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.
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