Both the Environmental
Protection Agency and the National Academy of Sciences
have voiced concern about the dangers that pesticides
pose to children. A California law now
gives you the right to be notified before your child’s
school uses a pesticide.
Protect your child’s
health by calling your school today to request pesticide
notification. For more info...CLICK HERE |
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2,4-D, a major component of Agent Orange, is still
used in over 1,500 lawn-care products (including
Killex and Weed ‘n Feed). Cancer in dogs has been
linked to their owners’ use of 2,4-D. |
 Beyond Pesticides - Protecting Health and the Environment with Science, Policy and Action...READ
MORE
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
has released a new online database that
collects information on more than
500,000 synthetic chemicals from over
200 public sources. The Aggregated
Computational Toxicology Resource (ACToR)
database provides access to hundreds of
data sources in one place, enabling easy
access for environmental researchers,
scientific ...Continue
After a nine
month investigation, a Peruvian
Congressional Subcommittee has found
significant evidence of criminal
responsibility by both the agrochemical
company Bayer and the Peruvian Ministry
of Agriculture in the poisoning of 42
children in the remote Andean village of
Tauccamarca in October 1999...Continue
What happened to turn
Christina and A.J. from normal to tragically retarded
children? Their decline began after the family moved to a
new apartment, which, their parents subsequently discovered,
had been repeatedly sprayed with Dursban, a pesticide made
by Dow Chemical Company, and another
chemical of similar make-up. These chemicals are related (in
diluted form) to the nerve gas Sarin, which Japanese
terrorists piped into Tokyo subways in 1995, and the poison
gas that Iraq’s Sadam Hussein used to murder 5,000 Kurds.
Residues show up in the urine of nearly every American
child.
In 1995, the EPA discovered that for ten years Dow
had been hiding from federal regulators no fewer than 302
lawsuits and other claims for money damages alleging Dursban
poisoning. The EPA's response was to fine Dow $876,000, a
relatively insignificant amount to a company as large as
Dow. Under threat of an EPA ban, Dow finally withdrew
Dursban from home use in 2000, but it remains in use in
agriculture and on golf courses...Continue
Nearly 600 Dog Deaths In U.S. Now Being
Blamed On Bad Pet Jerky From China...Continue
(February 2, 2009) As part of the
Township of Bernards, New Jersey’s new
Pesticide Management System Resolution
that designates pesticide-free zones and
requires adoption of an Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) program for all its
municipal grounds, the mayor and town council are also
asking its citizens to adopt such measures on their own
property. The resolution preface states, “[S]cientific
studies associate exposure to pesticides with asthma,
cancer, development and learning disabilities, nerve an
immune system damage, liver or kidney damage,
reproductive impairment, birth defects and disruption of
the endocrine system, and … infants, children, pregnant
women, the elderly and people with compromised immune
systems and chemical sensitivities are especially
vulnerable to pesticide effects and exposure, and … lawn
pesticides and synthetic fertilizers are harmful to
pests, wildlife, soil microbiology, plants, and natural
ecosystems and can run off into streams, lakes and
drinking water sources …Continue
(Beyond Pesticides, October 15, 2009)
New research from the
Monell
Center and the
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
reveals that phenoxy herbicides block
T1R3, a nutrient-sensing taste receptor
found in the pancreas and intestines of
humans. These commonly used herbicides
were not previously known to act on the
T1R3 receptor, nor has any animal
testing revealed any indication of this.
The specific effects are unique to
humans; thus, phenoxy herbicides may
have adverse metabolic effects in humans
that would have gone undetected in
studies on rodents...Continue
Exposure to glyphosate or
MCPA can more than double one’s risk of developing
non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), according to a
new epidemiological study published in the October
issue of the International Journal of Cancer.
The case-control study finds a 2.02 odds ratio (OR) for
exposure (two times the chance of contracting the
illness) to
glyphosate, a 2.81 OR for exposure to
MCPA, and a 1.72 OR for exposure to herbicides...Continue
Menu Foods, which markets
cat and dog food in the United States under 95 brand
names, has recalled 60 million cans and pouches of wet
pet food. The deaths of fifteen cats and one dog are
being blamed on an analog of folic acid, aminopterin,
which is used overseas as rat poison. In high
doses, the rodenticide causes acute kidney failure,
which has been named as the cause of death in an
estimated sixteen pets (as reported by Menu Foods; the
Food and Drug Administration lists 14 dead; in contrast,
the Veterinary Information Network, a website with
30,000 members in the profession, reported 471 cases of
kidney failure, including 104 deaths, since the recall).
The drug’s history includes uses for cancer treatment
and, at one point, inducing abortions. The compound is
banned in the U.S. for pesticide use, but is still used
to kill rodents in other countries. Among aminopterin’s
side effects in humans are cancer and birth defects....Continue
(January 22, 2009) A
new English study has found that chemicals found in
rivers and waste waters could be linked to male
infertility. These chemicals, known as anti-androgens,
block the action of the male sex-hormone testosterone
and could impact the development of male reproductive
organs in humans...Continue
(January 13, 2009) Toxic
chemical contamination was the likely cause of fatal
fish mutations in northern Australia in which thousands
of bass larvae spawned with two heads, an expert said
Wednesday...Continue
(December 22,
2008) The U.S. EPA has filed an administrative complaint,
seeking a maximum penalty of only $4,550, against a pest
control company that sprayed pesticides in a couple’s home,
causing the wife to die shortly thereafter. It has been more
than three years since the incident took place in Florence,
Oregon...Continue
(December 18, 2008) The
New Zealand’s Environmental Risk
Management Authority (ERMA) has
announced it will ban the controversial organochlorine pesticide endosulfan,
effective January 16, 2009. Endosulfan,
already banned in numerous countries
including all the European Union
countries, is an insecticide used on a
wide range of fruits and vegetables and
also on athletic fields in New Zealand.
Illegal residues have been found in beef
destined for South Korea, resulting in
enormous costs for New Zealand
exporters. Use of endosulfan for
agriculture continues in the U.S.,
despite causing severe health and
environmental problems...Continue
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...Continue
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...Continue
(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...Continue
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...Continue
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...Continue
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
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Registration of a
chemical does NOT imply that the chemical is safe.
Pesticides are not tested in combination, although
their synergistic effects may be amplified up to 1000 times. While pesticides produce acute and
long-term health effects, toxicity experiments,
conducted
on healthy animals, measure and account for only the
acute effects. The pesticides that are deemed
acceptable for use as a result of these tests do not
take into account the potential chronic effects.
“Acceptable” tolerance levels are set for an average
adult male, and do not take into account the
different situations of women and children. 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. |
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Children are
vulnerable because pound for pound of body weight,
they consume significantly more pesticides than
adults. They are especially vulnerable to the toxic
effects because their metabolic systems do not
process or excrete toxins the way adult's systems
do. Children typically play in grass and dirt, and
put toys and hands in their mouths, activities that
significantly increase their exposure to pesticides.
Children from homes where pesticides are used have
been found to have four times the risk of soft
tissue sarcomas (cancerous growths) and between six and seven
times the rate of childhood leukaemia when compared
to other
children.
The Quebec Poison
Control Centre and the Quebec Ministry of
Environment and Wildlife released statistics on
pesticide poisoning in 1996. They reported a
staggering 1,650 poisoning cases. 79.4% of the cases
were in private homes, and 46.1% of the victims were
children under age five. 31% of these cases were due
to oral ingestion, and 34.9% resulted from pesticide applications. |
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
One
of the oddest things we've seen in our neighborhood is a
yard that had two signs: One said "Caution, Children
Playing"; the other said "Caution, Pesticides Recently
Applied." We failed to find a third sign saying
"Caution, Schizophrenic on the Loose," ...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
Doctors and
scientists who are knowledgeable on the chlordane
problem state millions of adults and children are
becoming sick by living in homes built before April,
1988 (the period when chlordane, originally developed by
Monsanto, was allowed to be used). Chlordane
contaminates the air of over 30 million U.S. homes by
diffusion through concrete flooring - ceiling drywall -
or outgassing from previously treated indoor areas...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
Central America is in a
unique position to address the most troubling health
impacts of the occupational use of pesticides. New data
from the Pan-American Health Organization estimates
almost 400,000 pesticide poisonings occur each year in
the region, identifies a short-list of worst actor
pesticides responsible for the majority of poisonings,
and points to an effective public health based solution
to the pesticide problem (see
Pesticide Poisoning)...Continue
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
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
STOP PESTICIDE BLUNDERS – THINK BEFORE YOU SPRAY! Learn from the mistakes of others before you use
pesticides for spring cleaning and gardening chores...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
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POISONED PROFITS
THE TOXIC ASSAULT ON OUR CHILDREN
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