Continue

Study Published Today in Environmental Health Perspectives Finds Dramatically Lower Sperm Concentration, Motility in Men Living in Semi-Rural, Agricultural Areas...Continue

Prince Edward Island officials are investigating whether the province's potato industry is killing its fish...Continue

Every parent has gained a right to know of pesticide application to which their children may be exposed if they are enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District...Continue

"Confront is totally contradictory to all of our goals for recycling, resource conservation and sustainability," said...Continue

Traces of a herbicide toxic to garden vegetables has been found in compost in three states, a discovery that worried the lawn waste recycling industry...Continue

Conservation and pesticide-watchdog groups filed a lawsuit on January 15 to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from giving illegal special access to a group of chemical corporations. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and other sources reveal that the corporate insider group has met regularly with EPA officials in secret and has urged EPA to...Continue

Cattle graze on freshly spread sewage sludge "Its only a guideline" says the MOE...Continue

Acute symptoms of glyphosate exposure include, destruction of red blood cells, lung dysfunction, low blood pressure, kidney damage, erosion of gastrointestinal tract, dizziness, fever, and nausea...Continue
 

Workers applying chlorinated phenoxy herbicides frequently have nervous system disorders, are exposed to a higher risk of soft tissue sarcoma, and show symptoms of hormonal and internal organ irregularities. A study of farmers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba linked use of 2,4-D to an increased incidence of prostate cancer. In the urban setting, it has been proven that households using 2,4-D put their dogs at twice the risk of developing canine malignant lymphoma...Continue
 

Acute toxicity effects to diazinon are similar to those of other organophosphates including, headache, nausea, salivation, abnormal heart rate, flu-like symptoms, seizures, muscle twitching and cardiac arrest. Seizures are more common in children than adults experiencing acute exposure. Children are also susceptible to inflammation of the pancreas...Continue
 

Acute effects of carbaryl exposure in humans includes malaise, muscle weakness, dizziness, sweating, headache, salivation, nausea, diarrhea, incoordination, slurred speech and a depression of breathing combined with excess fluid in the lungs. With high exposure the most common cause of death is the pulmonary edema...Continue