Maryland Pesticide Network

Pesticide News

USGS Survey Finds Low-Level Pesticides in Drinking Water

(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.

"Most of the man-made chemicals assessed in the USGS study are unregulated in drinking water and not required to be monitored or removed," says Tom Jacobus, General Manager of the Washington Aqueduct. "These findings are not surprising and they will be important in helping regulators and assisting water utility managers arrive at decisions about future water treatment processes."

Scientists tested water samples for about 260 commonly used chemicals, including pesticides, solvents, gasoline hydrocarbons, personal care and household-use products, disinfection by-products, and manufacturing additives. This study did not look at pharmaceuticals or hormones.

Low levels of about 130 of the synthetic chemicals are detected in streams and rivers before treatment at the public water facilities (source water). Nearly two-thirds of these chemicals are also detected after treatment. Most of the chemicals found are at levels equivalent to one thimble of water in an Olympic-sized pool.

"Low level detection does not necessarily indicate a concern to human health, but rather indicates what types of chemicals we can expect to find in different areas of the country," said USGS lead scientist, Gregory Delzer. "Recent scientific advances have given USGS scientists the analytical tools to detect a variety of contaminants in the environment at low concentrations; often 100 to 1,000 times lower than drinking-water standards and other human-health benchmarks." Pesticides, however, have been found to cause long-term health effects from even very low doses and in combination. For more, see "Facing Scientific Realities: Debunking the ‘Dose Makes the Poison' Myth."

Testing sites include the White River in Indiana; Elm Fork Trinity River in Texas; Potomac River in Maryland; Neuse River in North Carolina; Chattahoochee River in Georgia; Running Gutter Brook in Massachusetts; Clackamas River in Oregon; Truckee River in Nevada; and Cache La Poudre in Colorado. The populations in communities served by these water treatment plants vary from 3,000 to over a million.

This study is among the first by the USGS to report on a wide range of chemicals found before and after treatment. The full source-water quality assessment and listing of chemicals are available online, as well as Mr. Delzer's presentation from a December 5 press conference.

Chemicals included in this study serve as indicators of the possible presence of a larger number of commonly used chemicals in rivers, streams, and drinking water. The most commonly detected chemicals in the source water are herbicides, disinfection by-products, and fragrances. Herbicides include atrazine, metalachlor, and simizine. Many of these chemicals are among those often found in ambient waters of 186 rivers and streams sampled by USGS since the early 1990s, and are highly correlated with the presence of upstream wastewater sources or upstream agricultural and urban land use.

Measured concentrations of chemicals detected in both source and treated water were generally less than 0.1 part per billion. Although potential human-health effects and risk are not assessed in this study, USGS takes the position that adverse effects to human health is negligible based on comparisons of measured concentrations and available human-health benchmarks. Other scientists point to health effects associated low level exposures well below regulatory standards set by government and acknowledge serious and troubling uncertainties or unanswered questions associated with human health and environmental impact.

More than 75 percent of source- and treated-water samples in this study contained 5 or more chemicals. The common occurrence of chemical mixtures means that the total combined toxicity may be greater than that of any single contaminant present. The USGS report identifies the need for continued research because the additive or synergistic effects on human health of mixtures of synthetic chemicals at low levels are not well understood or regulated. The study also did not look at implications to ecosystems or aquatic health.

USGS findings are used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the States, utilities and many nongovernmental agencies to help protect streams and watersheds that serve as water supplies and to guide those involved in decisions on treatment processes in the future.

The USGS is a non-regulatory agency which often monitors the quality of available, untreated water resources. These studies begin to relate the quality of these resources to drinking water. USGS studies are intended to complement drinking-water monitoring required by Federal, State, and local programs, which focus primarily on post-treatment compliance monitoring.

The USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program is planning to complete as many as 21 additional surface-water assessments through 2013. A companion study is scheduled for release in 2009 that summarizes the occurrence of the same chemicals in high-production wells and the associated treated water in 13 states.

New Study Finds That Triclosan Exposure Impacts Thyroid Hormones

(Beyond Pesticides, December 11, 2008) In a recent study, researchers find that triclosan, the antibacterial agent found in many consumer products including soaps, toothpaste, cosmetics, counter tops and toys, alters thyroid function in male rats. These effects are observed at concentrations that may be used in consumer products and highlight the growing threat consumers face from this hazardous and ubiquitous chemical.

The study, entitled, "The effects of triclosan on puberty and thyroid hormones in male wistar rats," was reviewed by the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and approved for publication in Toxicological Sciences. Researchers measured blood concentrations of testosterone and several other types of hormones and weighed a variety of organs that are essential for rat development and puberty, including the pituitary gland, the testes, the prostate gland and the liver of male rat pups fed an oral dose of triclosan for 31 days. The purpose of the experiment was to determine what effects triclosan would have on concentrations of thyroid hormones and the onset of puberty.

Results show a dramatic decrease in the thyroid hormone -thyroxine in rats exposed to increasing concentrations of triclosan, as well as significant increases in liver weights. This thyroid hormone is critical for normal development and to a properly functioning metabolism. When the thyroid produces lower than normal amounts of hormones, hypothyroidism occurs and this condition can lead to obesity, goiter, infertility, neurological problems and other serious concerns. Hypothyroidism during early development can change reproductive tract development, hormone concentrations and sexual maturation, including puberty onset. It is unclear whether triclosan acts directly on the thyroid gland to interfere with hormone production. Enlarged livers, observed in the exposed rats, may indicate excessive stress on the liver to remove triclosan from the body. Stressed livers enlarge to accommodate the higher production of the enzymes needed to detoxify substances.

Triclosan is found in a variety of household products and has been detected in human blood, urine and even breast milk. This study's findings raise further concern for adverse impacts on humans. Although this study used rats, the similarities in how the thyroid systems between rats and humans function raises concerns as to whether people could share the same physiological fate. Conversely, it takes a far greater dose of a chemical to alter a rat's biology than it would to change a human's; so although the concentrations evaluated in this study were higher than normal human exposure, it is possible that the low doses that humans are currently exposed to are enough to cause similar problems.

Triclosan's association with hormone disruption has been documented in other studies and has also been observed in amphibians. In a recent risk assessment conducted by the EPA for the reregistration of triclosan, the agency, after reviewing this study and others, agreed that there is "evidence that triclosan disrupts thyroid hormone homeostasis and interacts with the androgen and estrogen receptors."

In comments submitted to EPA in July 2008 by Beyond Pesticides, Food and Water Watch, Greenpeace US, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and dozens of public health and environmental groups from the U.S. and Canada, the agency was urged to use its authority to cancel the non-medical uses of the antibacterial chemical triclosan in order to protect human health and the environment. However, despite these comments and the mounting evidence against triclosan's safety and efficacy, the agency approved triclosan and triclosan-registered products for reregistration in September. The Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) document is open for public comment until December 29, 2008. To view EPA's documents click here.

TAKE ACTION: Let EPA know that it is not doing all it could to protect public health and the environment from the serious and long-lasting impacts of the continued and unnecessary use of triclosan. Submit your comments at www. regulation.gov using docket number ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2007-0513 no later than December 29, 2008. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.

You can also send your comments via mail to the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.

Source: Environmental Health News

Farmworkers Face Highest Risk of Pesticide Poisonings, EPA Worker Protection Standards Failing

(Beyond Pesticides, December 8, 2008) A new study by a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) researcher finds the pesticide poisoning incidence rate among U.S. agricultural workers is thirty-nine times higher than the incidence rate found in all other industries combined. The study, "Acute Pesticide Poisoning Among Agricultural Workers in the United Sates, 1998-2005," published in the December issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, is believed to be the first detailed multi-state assessment of acute pesticide poisonings among agricultural workers.

From 1998 to 2005, a total of 3,271 cases of acute occupational pesticide-related illness/injury among agricultural workers were identified in ten states. According to EPA, the Worker Protection Standards are designed to reduce the risk of injury or illness to agricultural field workers resulting from exposure to pesticides. Although the WPS was expanded in 1995 and in 2005 EPA developed a new WPS How to Comply (HTC) Manual, the NIOSH findings indicate that agricultural workers continue to have an elevated risk for acute pesticide poisoning. Furthermore, female agricultural workers experienced nearly twice the risk of pesticide poisoning of male agricultural workers. The most common factors that contributed to pesticide exposure included off-target drift, early reentry into a treated area, and use in conflict with the pesticide label. The study concludes that "[T]he rates provi ded should be considered low estimates of the magnitude of acute pesticide poisoning among agricultural workers."

According to the lead author of the report, Geoffrey Calvert, MD, MPH, "The NIOSH findings reinforce the need for heightened efforts to better protect farmworkers from pesticide exposure. EPA is currently in the process of revising the Worker Protection Standard. The findings in this paper can help inform EPA about the most problematic risk factors that need to be targeted by the WPS."

The study findings show that more than half of the pesticide poisoning incidents are attributed to insecticides, either by themselves or in combination with other pesticides) and just barely over half of incidents involved exposure to the most toxic category of pesticides by EPA, Toxicity Category I.

The 17 pesticides most commonly implicated in the study data include: sulfur, metam-sodium, glyphosate, chlorpyrifos, sodium hypochlorite, methamidophos, abamectin, imidacloprid, methomyl, myclobutanil, propargite, spinosad, methyl bromide, dimethoate, malathion, and diazinon .

The data was pooled from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and NIOSH's Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks-Pesticides (SENSOR-Pesticides) program, which collects information from ten state health departments. According to the study, 87 percent of poisoning incidents were of low severity illness, 12 percent were of medium severity, less than one percent was of high severity and one case was fatal. The criteria for each definition are stated in the study: "Low severity illness/ injury consist of illnesses and injuries that generally resolve without treatment and where minimal time (<3 days) is lost from work. Such cases typically manifest as eye, skin and/or upper respiratory irritation. Moderate severity illness/injury consists of nonlife-threatening health effects that are generally systemic and require medical treatment. No residual disability is detected, and time lost from work is less than 6 days. High severity illness/injur y consists of life threatening health effects that usually require hospitalization, involve substantial time lost from work (>5 days), and may result in permanent impairment or disability."

This past summer, Beyond Pesticides reported that EPA, which has long been criticized for its abysmal record of instituting and enforcing even the most basic human health protections from pesticides for those who are responsible for planting and harvesting much of the nation's food, announced that, "Through recent settlements with four Puerto Rico farms, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sending a message to farm owners that protecting their workers must be their first priority." On January 19, 2007, EPA assessed the second highest penalty for violating worker protection provisions of U.S. pesticide laws to an agricultural company based in Puerto Rico. According to the EPA, Martex Farms has been ordered to pay a total penalty of $92,620 by EPA's Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).

Earlier this year, a coalition of farmworker, public health, and environmental groups filed several lawsuits challenging EPA's decision to allow continued use of the toxic pesticides such as methidathion, oxydemeton-methyl, methamidophos, and ethoprop, diazinon, and endosulfan. "The lack of action [sic] is yet another example of EPA's failure to fully consider the risks to farmworkers, children, and the environment from pesticides," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides.

Study Finds Controversial Pesticide May Contribute to Obesity

(Beyond Pesticides, December 2, 2008) Tributyltin (also known as TBT), a ubiquitous pollutant that has a potent effect on gene activity, could be promoting obesity, according to an article in the December issue of BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. The chemical is used in antifouling paints for boats, as a wood and textile preservative, and as a pesticide on high-value food crops, among many other applications.

Tributyltin affects sensitive receptors in the cells of animals, from water fleas to humans, at very low concentrations–a thousand times lower than pollutants that are known to interfere with sexual development of wildlife species. Tributyltin and its relatives are highly toxic to mollusks, causing female snails to develop male sexual characteristics, and it bioaccumulates in fish and shellfish. Recent research has found it in deep-sea squids and octopods, and it has been banned for maritime use by an international treaty.

The harmful effects of the chemical on the liver and the nervous and immune systems in mammals are well known, but its powerful effects on the cellular components known as retinoid X receptors (RXRs) in a range of species are a recent discovery. When activated, RXRs can migrate into the nuclei of cells and switch on genes that cause the growth of fat storage cells and regulate whole body metabolism; compounds that affect a related receptor often associated with RXRs are now used to treat diabetes. RXRs are normally activated by signaling molecules found throughout the body.

The BioScience article, by Taisen Iguchi and Yoshinao Katsu, of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan, describes how RXRs and related receptors are also strongly activated by tributyltin and similar chemicals. Tributyltin impairs reproduction in water fleas through its effects on a receptor similar to the RXR. In addition, tributyltin causes the growth of excess fatty tissue in newborn mice exposed to it in utero. The effects of tributyltin on RXR-like nuclear receptors might therefore be widespread throughout the animal kingdom.

The rise in obesity in humans over the past 40 years parallels the increased use of industrial chemicals over the same period. Iguchi and Katsu maintain that it is "plausible and provocative" to associate the obesity epidemic to chemical triggers present in the modern environment. Several other ubiquitous pollutants with strong biological effects, including environmental estrogens such as bisphenol A and nonylphenol, have been shown to stimulate the growth of fat storage cells in mice. The role that tributyltin and similar persistent pollutants may play in the obesity epidemic is now under scrutiny.

New Study Links Fungicides to Parkinson's Disease

(Beyond Pesticides, December 1, 2008) A new study by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles finds chronic exposure to commonly used dithiocarbamate fungicides, such as ziram, contribute to the development of Parkinson's disease. According to the study, Ziram Causes Dopaminergic Cell Damage by Inhibiting E1 Ligase of the Proteasome, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers screened several pesticides for their ability to interfere with the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Impaired UPS activity is reporte d in Parkinson's disease patients' brains. The researchers then focused on dithiocarbamate fungicides because they were found to be one of the most potent UPS inhibitors and are commonly used.

The researchers discovered the mechanisms by which the UPS is impaired, showing that ziram and structurally related dithiocarbamates inhibit E1 ligase (a protein activating enzyme). Ziram is also found to increase alpha-synuclein (a protein expressed in the central nervous system) levels and selectively damages dopaminergic neurons in vitro. The study also cites unpublished data from a population-based study in central California that is determining pesticide exposure using state application registry, finding that individuals living within 500 meters of where ziram is applied are at three times the increased risk of developing Parkinson's compared to those with lower exposure.

The second most common neurodegenerative disease affecting more than one million people in the U.S., Parkinson's occurs when nerve cells in the substantia nigra region of the brain are damaged or destroyed and can no longer produce dopamine, a nerve-signaling molecule that helps control muscle movement. Individuals exposed to chemicals that have a particular affinity for the substantia nigra region of the brain are at risk for developing the disease.

This study builds on the existing body of evidence of animal data and epidemiological studies that links exposure to pesticides, as well as gene-pesticide interactions, to Parkinson's. Published case-control studies show a statistically significant association and elevated odds-ratio (that determine the elevated disease rate above the norm of 1.0) for the disease and exposure to pesticides. A Harvard School of Public Health study of more than 140,000 adults found that those exposed to long-term, low levels of pesticides had a 70 percent higher incidence of Parkinson's. Rural residency, well water consumption, and farming are all correlated with an increased incidence of developing Parkinson's. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds a 70 percent increased risk of developing Parkinson's for individuals that use pesticides in their home and a 50 percent increased risk for garden insecticides.

The United Nation's World Health Organization report on children's heightened vulnerability to chemical exposures at different periods of their growth and development states that "neurotoxic insults during development that result in no observable phenotype at birth or during childhood could manifest later in life as earlier onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as [PD]." Several studies show that exposure in utero, post-natal or in childhood affect the substantia nigra causing direct damage or increasing the susceptibility to additional exposures and neurodegenerative damage in adulthood. In addition, a number of genes are linked to Parkinson's as they interact with toxic chemicals in such a way that they may not cause the disease directly, but cause subtle changes in the genes that can make individuals more or less likely to develop the disease later in life.

Although implicating specific pesticides is difficult in epidemiological studies, toxicological lab studies have been better apt to identifying specific pesticides linked to Parkinson's. These studies have identified the mechanisms by which pesticides lead to Parkinson's, such as protein aggregation (alpha-synuclein), effects on the striatal dopminergic system and altered dopamine levels, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress.

This new UCLA study builds on existing data that shows that exposure to dithiocarbamates are linked to Parkinson's disease. For example, Wang et al. found that ziram shows inhibitory effects on proteasome activities at low concentrations. Other dithiocarbamates, such as the fungicides mancozeb and maneb and the herbicide diethyldithiocarbamate, are implicated as well in published studies.

Besides being a neurotoxin, ziram is listed by the U.S. EPA as a likely human carcinogen, and is linked to reproductive effects and is a suspected endocrine disruptor. Ziram is mainly used on agriculture (mostly on almonds, peaches, nectarines, pears and grapes) but is also used on ornamentals and in landscape management. Ziram can be found in dog and cat repellents and microbiocides. Earlier this year, EPA was seeking public comments on a proposed list of 104 possible drinking water contaminants, one of which is ziram, that are currently unregulated and are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems and may require regulation (See Daily News Blog.)

Lea Brooks, assistant director of communications, stated in an article in The Fresno Bee highlighting the study that "The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has placed a high priority on assessing the risk of ziram."

Take Action: Now let's hold them accountable. Let the U.S. EPA Administrator and Deputy Administrator know that they have a duty to alert the public to the scientific findings that link pesticides with Parkinson's. Urge these U.S. EPA officials to initiate an urgent and expedited review of pesticides' link to Parkinon's. Also let your elected members of Congress know how you feel. In addition, learn how you can protect your family, community and environment from the effects of pesticide sin food and water, at home, on lawns, parks and gardens, in schools, hospitals and other public buildings through resources available from Beyond Pesticides.

For more information on pesticides' link to Parkinson's disease, see Beyond Pesticides report Pesticides Trigger Parkinson's Disease.

Report Documents Chemical Security Risks and Recommendations


(Beyond Pesticides, November 25, 2008) A new report on U.S. chemical security, which includes two pesticide and 30 bleach manufacturing plants on its list of 101 most dangerous chemical facilities, was released November 19, 2008 by the Washington-based think tank Center for American Progress (CAP). The report, Chemical Security 101: What You Don't Have Can't Leak, or Be Blown Up by Terrorists, calls on chemical plants to substitute for their most hazardous chemicals and processes to protect the lives and health of 80 million people living near the 101 worst facilities.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and numerous security experts have repeatedly warned that terrorists could use industrial chemicals as improvised weapons of mass destruction. However, according to CAP, current chemical security efforts are inadequate to protect workplaces and communities.

"Indeed, temporary standards enacted two years ago (and set to expire in 2009) focus almost entirely on physical security measures, such as adding gates and guards," say report authors Paul Orum and Reece Rushing. "These measures, however worthy, cannot assure protection against a concerted attack, insider sabotage, or catastrophic release. Nor do they protect communities along chemical delivery routes. More than 90 percent of the 101 most dangerous facilities ship or receive their highest-hazard chemical by railcar or truck."

On October 10, 2008, Greenpeace and 35 labor and environmental groups called on Congress to pass legislation on chemical plant security before the "interim" law expires on October 4, 2009. In March the House Homeland Security Committee adopted the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008 (H.R. 5577) in a bipartisan vote. H.R. 5577 addresses many of the flaws in the interim law. However, according to the letter, the chemical manufacturers lobby opposed it and favors making the interim law permanent. A jurisdictional dispute over whether the DHS or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should be the lead agency regulating chemical facilities also helped derail legislation in 2008. When Congress returns in January 2009 they will have only nine months to complete this legislation.

The report authors recommend protecting communities by removing the possibility of a toxic gas release by converting facilities to safer, more secure alternative technologies. While many of the products produced at the facilities are necessary, such as the safe drinking water produced at water treatment facilities that use dangerous chlorine gas, the report stops short of evaluating the necessity of products like pesticides, which could be eliminated.

The report focuses on conversion to safer and more secure chemicals or processes already being used by similar facilities that do not endanger large numbers of people. In particular:

.
In the case of the pesticide manufacturing, which uses chlorine to produce pentachloronitrobenzene and chlorthalonil, the report recommends that the plants generate chlorine as needed without bulk storage or co-locate with an as-needed source of chlorine.

According to CAP, chemical facility conversions are possible and many have already switched to safer, more secure alternatives, and some have saved money. "While gates and guards always cost money, facilities that remove hazardous chemicals reduce their need for costly physical security. They also may reduce regulatory burdens, improve efficiency, upgrade production, and better protect workers," say the report authors.

They continue, "Despite this opportunity, the federal government currently has no plan, program, or authority to spur removal of unnecessary catastrophic chemical hazards—or even to require chemical facilities to examine safer and more secure alternatives. To address these deficiencies, Congress should establish a comprehensive chemical security program rooted in identifying, developing, and leveraging the use of safer and more secure technologies."

CAP recommends:

Study Finds Toxic Mixture of Low Pesticide Concentrations

(Beyond Pesticides, November 17, 2008) A toxic soup of the most commonly used pesticides frequently detected in nature can adversely affect the environment and decimate amphibian populations even if the concentration of the individual chemicals are within limits considered safe, according to University of Pittsburgh research published in the online edition of Oecologia.

The results of this study build on a nine-year effort to understand potential links between the global decline in amphibians, routine pesticide use, and the possible threat to humans in the future. Amphibians are considered an environmental indicator species because of their unique sensitivity to pollutants. Their demise from pesticide exposure could foreshadow the fate of less sensitive animals, according to study author Dr. Rick Relyea, Ph.D., an associate professor of biological sciences in the University of Pittsburgh's School of Arts and Sciences. Leopard frogs, in particular, are vulnerable to contamination; once plentiful across North America, their population has declined in recent years as pollution and deforestation has increased.

Dr. Relyea exposed gray tree frog and leopard frog tadpoles to small amounts of the ten pesticides that are widely used throughout the world. Dr. Relyea selected five insecticides: carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, endosulfan, and malathion; and five herbicides: acetochlor, atrazine, glyphosate, metolachlor, and 2,4-D. He administered the following doses: each of the pesticides alone, the insecticides combined, a mix of the five herbicides, or all 10 of the poisons.

Dr. Relyea found that a mixture of all 10 chemicals killed 99 percent of leopard frog tadpoles as did the insecticide-only mixture; the herbicide mixture had no effect on the tadpoles. While leopard frogs perished, gray tree frogs did not succumb to the poisons and instead flourished in the absence of leopard frog competitors. Dr. Relyea also discovered that endosulfan, a neurotoxin banned in several nations but still used extensively in U.S. agriculture, is inordinately deadly to leopard frog tadpoles. By itself, the chemical caused 84 percent of the leopard frogs to die. This lethality was previously unknown because current regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do not require amphibian testing. His results show that endosulfan was not only highly toxic to leopard frogs, but also that it served as the key ingredient of the pesticide mixture that eliminated the bulk of leopard frog tadpoles.

"Endosulfan appears to be about 1,000-times more lethal to amphibians than other pesticides that we have examined," Dr. Relyea said. "Unfortunately, pesticide regulations do not require amphibian testing, so very little is known about endosulfan's impact on amphibians, despite being sprayed in the environment for more than five decades."

For most of the pesticides, the concentration administered (2 to 16 parts per billion) was far below the human-lifetime-exposure levels set by the EPA and also falls short of the maximum concentrations detected in natural bodies of water. But the research suggests that these low concentrations, which can travel easily by water and wind, can combine into one toxic mixture. The study points out that declining amphibian populations have been recorded in pristine areas far downwind from areas of active pesticide use, and he suggests that the chemical cocktail he describes could be a culprit.

Dr. Relyea published a study in the Oct. 1, 2008 edition of Ecological Applications reporting that gradual amounts of malathion, the most popular insecticide in the United States, that were too small to directly kill developing leopard frog tadpoles instead sparked a biological chain of events that deprived them of their primary food source. As a result, nearly half the tadpoles in the experiment did not reach maturity and would have died in nature. Dr. Relyea has published a number of papers on the effects of pesticides on amphibians and aquatic communities, including a 2005 study suggesting that the popular weed-killer Roundup® (active ingredient glyphosate) is "extremely lethal" to amphibians in concentrations found in the environment.

Researchers Strengthen Link Between Diabetes and Pesticide Exposure

(Beyond Pesticides, November 11, 2008) Researchers at the Duke University School of Medicine have linked organophosphate pesticides to the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The researchers specifically link neonatal low-dose parathion exposure in rats to disruption of glucose and fat homeostasis. The study, "Exposure of Neonatal Rats to Parathion Elicits Sex-Selective Reprogramming of Metabolism and Alters the Response to a High-Fat Diet in Adulthood," was published in the November 2008 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives. It follows research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that links pesticide exposure to type 2 diabetes using epidemiological data from the Agricultural Health Study.

Although most studies of organophosphates focus on their neurotoxicity, there is increasing evidence that these agents may also have a lasting impact on metabolic function. According to authors, obesity and consequent type II diabetes are rising at epidemic rates in the U.S. and many other countries around the world. Two of three U.S. adults are now classified as overweight. There are epidemiologic links between pesticide exposure and diabetes, and the same subpopulations that have the highest rates of obesity—inner-city, low-socioeconomic-status, agricultural populations—are also those that have greater exposure to organophosphates and other pesticides.

The researchers chose parathion as a representative organophosphate. Neonatal rats were given the insecticide parathion on postnatal days 1–4 using doses (0.1 or 0.2 mg/kg/day) that straddle the threshold for barely detectable cholinesterase inhibition and the first signs of systemic toxicity. In adulthood, animals were either maintained on standard lab diet or switched to a high-fat diet for 7 weeks.

While both doses affected the rats' metabolism, the researchers observed different effects in the males and females throughout the study. Male rats exposed to the low-dose of parathion outweighed contol rats on the same diet and also evoked signs of a prediabetic state, with elevated fasting serum glucose and impaired fat metabolism. The males exposed to the higher dose of parathion weighed similar to the control, but ate less.

Exposed females, on the other hand, weighed less than the control group with higher food consumption in the low dose group and normal food consumption in the high-dose group. This indicates a "wasting" condition, which was confirmed by the disruption of both glucose and lipid metabolism at both doses.

After reaching adulthood, half the rats were switched to a high-fat diet. While the change in diet did not impact males, the females showed dramatically different results, based on the exposure dose. The low dose group gained significantly more weight than the control after switching to the high-fat diet, whereas the high dose group reduced the dietary effect. Food consumption also showed major sex differences. High dose males showed less of a decrease in food consumption on the high-fat diet than did controls. In contrast, high dose females showed exactly the same pattern of decreased food intake as controls when placed on a high-fat diet.

The researchers believe that early-life exposure to organophosphates or other environmental chemicals may play a role in the increased incidence of obesity and diabetes in humans. They also caution that the effects of chemical exposure must be evaluated more broadly. "Our most important findings center on the tendency to categorize environmental toxicants by allocating them to preconceived classes. Organophosphates are usually thought of as developmental neurotoxicants, but they obviously have other important targets that contribute to morbidity, including metabolic effects that can have a potential impact on obesity and diabetes." The study continues, "It is increasingly evident that adverse events in fetal or neonatal life, including chemical exposures like those studied here, can lead to misprogramming of metabolism, appetite, and endocrine status contributing ultimately to morbidities such as obesity and diabetes. Clearly, we need to focus further research on the specific contributions of environmental chemical exposures that might be contributing to the epidemic of these and other metabolic disorders

EU Environment Committee Approves Ban of Highly Toxic Pesticides

(Beyond Pesticides, November 7, 2008) The European Parliament's environment committee has passed new measures aimed at reducing use and toxicity of pesticides used on crops throughout the European Union (EU). If approved by Parliament at the end of the year, the EU will be on its way to reducing pesticide use by 85 percent by 2013. The measure faces significant backlash from the chemical industry and conventional farmers, but committee members (MEPs) remain firm that the restrictions are both important and possible to do. An official report published last month found record levels of pesticide residues on EU food, giving momentum to pesticide restrictions.

One adopted regulation will cause a list of approved "active substances" to be drawn up, according to which pesticides will be registered at a national level. It also allows EU states to be stricter than the allowable list. One amendment says, "Member states may establish any pesticide-free zones they deem necessary in order to safeguard drinking water resources. Such pesticide-free zones may cover the entire Member State."

The second approved measure, passed on to Parliament by EU agricultural ministers in June, bans "certain highly toxic chemicals," those being endocrine disrupting, genotoxic, carcinogenic or toxic to reproduction. Neurotoxic and immunotoxic chemicals may also be banned where they pose a significant risk. Provisional approval may be given to any of these chemicals if it "is needed to combat a serious danger to plant health." This resolution states that "Member states should monitor and collect data on impacts of pesticide use, including poisoning incidents, and promote long-term research programmes on the effects of pesticide use."

It also argues that, "In other places such as residential areas, public parks, sports and recreation grounds, school grounds and children's playgrounds, and in the vicinity of public healthcare facilities . . . the risks from exposure to pesticides of the general public are high. Use of pesticides in those areas should, therefore, be prohibited." It urged member states to promote alternatives, even saying, "A levy on pesticide products should be considered as one of the measures to finance the implementation of general and crop-specific methods and practices of Integrated Pest Management and the increase of land under organic farming."

The report, by Christa Klass, passed 58-3, with two absentions. It also set quantitative targets. "Active substances of very high concern" and "toxic or very toxic" pesticides will be subject to "a minimum 50% reduction." It also bans aerial spraying in general, allowing exceptions by approval, and restored a demand for buffer zones to the text.

While industry interest groups protested the restrictions, claiming yields will fall and prices will rise, MEPs and public health advocates dismissed them. "Human health must be given better protection," said British MEP Caroline Lucas. "With today's vote, MEPs have rejected industry scaremongering, and sent a clear message that they want to see a reduction in the use of dangerous chemicals."

"We think these proposals are a step in the right direction," said the Soil Association's Lord Peter Melchett. "They could go further and the British government should be pushing for them - not opposing them." According to the BBC, a final vote could come in December or January.

Sources: Parlamento Europeo, EU Observer, The Telegraph, BBC

Safety Reviews Inadequate for Pesticides Widely Found in Waterways

(Beyond Pesticides, November 5, 2008) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acknowledged in a recent Federal Register Notice that antimicrobial pesticides in wide use are not adequately tested for their impacts on human health and the environment. Controversy surrounding the impacts of many antimicrobials in the environment has arisen in recent times to due to the prevalence of these chemicals in surface and drinking waters. Antimicrobials are defined by the EPA as "pesticides that are intended to (1) disinfect, sanitize, reduce, or mitigate growth or development of microbiological organisms, or (2) protect inanimate objects from contamination, fouling, or deterioration caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, algae, or slime." For this proposal, the EPA is using the term antimicrobials to collectively refer to antimicrobial pesticides, antifoulant coatings and paints, and wood preservatives. The use of the controversial antimicrobial, triclosan, in inanimate objects, such as plastic and textiles, would be covered by these regulations, while those personal care products with the very same ingredient would not, since they fall under Food and Drug Administration authority.

In the Federal Register last month, EPA, trying to play catch-up with the science while products continue in larger and larger numbers to incorporate the controversial antimicrobials, issues new and amended data requirements that will eventually address their down the drain fate. Environmental fate data for antimicrobials dominate these new requirements, especially pertaining to the discharge of these chemicals into waste water treatment plants from household sources. Antimicrobial chemicals are regulated by the EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
There are nine new data requirements for antimicrobial pesticides and include: photo-degradation soil studies (for wood preservatives); 2 new exposures data requirements -soil residue dissipations and non-dietary ingestion exposure; activated sludge sorption isotherm study; ready biodegradability study; porous pot study; modified activated sludge; and respiration inhibition test.

These new rules are to now be required, once accepted, along with existing requirements, some of which have been updated or now explicitly required. Four of the new data requirements will inform a screening-level assessment on the fate of antimicrobials that reach a wastewater treatment plant, according to the proposal. "Since many antimicrobial pesticides are typically rinsed down the drain, EPA has considered the potential impacts of pesticides that are discharged into wastewater treatment plants," it states. Along with these requirements EPA also proposes to use modeling tools such as the Down the Drain Model with the Probabilistic Dilution Model (PDM) to assist in its environmental fate screening and assessment.

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), a trade group for wastewater treatment plants, has long supported added scrutiny of the approval process for products regulated under FIFRA, particularly of emerging contaminants. The group is particularly concerned that the amount of antimicrobials in the wastewater stream could harm the microbes in activated sludge, which is a biological process that treatment plants use to cleanup wastewater.

In recent comments to the EPA for triclosan , an antimicrobial chemical, Beyond Pesticides and several other environmental and health groups criticized the EPA for not completing an analysis of the impact of triclosan on the environment, especially in the aquatic environment and endangered species, as well as other deficiencies in its review. In separate comments, waste water treatment utilities commented that triclosan and its degradation products are not cleaned out of the water treatment process and end up in sewage sludge. Research shows that earthworms take in triclosan residues, as do fish and aquatic organisms. Concerns were also  raised about residues in drinking water. A recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study found that triclosan was the most detected chemical in U.S. waterways.

TAKE ACTION: EPA is currently taking public comment on the proposed antimicrobials rule. The comment period ends on January 6, 2009. Submit your comments, identified by docket identification number EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0110, by one of the following methods: Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov or mail to the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001. Contact: Kathryn Boyle, Field and External Affairs Division, Office of Pesticide Programs, mail code 7506P; telephone number: 703-305-6304; fax number: 703-305-5884; e-mail address: boyle.kathryn@epa.gov.

On November 6, 2008, EPA will convene a public workshop to explain the provisions of its recently proposed rule to update and revise the data requirements for registration of antimicrobial pesticides. The meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the first floor conference center, One Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202. EPA has arranged for this workshop to be webcast for those who cannot attend the public workshop in person. In order for you to be able to access this webcast presentation, please read and follow all of the instructions here, well in advance of the workshop meeting.

Source: Federal Registrar, Inside EPA

Maryland hospitals cutting toxic pesticides

By Sara Michael
Examiner Staff Writer 10/27/08

Hospitals are normally a place to get well -- not to be exposed to toxic chemicals. But many health care facilities rely on toxic chemicals for pest control, prompting several local hospitals to vow to use safer ways to kill ants, roaches and termites.

"We're not adding to the problem, and that's important to us," said Chris Seale, environmental services director at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Johns Hopkins is one of 13 health care facilities moving toward less-toxic ways of ridding the halls and grounds of pests.

Rather than spraying the grounds for pests, Hopkins and others are focused on preventing them by filling crevices, tightly sealing doors, and keeping food and storage areas clean. They also use only the least-toxic pesticides as a last resort.

This shift comes on the heels of a 2005-2006 survey conducted by the Integrated Pest Management in Health Care Facilities Project that found most hospitals rely on toxic pesticides that have been linked to cancer, birth defects, kidney damage, and neurological, reproductive and developmental effects.

"The Maryland data reflect common practices and are no different from what's going on nationwide," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, a national organization that partnered with the Maryland Pesticide Network and the Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment for this project.

Nearly half of the sites surveyed said their pest management plans should solve the pest problem at the source, but they continued to use toxic pesticides as a first resort.

"People served by these facilities don't need to be exposed to toxic byproducts," said Ruth Berlin, executive director of the Maryland Pesticide Network.

The findings led to a pilot program with seven facilities in 2006 agreeing to developing less-toxic pest management plans. Another six facilities joined this year. Officials at the Integrated Pest Management in Health Care Facilities Project have provided the tools and recommendations for these facilities to move to non-chemical pest management.

Hospitals also must partner with the vendors providing the services, Feldman said.

Most health care facilities contract out the pest management, relying on the expertise of the vendor and providing little oversight, the survey found. But as more hospitals demand the less-toxic management plans, more companies will respond, said Brian Dorsey, facilities manager at Oak Crest, an Erickson retirement community in Parkville.

"As the pressure on vendors continues, we will have a resonating effect on the industry," he said.

Erickson Retirement Communities has a companywide policy for less-toxic pest management, which includes using organic products, baiting pests and educating residents on how to keep areas pest-free.

Click here to read the report from the Maryland Pesticide Network.
smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com
Find this article at: http://www.baltimoreexaminer.com/local/Maryland_hospitals_cutting_toxic_pesticides.html

Report Finds Risks of Developing Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases Can Be Dramatically Reduced

[ PDF]

October 23, 2008 – Boston, MA – Environmental factors are key drivers in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, according to the authors of a new report, Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging, released today.

Importantly, the report demonstrates that the risks for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's can be dramatically reduced.

It offers the most comprehensive review of the currently available research on the lifetime influences of environmental factors on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, two of the most common degenerative diseases of the brain. These influences include common dietary patterns, toxic chemical exposures, inadequate exercise, socio-economic stress and other factors. These influences can begin in the womb and continue throughout life, setting the stage for the later development of neurodegenerative as well as other chronic diseases.

In addition, the report describes the substantial emerging evidence that, collectively, these environmental factors alter biochemical pathways at the cellular and subcellular levels. These alterations fuel Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, as well as other chronic illnesses referred to in the report as the 'Western disease cluster'– diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Each of these diseases in turn increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease. This collection of diseases is being driven by dramatic alterations over the past 50 to 100 years in the U.S. food supply, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, and exposure to toxic chemicals.

The full report, Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging, is published jointly by Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Science and Environmental Health Network and is available online at: www.agehealthy.org.

'As we explored origins and patterns of chronic degenerative diseases, we discovered a web of conditions in the environment – including nutritional, chemical, physical and social factors – that have a direct influence on the risk of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and related chronic diseases,' said report co-author Jill Stein, MD, Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. 'It is clear from these findings that our activities in the areas of food and agriculture, energy, chemical use, and social organization are key drivers in the abnormal loss of neurological function in older people throughout the modern world.'

The scientific analysis in the report draws attention to several specific environmental risk factors in the development of dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. They include, among others:
Other environmental agents examined in the report include bisphenol A, aluminum, industrial emissions, solvents, PCBs, and electromagnetic fields. The role of psychosocial stressors, education and socio-economic status are also featured.

The report authors provide recommendations so that individuals, families, communities, and societies can take action at all levels and move towards healthy living and healthy aging. This is especially important because the population over the age of 65, which is highly vulnerable to chronic disease, is expected to nearly double in the U.S. by 2030 – from about 38 million to over 71 million. With that increase will come a dramatic escalation of chronic diseases unless steps are taken now to reduce the risks. Among these recommendations are:
In addition to these societal recommendations, the report contains recommendations for actions for healthy living and healthy aging that individuals can take to reduce the risks for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other diseases of the Western disease cluster. These include specific recommendations relating to:
'As we illustrate in our report, the risk of neurodegenerative disease can be significantly impacted by individual lifestyle choices, such as by eating nutritious food, staying active mentally and physically, and avoiding harmful pollutants,' said report co-author Ted Schettler, MD, MPH, and Science Director, Science and Environmental Health Network. 'However these individual changes are not enough. Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease risks are also heavily influenced by features of the family, community and society as a whole. Public health and policy approaches are essential for disease prevention.'

On Thursday, October 23, at 1:00 p.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. PT, the co-authors will conduct a media briefing call to discuss their findings and recommendations in the Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging report. Members of the media can access the media briefing call by dialing (877) 358-8255 (U.S./Canada) and using pass code 1619147#.

About Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility
Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility (GBPSR) is an affiliate of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR®), a national organization of over 32,000 physicians, health care professionals, and supporters. PSR, known as 'the active conscience of the medical community,' was formed in 1961 to address the health consequences of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. It has since broadened its mission to include the health consequences of environmental pollution and degradation, and also the reduction of violence and its causes. PSR's international federation, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to translate the abstract concept of nuclear war into medical and personal terms. More information can be found at: http://www.psr.org/Boston.

About Science and Environmental Health Network
The Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN) is a think tank engaging organizations, communities, and govern­ments in the effective application of science to protect and restore public and ecosystem health. SEHN uses the concepts of ecological medicine and ecological health to address the nexus of science, the environment, and human and ecosys­tem health. SEHN is also a leading developer of theory, law, and practice based on the precautionary principle. Founded in 1994, SEHN operates as a virtual organization, cur­rently with six staff members working across the U.S. More information can be found at: http://www.sehn.org.

Contact:
Sakura Amend, Colleen White
Goodman Media
(212) 576-2700

U.S. Chemical Company Challenges Pesticide Ban

http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/peterson_nafta-10-22-2008

by Luke Eric Peterson

Published October 22 2008

The issue of free trade was largely a non-issue during our recent federal election.

However, the North American Free Trade Agreement might have garnered a few headlines if the Feds had disclosed that U.S. chemical giant Dow signalled in late August that it is gearing up to sue Canada.

Dow Agrosciences insists Quebec's province-wide ban on the residential use of weed-killing chemicals breaches legal protections owed by Canada to U.S. investors under the NAFTA.

The U.S. company, which has an extensive manufacturing and sales operation in Canada, wants to be compensated by the Feds for losses incurred to its star product, 2,4-D, one of the most popular chemical ingredients used in commercial pesticides.

The Dow claim is the latest in a long string of disputes to arise under Chapter 11 of the NAFTA—a legal back channel which permits foreign investors to detour around local courts and sue the federal government before an international tribunal.

The company triggered a 90-day waiting period in August, after which it can bring the federal government to binding arbitration.

For cross-border investors, these types of legal protections can come in handy if a tin-pot dictator sends in the tanks and seizes your factories or oil fields. But when such legal provisions are invoked by foreign investors in an effort to ward off health or environmental regulations, eyebrows drift skyward.

Kathleen Cooper, a senior researcher with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, says the Quebec ban has been warmly endorsed by medical and environmental organizations—and enjoys wide support in public opinion surveys. She's troubled that chemical producers can invoke NAFTA in an effort to "undermine the decisions of democratically-elected governments."

The spectre of a NAFTA lawsuit comes at an auspicious moment.

The Province of Ontario has signalled that it will follow Quebec's lead, passing legislation earlier this year, and working on regulations that could come into force next spring.

Such regulatory moves will eventually draw wider attention and scrutiny in other jurisdictions—including the far more lucrative U.S. market. If the U.S. chemical industry hopes to avert a domino effect, it may need to borrow a page from the War on Terrorism tactics book: fighting tougher regulation abroad, so they don't have to fight it on the homefront.

For its part, Dow insists Quebec and Ontario are out of step with the international consensus on a product that has been used for decades in dozens of countries.

The company points to a 2007 risk assessment by Canada's own Pest Management Regulatory Agency which said the product could continue to be used safely on lawns. Dow stresses that Quebec's decision to ban certain uses of the product is not based on scientific evidence. Spokesperson Gary Hamelin says it is a real problem when companies are "making investments of tens of millions of dollars for products that—based on a scientific assessment—[are] acceptable."

While Dow jousts with its critics over the scientific evidence, Quebec (and now Ontario) have taken the view that more stringent standards should be imposed by provincial health regulators—particularly where the product is not necessary, but is used for purely cosmetic purposes.

It could fall to a panel of three arbitrators to decide whether such provincial regulations run afoul of Canada's NAFTA commitments.

Of course, threatening to file a NAFTA claim is hardly a guarantee of success. Nevertheless, chemical producers seem to be warming to the NAFTA option.

Already, the government is defending against another NAFTA Chapter 11 claim filed by another U.S.-based chemical producer. When Canada's Pest Regulatory Management Agency moved to ban the use of Lindane-based seed treatments, U.S.-based Chemtura Corporation sued for $100 million in damages. That arbitration is currently going on behind closed doors, following a January confidentiality order.

One wonders if this is the tip of the legal iceberg. After all, the Feds are now undertaking a broad review of thousands of under-tested chemicals currently on the market.

Just last week, the government added the controversial substance Bisphenol A (BPA)—which is used widely in plastics—to a registry of toxic substances. Although there are no immediate plans to ban the use of the substance as a lining in food and drink cans, it is very likely that BPA will be eliminated from polycarbonate baby bottles.

It remains to be seen whether tougher regulations on BPA and other chemicals will also be challenged under NAFTA Chapter 11.

For almost two months, the federal government has been mum about the latest legal salvo from Dow.

Although Dow formally signalled its intentions in late August—setting in motion a 90-day consultation period—the Department of Foreign Affairs only disclosed the potential lawsuit yesterday.

Until now, Canadian taxpayers—who foot the bill to defend NAFTA lawsuits and pay any compensation awarded by arbitrators—have been denied the opportunity to weigh in with their own views on the matter.

However, given that nearly 7,000 members of the public submitted comments on the Ontario Government's proposed pesticides ban, one can guess that the Feds will receive plenty of feedback in the weeks to come.

Luke Eric Peterson is a columnist for Embassy and the editor of an investigative reporting service tracking NAFTA-style arbitrations, the Investment Arbitration Reporter (www.iareporter.com).

editor@embassymag.ca

Increase Risk of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

(Beyond Pesticides, October 14, 2008) 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. According to EPA, glyphosate is the most commonly used pesticide in the U.S. with 103 to 113 million pounds used annually. MCPA is a phenoxyacetic acid pesticide, a family of pesticides that has previously been linked to cancer and includes 2,4-D and mecoprop (MCPP).

NHL is a cancer of the immune system. There are several different types of NHL, which are differentiated by the type of immune cell that is cancerous, the characteristics of the cancerous cell, and different genetic mutations of the cancerous cells. Treatment for NHL varies depending on NHL type, patient age, and other existing medical conditions. The incidence of NHL has been increasing over the past several decades.

The link between pesticides and cancer has long been a concern. While agriculture has traditionally been tied to pesticide-related illnesses, 19 of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides and 24 of 48 commonly used school pesticides are probable or possible carcinogens. The consistency of the scientific findings linking pesticide exposure to cancer raises serious questions about their allowed use.

In 2002, the same researchers published a study that shows an increased risk to NHL from exposure to certain pesticides: a 1.75 OR for herbicides, a 3.11 OR for fungicides, a 3.04 OR for glyphosate, and a 2.62 OR for MCPA. And even earlier, in 1999, another study by these researchers, published by the American Cancer Society, finds an increased risk of NHL for people exposed to common herbicides and fungicides, particularly MCPP. People exposed to glyphosate are 2.7 times more likely to develop NHL.

NHL has been linked to pesticides in other studies as well, including 2,4-D, the most commonly used nonagricultural herbicide. A 2007 case-control study published in Environmental Health Perspectives finds that children born to mothers living in households with pesticide use during pregnancy have over twice as much risk of getting cancer, specifically acute leukemia (AL) or NHL. A study published in a 2001 issue of Cancer also correlates an increased risk of NHL with exposure to household pesticides. The study examined pesticide exposure routes to children either through the mother while she was pregnant, or directly to the child. Exposed children showed a three to seven time greater likelihood of developing NHL, as compared to unexposed children. In studying different types of NHL, the researchers found that household insecticide use was correlated to a greater risk of lymphoblastic lymphoma by 12.5 times. Researchers at the Northwestern University, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and the National Cancer Institute find that agricultural exposure to insecticides, herbicides, and fumigants are associated with a 2.6 to 5.0 fold increase in the incidence of t(14;18)-positive NHL (refers to a specific genetic alteration in a type of NHL).

Avoid carcinogenic herbicides in foods by supporting organic agriculture, and on lawns by using non-toxic land care strategies that rely on soil health, not toxic herbicides.

Study Links Women's Brain Cancer to Herbicide Use

(Beyond Pesticides, October 10, 2008) A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology [Vol. 167, No. 8] finds women who have used herbicides are twice as likely to have meningioma, a specific kind of brain tumor. The study, "Occupational exposure to pesticides and risk of adult brain tumors," was conducted by the National Cancer Institute.

The authors examined the risk of two types of brain cancer, glioma and meningioma, associated with occupational exposure to insecticides and herbicides in a hospital-based, case-control study of brain cancer. Cases were 462 glioma and 195 meningioma patients diagnosed between 1994 and 1998 in three U.S. hospitals. Controls were 765 patients admitted to the same hospitals for nonmalignant conditions. Occupational histories were collected during personal interviews. Exposure to pesticides was estimated by use of a questionnaire, combined with pesticide measurement data abstracted from published sources.

The researchers found no overall link between brain cancer and on-the-job exposure to pesticides or herbicides. However, looking closer at the data, the researchers noticed that women who reported using herbicides had a more than doubled risk for meningioma compared with women who never used herbicides, and there were significant trends of increasing risk with increasing years of herbicide exposure and increasing cumulative. There is no association between meningioma and herbicide or insecticide exposure among men. Unfortunately, the studies used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to register pesticides are conducted on male rats.

Of the women with the highest herbicide exposure, most worked in restaurants or grocery stores, and were likely exposed by routinely handling produce treated with herbicides.

Tumors of the brain, cranial nerves, and meninges account for 95 percent of tumors of the central nervous system and include some of the most rapidly fatal types of cancer. An estimated 20,500 new cases of brain and other nervous system cancers were diagnosed during 2007 in the United States. The two most common histologic types of brain tumors are gliomas and meningiomas, and data suggest that gliomas are more common in men, while meningiomas occur more often in women.

Another study, published in 2007 in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine indicates that farmworkers and persons exposed to high levels of pesticides have an increased risk of developing brain tumors, especially gliomas - a tumor of the nervous system. The study, "Brain tumours and exposure to pesticides: a case-control study in southwestern France," suggests that not only are occupational pesticide exposure risks high, but indoor domestic uses of pesticides also increase the risk of developing brain tumors.

Study Finds Low Doses of Pesticides Impact Amphibians

(Beyond Pesticides, October 6, 2008) University of Pittsburgh researchers have found that the commonly used insecticide malathion can decimate tadpole populations by altering their food chain. The study, published in the October 1 edition of Ecological Applications, finds that gradual amounts of malathion that were too small to directly kill developing leopard frog tadpoles instead sparked a biological chain of events that deprived them of their primary food source. As a result, nearly half the tadpoles in the experiment did not reach maturity and would have died in nature. The results build on a nine-year effort to investigate whether there is a link between pesticides and the global decline in amphibians, which are considered an environmental indicator species because of their sensitivity to pollutants. According to the researchers, their deaths may foreshadow the poisoning of other less environmentally-sensitivespecies, including humans.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), malathion is the most commonly used insecticide in U.S. agriculture and the third most commonly used insecticide in the U.S. home and garden sector. It has been detected in the wetlands where frogs and other amphibians live.

The researchers created simulated ponds from 300-gallon outdoor tanks containing wood frog and leopard frog tadpoles. They exposed the ponds to no malathion, moderate concentrations in a single dose, or low concentrations in weekly doses that mirror the levels tadpoles experience in nature. The doses of malathion in the simulated ponds were too low to directly kill the amphibians, but instead wiped out tiny animals known as zooplankton that eat algae that float in the water. With few zooplankton remaining, the algae, known as phytoplankton, grew rapidly and prevented sunlight from reaching the bottom-dwelling algae, or periphyton, which tadpoles eat. This chain of events occurred over a period of several weeks. The wood frog tadpoles, which mature quickly, were largely unaffected.

Leopard frog tadpoles, on the other hand, require more time to develop into frogs and experienced slower growth as a result of the reduced amount of periphyton. Ultimately, 43 percent of the leopard frog tadpoles did not mature as a result of the repeated application of malathion at very low concentrations. Study author Rick Relyea, Ph.D., an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Arts and Sciences, reported that the multiple low doses are a greater detriment than the single dose, with a concentration 25-times higher than the multiple applications combined. The single doses also wipe out the zooplankton, but they eventually recovere and the pond reverts back to its original state. The repeated doses prevents the zooplankton from recovering.

"The chain of events caused by malathion deprived a large fraction of the leopard frog tadpoles of the nutrients they needed to metamorphose into adult frogs," Dr. Relyea said. "Repeated applications sustained that disruption of the tadpoles' food supply. So, even concentrations that cannot directly kill tadpoles can indirectly kill them in large numbers."

The research results should apply to several other insecticides that are highly lethal to zooplankton, including carbaryl, diazinon, endosulfan, esfenvalerate, and pyridaben, Dr. Relyea said. All of these chemicals are toxic to humans as well and are commonly used in the United States, although some are banned in other countries. The effect of insecticides and other pesticides on amphibians are not widely known because current regulations from EPA do not require amphibian testing. The EPA also relies on single-species tests to assess a pesticide's risk and does not account for potential indirect repercussions.

"The indirect impacts on the amphibians observed in this study could not be observed in traditional, single-species tests," Dr. Relyea said. "These results demonstrate that we need to take a much broader view of the consequences pesticides might have in our world."

A U.S. Geological Survey study in 2007 found that the breakdown products of chlorpyrifos, malathion and diazinon are ten to 100 times more toxic to amphibians than their parent compounds, which are already highly toxic to amphibians.

Leopard and wood frogs naturally range across North America, including Pennsylvania and the Northeastern United States. Once plentiful, leopard frogs have declined in recent years.

Dr. Relyea has published a number of papers on the effects of pesticides on amphibians and aquatic communities, including a 2005 study suggesting that the popular weed-killer Roundup® is "extremely lethal" to amphibians in concentrations found in the environment.

Pyrethroid Pesticide Affects Puberty at Low Levels

(Beyond Pesticides, September 22, 2008) A study published in the September issue of Environmental Health Perspectives finds that low-dose, short-term exposure to esfenvalerate, a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide, delays the onset of puberty in rats at doses two times lower than U.S. EPA's stated no observable effect level (NOEL) of 2.0 mg/kg/day. Synthetic pyrethroids are used for everything from lawn care and household insecticides, to mosquito control and agriculture. There are currently 348 pesticide products registered by the U.S. EPA.

The researchers conclude:

"Although the exact mechanism of action is unknown at this time, we observed the effects at dosage levels below the NOEL established through chronic dietary exposure studies in rats. The U.S. EPA (1998) http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/1998/April/Day-29/p11372.htm stated that 'There is no evidence of additional sensitivity to young rats or rabbits following pre- or postnatal exposure to esfenvalerate.' The present study shows that immature female rats exposed to 1.0 mg/kg/day are sensitive to this pesticide, as evidenced by their delay in the onset of puberty. Delayed pubertal onset in humans has been associated with low bone mass density (Ho and Kung 2005), and estrogen is necessary for bone mineral acquisition in both girls and boys (Yilmaz et al. 2005). Importantly, a lowered endogenous estrogen level in females is one factor associated with bone fragility (Hoffman and Bradshaw 2003).

"This could potentially affect current established exposure levels for humans, because the reference dose for [esfenvalerate] of 0.02 mg/kg/day is based directly on the rodent NOEL of 2.0 mg/kg/day."

With the phase-out of most residential uses of the common organophosphate insecticides, chlorpyrifos and diazinon, home use of pyrethroids has increased. Pesticide products containing synthetic pyrethroids are often described by pest control operators and community mosquito management bureaus as "safe as chrysanthemum flowers." While pyrethroids are a synthetic version of an extract from the chyrsanthemum plant, they are chemically engineered to be more toxic, take longer to breakdown, and are often formulated with synergists, increasing potency and compromising the human body's ability to detoxify the pesticide. Pyrethroids may affect neurological development, disrupt hormones, induce cancer, and suppress the immune system. Researchers at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) find that residential pesticide use represents the most important risk factor for children's exposure to pyrethroid insecticides.

According to Ohio State University, esfenvalerate is one of over 75 commonly used pesticides that are highly or moderately toxic to bees. It has also been used on Christmas trees in North Carolina. Esfenvalerate has replaced fenvalerate, whose uses were voluntarily withdrawn from the market by varfious manufacturers, including The Scotts Company, from 2003 to 2008, although existing supplies can be sold off.

For more information, see Beyond Pesticides' factsheet on synthetic pyrethroids.
19
Sep

More Research Links Pesticides to Parkinson's Disease

(Beyond Pesticides, September 19, 2008) Adding to the body of epidemiologic evidence linking pesticides to Parkinson's Disease (PD), a recent study shows a correlation between 100 PD patients and the use of the pesticide rotenone. The study was conducted by physicians and researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT) and an East Texas Medical Center physician.The study's lead author is Aman Dhillon, MD, MS, assistant professor of occupational and environmental medicine at UTHSCT.

Rotenone is highly toxic to fish and insects, but mildly toxic to warm-blooded animals and humans. It is made from the roots of tropical plants and is used in home gardens and in fisheries management to remove unwanted fish species, said Jeffrey Levin, MD, MSPH, chair of UTHSCT's Department of Occupational Health Sciences. Dr. Levin is a co-author of the study, published recently in the peer-reviewed Journal of Agromedicine.

A total of 184 people participated in the study: 100 had Parkinson's disease and 84 did not, though they had other neurological disorders. All were patients of George M. Plotkin, MD, Ph.D., a neurologist with a special interest in Parkinson's disease. Dr. Plotkin, medical director of the ETMC Movement Disorder Center, treats about 800 patients with Parkinson's disease. He is a co-author of the study and also a clinical associate professor in UTHSCT's Department of Occupational Health Sciences. "In this study, people with Parkinson's disease were 10 times more likely to have used rotenone than individuals in the control group," Dr. Levin said.

Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative syndrome, affecting over 1.5 million people nationally, Dr. Plotkin said. There's a higher incidence of Parkinson's in certain industries, including farming and petroleum. Because Parkinson's was first described at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, there has always been a suspicion that it is an "industrial disease," reflecting the exposure history of those who contract it, he added.

"While epidemiologists have looked at a number of areas in the United States, this study is the first detailed account of exposure history in Parkinson's patients, in East Texas, as compared with age-matched controls," Dr. Plotkin said.

"The results are rather striking, and reflect our notion that environmental agents may well affect individuals predisposed to developing the disease. Future research will need to focus on determining how this happens, with the hope that more careful management of hazardous materials will reduce the chances of Parkinson's disease developing in persons at risk," he said.

Dr. Plotkin's patients completed a 17-page questionnaire designed by study investigators about their everyday life, work history, and habits, as well as their current and past use of various pesticides. Each individual in the study was at least 50 years old and had lived in Northeast Texas for at least five years. If they had Parkinson's, they had first been diagnosed with it at least five years ago.

Though pesticide use has been linked to Parkinson's disease, this is one of the first studies to show a possible correlation between a specific pesticide – rotenone – and Parkinson's disease in humans, Dr. Dhillon said. The study also revealed a weaker link between other pesticides and Parkinson's disease. For example, people with Parkinson's disease were twice as likely to have used pesticides with chlorpyrifos, such as Dursban, than individuals in the control group. Dursban and similar pesticides were banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2000 because of their potential to harm the developing brain and nervous system in children.

"It seems to be a combination of genes and environment that causes the development of Parkinson's disease. This study examined one of many factors that may cause Parkinson's," Dr. Levin said. "Part of the role of public health is to identify the risk factors for disease. If we can identify them, then people can avoid risk factors such as rotenone and hopefully prevent the disease."

Rotenone has been the subject of some debate before, including its use as a piscicide in California and being linked in previous studies to Parkinson's. It is also toxic to nontarget species and further research could tie it more closely with Parkinson's than it already is.

"The next step is to verify the results of this study. We think there's potential to do a broader study examining more risk factors, with more individuals," Dr. Levin said.18

Testicular Defects in Newborns Linked to Prenatal Chemical Exposure

(Beyond Pesticides, September 17, 2008) A new study has found a link between total chemical contamination in the bodies of pregnant women and the risk of cryptorchidism in their male babies. Mothers whose babies were born with the defect had the highest concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), mostly organochlorines like PCB and DDE, in their breast milk.

The study, entiltled "Cryptorchidism at birth in Nice area (France) is associated with higher prenatal exposure to PCBs and DDE, as assessed by colostrum concentrations," and published in the journal Human Reproduction, compared prebirth exposure to chemicals, as measured through their mother's milk, and the risk of undescended testicles or cryptorchidism, during a three-year period. 164 mother/infant pairs were used and within 3-5 days of delivery, the researchers collected samples of colostrums, or "first milk" from the mother. Colostrum is a form of breast milk that is produced late in pregnancy and immediately after birth before the more creamy milk comes in. It is used as a proxy for what was circulating in the mother's body and in her fetus during pregnancy. The colostrum was analyzed for three different chemical pollutants including seven polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethylene (DDE) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). Umbilical cord blood was also measured.

While all subjects in the study had detectable levels of these chemicals in either their blood or breast milk, the researchers found that mothers in the highest exposure group for PCBs and DDE in breast milk had two-fold greater odds of giving birth to a boy baby with cryptorchidism, as compared to moms with low to medium exposure. DBP did not appear to be associated with an increased risk of cryptorchidism, but four boys whose mothers had high exposures to DBP in their jobs were born with the defect. While this number is too small to be significant statistically, researchers found it to be an interesting observation.

These findings complement a host of other studies which have associated prenatal chemical exposures to a series of birth defects. The occurrence of cryptorchidism indicates that testosterone production and/or hormone signaling conditions in the womb have gone awry. Both of these conditions are related to sperm production and the risk of testicular cancer later in life. Cryptorchidism is seen in about 3% of male full-term births, 30% of premature births and is one cause of male infertility.

Results like these emphasize the long term and destructive effects persistent chemicals can have on human populations. DDT (the precursor to DDE) and PCBs have been banned is much of the world for several decades. However, like other POPs, they continue to circulate in the environment, accumulate in the food chain and contribute to health problems, such as the reproductive abnormalities observed in this study. These chemicals accumulate in fatty tissue and humans are exposed via meat, fish and dairy products. These persistent pollutants have also been linked to childhood obesity, non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and cancer, among others.

Although exposures to these chemicals can be correlated to adverse health effects, they are also indicators of a much wider problem; exposures to mixtures of chemicals are negatively influencing hormones and fetal development in humans.

Initiative Improves Pest Management in Boston's Public Housing

(Beyond Pesticides, September 16, 2008) Responding to grassroots pressure highlighting the impact of pests and pesticides on public health, the Boston Public Housing Authority (BHA) is promoting integrated pest management (IPM) through its Healthy Pest Free Housing Initiative Project (HPFHI) in the city's public housing facilities. The program, which was launched after the Committee for Boston Public Housing, a tenant rights group, began looking into the connection between respiratory health, asthma and housing conditions in 1995, is now proving successful.

"The project's goal is to provide intensive in-home and community-based education designed to change individual and community practices regarding pest control and the use of pesticides," explains John Kane, IPM coordinator and planner for the Boston Housing Authority (BHA). Mr. Kane says that there has been up to a 75 percent reduction in work orders dealing with pests and a huge increase in the quality of life for the residents.

Over 1,000 BHA households in eight developments have received in-home and community-based support and education to encourage integrated pest management practices that focus on prevention and use "least toxic" pesticides only as a last resort. BHA hopes to make the project sustainable and expand their efforts into additional developments. "People are beginning to see they no longer have to live with their pest problems. They feel empowered by being able to take control of their pest problems and their health," says Mr. Kane.

The HPFHI project has moved the standard pest management practice from routinely spraying pesticides in an entire complex to inspections and an integrated management plan. Prevention is emphasized, and tactics such as sealing up cracks and crevices, cutting off water supply, and removing habitat are all steps that are taken once unit is vacated and during yearly unit inspections. Insecticide gels are used as a last resort. While environmentalists note that the plan is a vast improvement, Beyond Pesticides cautions that not all baits and gels are created equal. To learn more about the volatility of commonly used pesticides, see the article, "How Safe Is Your Bait?" from the Winter 2007-08 issue of Pesticides and You.

According to BHA, at the beginning of the project every home tested showed evidence of at least one pesticide that has either been banned or restricted to non-residential use. Nearly 50 percent had cockroach allergen levels in excess of asthma sensitivity exposure.

Teams of IPM health advocates are providing outreach and in-home education in eight BHA developments involved in the project. "Our team trains the residents in IPM, and we also utilize a train-the-trainer approach in which people are trained to provide education about IPM to newly arriving residents during their orientation," said Mr. Kane. The Boston Public Health Commission has also developed informational brochures and posters in multiple languages that can be used in public housing situations and beyond.

To enhance their educational efforts, a "pesticide buyback" occurs twice a year and gives residents an opportunity to trade unused pesticides for safer products and provides another opportunity for health advocates to connect with residents. "Buybacks are scheduled to coincide with Boston's biannual residential hazardous waste collection. So far, this project has collected a wide array of pesticides including over the counter sprays and bombs, as well as restricted use pesticides that by law can only be applied by a licensed professional," Mr. Kane explains.

HPFHI is also working towards translating project findings into proposed policies. At the state level, the Massachusetts Public Health Association will educate its members about IPM, support IPM advocacy and provide training for community health workers. In addition, the Asthma Regional Council is developing a handbook and kit on IPM for building managers and promoting it to the 375 housing authorities in New England. A similar tool will be aimed at health plans interested in home environmental assessments, education and supplies.

Although programs like Boston's HPFHI are seeing some success, asthma and other respiratory illnesses remain a huge problem in the U.S. Since the mid-1980s, asthma rates have skyrocketed to epidemic levels, particularly in young children. In the U.S. alone, around 16 million people suffer from asthma. Asthma is a serious chronic disorder of the lungs characterized by recurrent attacks of bronchial constriction, which cause breathlessness, wheezing, and coughing. Asthma is a dangerous, and in some cases life-threatening disease. Researchers have found that pesticide exposure can induce a poisoning effect linked to asthma. For more information see Beyond Pesticides' Asthma, Children and Pesticides brochure.

Partners in the project include the Boston Public Health Commission, Committee for Boston Public Housing, West Broadway Task Force, Boston University School of Public Health, and local, state, and regional policy and advocacy organizations. W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency fund the project, which affects over 23,000 public housing residents.

Research Links Agent Orange Exposure to Prostate Cancer

(Beyond Pesticides, August 8, 2008) University of California Davis Cancer Center physicians recently released results of research showing that Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange have greatly increased risks of prostate cancer and even greater risks of getting the most aggressive form of the disease as compared to those who were not exposed.

The findings, which appear online now and will be published in the September 15 issue of the journal Cancer, are the first to reliably link the herbicide with this form of cancer by studying a large population of men in their 60s and the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for the disease.

"While others have linked Agent Orange to cancers such as soft-tissue sarcomas, Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, there is limited evidence so far associating it with prostate cancer," said Karim Chamie, lead author of the study and resident physician with the UC Davis Department of Urology and the VA Northern California Health Care System. "Here we report on the largest study to date of Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange and the incidence of prostate cancer."

Chamie also said that, unlike previous studies that were either too small or conducted on men who were too young, patients in the current study were entering their prime years for developing prostate cancer. There was also the added advantage that it was conducted entirely during the era of PSA screening, providing a powerful tool for early diagnosis and tracking of prostate cancer.

More than 13,000 Vietnam veterans enrolled in the VA Northern California Health Care System were stratified into two groups — exposed or not exposed to Agent Orange between 1962 and 1971. Based on medical evaluations conducted between 1998 and 2006, the study revealed that twice as many men exposed to Agent Orange were identified with prostate cancer. In addition, Agent Orange-exposed men were diagnosed two-and-a-half years younger and were nearly four times more likely to present with metastatic disease. Other prostate cancer risk factors — race, body-mass index and smoking — were not statistically different between the two groups.

"Our country's veterans deserve the best possible health care, and this study clearly confirms that Agent Orange exposure during service in Vietnam is associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer later in life," said Ralph deVere White, UC Davis Cancer Center director and a study co-author. "Just as those with a family history of prostate cancer or who are of African-American heritage are screened more frequently, so too should men with Agent Orange exposure be given priority consideration for all the screening and diagnostic tools we have at our disposal in the hopes of early detection and treatment of this disease."

Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. It is estimated that there will be about 186,320 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in 2008 and about 28,660 men will die of the disease this year.

Now a banned chemical, Agent Orange is a combination of two synthetic compounds known to be contaminated with the dioxin tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) during the manufacturing process. Named for the color of the barrel in which it was stored, Agent Orange was one of many broad-leaf defoliants used in Vietnam to destroy dense forests in order to better visualize enemy activity.

It is estimated that more than 20 million gallons of the chemicals, also known as "rainbow herbicides," were sprayed between 1962 and 1971, contaminating both ground cover and ground troops. Most of the rainbow herbicide used during this time was Agent Orange. In 1997, the International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified TCDD as a group 1 carcinogen, a classification that includes arsenic, asbestos and gamma radiation. TCDD has been found in common herbicide 2,4-D.

Agent Orange exposure has been linked to a variety of other health effects, including leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Vietnam continues to be affected by the contamination, and the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed veterans' right to seek compensation for their exposure.

In Agricultural Areas, Male Toads Feminized

(Beyond Pesticides, July 17, 2008) In a new study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers have found an increased occurrence of intersex toads in areas with greater agricultural land cover. This points to a link between certain pesticides and endocrine disruption, a change in the hormonal balance that can have sexual and reproductive effects. Such results implicate pesticides in the decline of amphibian populations, and suggests that these chemicals are also adversely affecting humans.

The study, which was conducted in south Florida, looked at cane toads, Bufo marinus, at five sites with differing land use patterns ranging from suburban to nearly completely agricultural (primarily sugarcane and vegetables). Researchers examined physical characteristics such as coloration, sexual organs, and forelimb length, as well as hormone concentrations, and found a higher rate of feminization for toads in agricultural areas. In these areas, glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round Up herbicide) and atrazine (an herbicide) use is common.

Tyrone Hayes, PhD, was one of the first to document the endocrine disrupting effects of atrazine on frogs in a laboratory setting. Countering any doubts of why this work is important, Dr. Hayes said, "People often say, ‘It is just frogs, so who cares?' Well it does not matter whether you are a frog, a dog, a bat, a cat or a human. The compounds and the genes and the hormones that we are talking about are the same."

This latest study, following on others, takes the issue out of the laboratory and attempts to address the effects of pesticides on amphibians in the environment. Because of the complexity of environmental factors and, as the authors say, the "milieu" of chemicals that may exist in the environment, it is much more difficult to prove definitive links between cause and effect outside the laboratory. In another study addressing frogs in the environment, researchers actually found increased intersex frogs in suburban areas. The two results do not necessarily contradict each other, and may indicate that a wide variety of chemicals are having endocrine disrupting effects on amphibians.

All of this work highlights the need for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a robust Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program that takes into account the effects, at all doses, pesticides can have on humans and wildlife, and eliminate the use of pesticides that are endocrine disruptors. The European Commission has taken steps to adopt a precautionary principle with endocrine disrupting chemicals.

EPA Drops Value of an American Life

By SETH BORENSTEIN,
AP
Posted: 2008-07-10 20:51:11

Filed Under: Health News, Nation News, Science News WASHINGTON (July 10) - It's not just the American dollar that's losing value. A government agency has decided that an American life isn't worth what it used to be.

The "value of a statistical life" is $6.9 million in today's dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency reckoned in May - a drop of nearly $1 million from just five years ago.

The Associated Press discovered the change after a review of cost-benefit analyses over more than a dozen years.

Though it may seem like a harmless bureaucratic recalculation, the devaluation has real consequences.

When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life and then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution.

Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation that costs $18 billion to enforce but will prevent 2,500 deaths. At $7.8 million per person (the old figure), the lifesaving benefits outweigh the costs. But at $6.9 million per person, the rule costs more than the lives it saves, so it may not be adopted.

Some environmentalists accuse the Bush administration of changing the value to avoid tougher rules - a charge the EPA denies.

"It appears that they're cooking the books in regards to the value of life," said S. William Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which represents state and local air pollution regulators. "Those decisions are literally a matter of life and death."

Dan Esty, a senior EPA policy official in the administration of the first President Bush and now director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, said: "It's hard to imagine that it has other than a political motivation."

Agency officials say they were just following what the science told them.

The EPA figure is not based on people's earning capacity, or their potential contributions to society, or how much they are loved and needed by their friends and family - some of the factors used in insurance claims and wrongful-death lawsuits.

Instead, economists calculate the value based on what people are willing to pay to avoid certain risks, and on how much extra employers pay their workers to take on additional risks. Most of the data is drawn from payroll statistics; some comes from opinion surveys. According to the EPA, people shouldn't think of the number as a price tag on a life.

The EPA made the changes in two steps. First, in 2004, the agency cut the estimated value of a life by 8 percent. Then, in a rule governing train and boat air pollution this May, the agency took away the normal adjustment for one year's inflation. Between the two changes, the value of a life fell 11 percent, based on today's dollar.

EPA officials say the adjustment was not significant and was based on better economic studies. The reduction reflects consumer preferences, said Al McGartland, director of EPA's office of policy, economics and innovation.

"It's our best estimate of what consumers are willing to pay to reduce similar risks to their own lives," McGartland said.

But EPA's cut "doesn't make sense," said Vanderbilt University economist Kip Viscusi. EPA partly based its reduction on his work. "As people become more affluent, the value of statistical lives go up as well. It has to." Viscusi also said no study has shown that Americans are less willing to pay to reduce risks.

At the same time that EPA was trimming the value of life, the Department of Transportation twice raised its life value figure. But its number is still lower than the EPA's.

EPA traditionally has put the highest value on life of any government agency and still does, despite efforts by administrations to bring uniformity to that figure among all departments.

Not all of EPA uses the reduced value. The agency's water division never adopted the change and in 2006 used $8.7 million in current dollars.

From 1996 to 2003, EPA kept the value of a statistical life generally around $7.8 million to $7.96 million in current dollars, according to reports analyzed by The AP. In 2004, for a major air pollution rule, the agency lowered the value to $7.15 million in current dollars.

Just how the EPA came up with that figure is complicated and involves two dueling analyses.

Viscusi wrote one of those big studies, coming up with a value of $8.8 million in current dollars. The other study put the number between $2 million and $3.3 million. The co-author of that study, Laura Taylor of North Carolina State University, said her figure was lower because it emphasized differences in pay for various risky jobs, not just risky industries as a whole.

EPA took portions of each study and essentially split the difference - a decision two of the agency's advisory boards faulted or questioned.

"This sort of number-crunching is basically numerology," said Granger Morgan, chairman of EPA's Science Advisory Board and an engineering and public policy professor at Carnegie Mellon University. "This is not a scientific issue."

Other, similar calculations by the Bush administration have proved politically explosive. In 2002, the EPA decided the value of elderly people was 38 percent less than that of people under 70. After the move became public, the agency reversed itself.

Chemical Law Has Global Impact
E.U.'s New Rules Forcing Changes By U.S. Firms

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 12, 2008; A01

Europe this month rolled out new restrictions on makers of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, changes that are forcing U.S. industries to find new ways to produce a wide range of everyday products.

The new laws in the European Union require companies to demonstrate that a chemical is safe before it enters commerce -- the opposite of policies in the United States, where regulators must prove that a chemical is harmful before it can be restricted or removed from the market. Manufacturers say that complying with the European laws will add billions to their costs, possibly driving up prices of some products.

The changes come at a time when consumers are increasingly worried about the long-term consequences of chemical exposure and are agitating for more aggressive regulation. In the United States, these pressures have spurred efforts in Congress and some state legislatures to pass laws that would circumvent the laborious federal regulatory process.

Adamantly opposed by the U.S. chemical industry and the Bush administration, the E.U. laws will be phased in over the next decade. It is difficult to know exactly how the changes will affect products sold in the United States. But American manufacturers are already searching for safer alternatives to chemicals used to make thousands of consumer goods, from bike helmets to shower curtains. The European Union's tough stance on chemical regulation is the latest area in which the Europeans are reshaping business practices with demands that American companies either comply or lose access to a market of 27 countries and nearly 500 million people.

From its crackdown on antitrust practices in the computer industry to its rigorous protection of consumer privacy, the European Union has adopted a regulatory philosophy that emphasizes the consumer. Its approach to managing chemical risks, which started with a trickle of individual bans and has swelled into a wave, is part of a European focus on caution when it comes to health and the environment. "There's a strong sense in Europe and the world at large that America is letting the market have a free ride," said Sheila Jasanoff, professor of science and technology studies at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "The Europeans believe . . . that being a good global citizen in an era of sustainability means you don't just charge ahead and destroy the planet without concern for what you're doing."

Under the E.U. laws, manufacturers must study and report the risks posed by specific chemicals. Through the Internet, the data will be available for the first time to consumers, regulators and potential litigants around the world. Until now, much of that information either did not exist or was closely held by companies.

"This is going to compel companies to be more responsible for their products than they have ever been," said Daryl Ditz, senior policy adviser at the Center for International Environmental Law. "They'll have to know more about the chemicals they make, what their products are and where they go."

The laws also call for the European Union to create a list of "substances of very high concern" -- those suspected of causing cancer or other health problems. Any manufacturer wishing to produce or sell a chemical on that list must receive authorization.

In the United States, laws in place for three decades have made banning or restricting chemicals extremely difficult. The nation's chemical policy, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, grandfathered in about 62,000 chemicals then in commercial use. Chemicals developed after the law's passage did not have to be tested for safety. Instead, companies were asked to report toxicity information to the government, which would decide if additional tests were needed.

In more than 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has required additional studies for about 200 chemicals, a fraction of the 80,000 chemicals that are part of the U.S. market. The government has had little or no information about the health hazards or risks of most of those chemicals.

The EPA has banned only five chemicals since 1976. The hurdles are so high for the agency that it has been unable to ban asbestos, which is widely acknowledged as a likely carcinogen and is barred in more than 30 countries. Instead, the EPA relies on industry to voluntarily cease production of suspect chemicals.

"If you ask people whether they think the drain cleaner they use in their homes has been tested for safety, they think, 'Of course, the government would have never allowed a product on the market without knowing it's safe,' " said Richard Denison, senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund. "When you tell them that's not the case, they can't believe it."

The changes in Europe follow eight years of vigorous opposition from the U.S. chemical industry and the Bush administration. Four U.S. agencies -- the EPA, the Commerce Department, the State Department and the Office of the Trade Representative -- argued that the system would burden manufacturers and offer little public benefit.

In 2002, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell directed the staffs of American Embassies in Europe to oppose the measure. He cited talking points developed in consultation with the American Chemistry Council, a manufacturers trade group.

Mike Walls, the chemistry council's managing director of government and regulatory affairs, said that 90 percent of its members are affected by the E.U. laws and that some cannot afford the cost of compliance. "We're talking about over 850 pages of regulation," he said.

The E.U. standards will force many manufacturers to reformulate their products for sale there as well as in the United States. "We're not looking at this as a European program -- we're buying and selling all over the globe," said Linda Fisher, vice president and chief sustainability officer for DuPont and a former EPA deputy administrator.

DuPont expects to spend "tens of millions" of dollars to register about 500 chemicals with the European Union, Fisher said. About 20 to 30 are expected to make the list of "substances of very high concern." One such chemical is likely to be perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), used to make Teflon and other substances used in food packaging, carpet, clothing and electrical equipment. A suspected carcinogen, it accumulates in the environment and in human tissue.

DuPont reached a $16.5 million settlement with the EPA in 2005 on charges that it illegally withheld information about health risks posed by PFOA and about water pollution near a West Virginia plant. Dupont and other companies have agreed to cease production by 2015. Once a chemical is included on the E.U. list, manufacturers are likely to feel pressure to abandon production, observers say. "It will be a market signal that says, 'These are best to avoid,' " said Joel Tickner, director of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts.

Linking the word "concern" to a chemical is enough to trigger a market reaction. Earlier this year, when government officials in Canada and the United States said they worried about health effects possibly caused by bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in plastics, major retailers pulled from their shelves baby bottles containing the chemical.

"When we see lead in toys and BPA in baby bottles, all of these things arouse a kind of parental anxiety that overrides any counter-arguments based on science that industry might make," Jasanoff said. In the absence of strong federal regulations in the United States, a patchwork system is emerging. Individual states are banning specific chemicals, and half a dozen lawmakers on Capitol Hill have introduced bills aimed at shutting down production of various chemicals. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced a measure last month that would overhaul U.S. chemical regulation along the lines of the new European approach. It would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to use biomonitoring studies to identify industrial chemicals present in umbilical cord blood and decide whether those chemicals should be restricted or banned. A study by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found an average of 200 industrial chemicals in the cord blood of newborns.

Said Denison: "We still have quite a ways to go in convincing the U.S. Congress this is a problem that needs fixing." But new policies in Europe and in Canada push the United States closer to change, he said. "They show it's feasible, it's being done elsewhere, and we're behind."

California Officials Cancel Aerial Spraying

(Beyond Pesticides, June 23, 2005) California state officials abruptly cancelled the program to spray pesticides to combat the light brown apple moth (LBAM). This move came after months of protests by residents over concerns that the chemicals in the pheromone-based pesticide may adversely impact their health and the environment.California's Agriculture Secretary, A.G. Kawamura, announced on Thursday that the state has abandoned its plan for aerial spraying of the light brown apple moth in urban areas of several counties, including the San Francisco Bay area. However, sprayings may still proceed on farmland in rural areas. Officials also stated that they would not spray over communities near farms.

"I know there's concern out there, and we want to be able to address that," Secretary Kawamura told reporters. "Our focus is to use the technology that has moved progressively forward."

Instead of spraying, the state said that it would keep moth populations under control by releasing sterile moths to halt reproduction by rendering eggs useless. Apparently the use of sterile moth as a means of population control has been a part of the state's plans for more than a year. It is not clear therefore why aerial spraying was so heavily advocated by state officials, but Secretary Kawamura noted that the state's change of plans comes about because of "new science" and not over concerns about the environment.

This decision is viewed as a victory for many environmental activists and communities of Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, Solano and Santa Barbara. Protests over the spraying began after about 487 people reported feeling symptoms ranging from itchy eyes to breathing trouble after planes dusted a fine chemical mist over the area surrounding Monterey and Santa Cruz last fall.

State environmental health experts insisted that the illnesses reported could not conclusively be linked to the initial round of aerial sprayings. Despite this, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to delay continued aerial spraying, vowing to prove that the chemical was safe.

A lawsuit against the state was filed, citing that Secretary Kawamura broke state law by authorizing the aerial campaign without the benefit of an environmental review to determine the spray's effect on people and the environment. In April, a California Court ruled that the light brown apple moth was not an immediate threat and delayed aerial spraying so that an environmental impact report was completed (See Daily News of April 28 and May 14, 2008).

"Wahoo! This is a landmark victory for the public," said David Dilworth, executive director of Helping Our Peninsula's Environment (HOPE). "People had to spend thousands and thousands of hours of high-level work to get a bureaucracy to do the obviously moral choice."

The light brown apple moth, which federal officials say threatens more than 2,000 varieties of California plants and crops, was first spotted in the state in March 2007 and has infested ten counties stretching from north of San Francisco to Santa Barbara. Officials planned to use the pesticide, CheckMate LBAM-F which works as a pheromone that disrupts the mating cycle of the moth. Uncertainties about so-called inert or undisclosed ingredients, included in many pesticide formulations, were a serious concern.

Source: Associated Press

EU To Limit Chemicals in Surface Waters

(Beyond Pesticides, June 18, 2008) On June 17, 2008, the European Union (EU) voted and approved limits for chemical contaminants in surface waters. This measure would expand the EU's campaign to protect the environment and also reduce the cost of producing drinking water.This new measure will set limits for 33 chemicals, including pesticides and heavy metals, in lakes, rivers and coastal waters that may endanger the survival of ecosystems and, via the food chain, human health. EU member states, which approved this legislation, will have until 2018 to meet these water standards. States will have to reduce pollution from "priority substances," cease or phase out emissions, discharges and losses of "priority hazardous substances" in order to achieve good surface water chemical status and to be in compliance with the objectives set by the water quality standards."This directive will guarantee a higher level of the protection of water by principally applying the principal of polluter-pays and corrects," said rapporteur Anne Laperrouze of France, after the vote.

Member states will have to establish an inventory, including maps, if available, of emissions, discharges and losses of all priority substances and pollutants for each river basin district or part of a river basin district lying within their territory, including their concentrations in sediment and biota. States sharing bodies of surface water will coordinate their monitoring activities and the compilation of inventories.

This proposed directive on water quality is the final piece of legislation needed to support the Water Framework Directive introduced eight years ago. Thirteen of the 33 pollutants covered by the directive are already identified as "priority hazardous substances," including heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. In its first-reading, the Parliament wanted to phase out a wider range of substances, but the Council decided to take on board the list of 33. The majority of states are willing to accept this as a first step, since some action is seen as better than none, with a further review already scheduled. In 2011, 13 new substances, including dioxins, PCBs and bisphenol, will be classified as "priority" or "hazardous" substances and added to the list of chemicals to be discontinued or phased out under the Water Framework Directive.

Two years ago, the EU endorsed laws to control chemicals in ground water and to force manufacturers and importers to provide more safety information on substances in Europe's $800 billion chemicals market. On June 1, 2007, the EU regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances) took effect, triggering action that removes from the market toxic chemicals when less toxic alternatives are available.

Protecting the health of surface waters also translates into healthier drinking water. "With less pollution, water companies will have to do less treatment to meet drinking-water requirements," Barbara Helfferich, environment spokeswoman for the European Commission. "It's not only a health issue. It's a cost factor, too," she added.

Pesticide run-off from agricultural lands is a major source of surface water pollution. According to EU directive, it will not be possible to comply quickly with environmental quality standards close to pollution sources. In these areas, pollutant concentrations may exceed the limits, provided that they do not prevent the rest of the body of surface water from meeting the standards. However, measures to reduce the chemical concentrations in these areas will be included in future management plans.

Previous steps have been taken by the EU to reduce pesticide pollution that include limitations on aerial spraying, the use of buffer zones around agricultural lands and restrictions on the use of pesticides of high concern. (See Daily News of October 29 and July 13, 2007.)

Pesticide contamination of rivers, streams and waterbeds used as sources of drinking water is an acute problem for Europe.

Sources: European Parliament News, Bloomberg.com

Organochlorine Pesticide Linked to Behavioral Deficit in Infants

(Beyond Pesticides, May 29, 2008) 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. Despite the fact that DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972, concentrations of this toxic chemical's major metabolite, DDE, have remained alarmingly high in many ecosystems, including the waters of Los Angeles County, the arctic, and even U.S. national parks. All studies documenting the health effects of DDT and chemicals in the same family, organochlorines, are particularly important not just for understanding the lingering effects of DDT from days past, but because many countries continue to employ DDT as a method in controlling mosquitoes that transmit malaria, despite its toxicity, weakening efficacy, and availability of safer alternatives. Other organochlorines are still registered for use in the U.S.The study looked at 788 mother-infant pairs who met several criteria, which included living in a town adjacent to a Superfund site in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a location with known organochlorine contamination. Cord blood samples were taken at birth from the infants (ill, pre-term, and infants born by Caesarian-section were excluded), and then tested for DDE (dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene), as well as 51 individual congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The researchers then utilized the Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale (NBAS) to measure infants' alertness, consolability, self-quieting activity, hand-to-mouth facility, irritability, elicited and spontaneous activity, and motor maturity. The results show consistent inverse associations between the levels of cord serum of both PCBs and DDE and attention-related outcomes. Thus, the higher the exposure to the organochlorines, the poorer the infant's performance.

Although DDT has historically received the most press of all the organochlorine pesticides, this family encompasses a number of pesticides still registered for use in the U.S.. These chemicals, while inducing various harmful health effects, have in common their persistence in the environment and human bodies. Earlier this year, during the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) comment period for the reregistration of endosulfan, an organochlorine used in the U.S. on cotton, tomatoes and other crops but banned in over 20 countries, many scientists and activists urged the agency to withdraw the registration of this toxic pesticide. Lindane, another organochlorine still registered for use as an anti-lice shampoo in the U.S., has been banned in California and is under consideration for severe restrictions in the Michigan Senate. Pentachlorophenol, an organochlorine used as a wood preservative mainly in utility poles in the U.S., is currently undergoing EPA's reregistration process.

Public health advocates call for a complete phase-out of DDT and other organochlorine chemicals given evidence of their persistence and harmful effects on health and the environment.

TAKE ACTION: Pentachlorophenol (PCP):The EPA comment period for the reregistration of pentachlorophenol is open. Send a comment to them and let them know that we need to stop using harmful organochlorine chemicals for our environment and our health. You can submit comments online at: www.regulations.gov, Docket ID EPA-HQ-OPP-2004-0402. If submitting by mail, send to Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.

Lindane: Follow the lead of California and Michigan and encourage your legislature to ban the use of lindane, an unnecessary and harmful chemical used in the treatment of lice.

Endosulfan: Although the comment period has officially closed for the reregistration of endosulfan, you can still send a letter to the EPA. See the letter sent by scientists, and public health advocates.

Fed Launches Organic Lawn Management in Capitol Region

(Beyond Pesticides, June 9, 2008) The General Services Administration (GSA) has begun using organic fertilizer on the grounds of all its federal buildings in the National Capital Region. The region, which is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, includes the District of Columbia, as well parts of Virginia and Maryland. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), GSA is using 100-percent organic pelletized chicken manure at 64 sites, covering 84 acres. The poultry litter is being collected by a private company and converted to usable organic fertilizer, then transported by truck to the region, and applied at the GSA properties.

"Use of organic fertilizer is but one of many sustainable practices that GSA employs in our landscaping program," commented GSA Regional Administrator Tony Reed. "In this first year of utilizing this approach for all of our buildings in the National Capital Region, we have applied 80 tons, enriching our landscapes at the same time we are helping to clean up Chesapeake Bay."

Chemical fertilizer, pesticides, animal manure, and poultry litter are major sources of excess nitrogen and phosphorus that cause water quality problems in the Chesapeake Bay. These pollutants get washed into local rivers, streams, and groundwater and eventually reach the bay, where they contribute to massive algae blooms. As these blooms die off and decompose, they rob the bay of dissolved oxygen creating dead zones in which fish and other aquatic life cannot survive.

"GSA is providing a reasonable alternative for poultry farmers to traditional manure applications, creating a sustainable new market for this material. GSA's switch to all organic fertilizer sets a good example of the kind of steps we all need to take to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay," said EPA Regional Administrator Donald S. Welsh.

For more than a decade, GSA has implemented an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program in 30 million square feet, approximately 7,000 federal buildings, in the capital area without spraying toxic insecticides.

Over four acres of Washington, DC's National Mall has been maintained organically by the National Park Service (NPS) over the past year. The growth of the pesticide-free zone movement around the country and the passage of pesticide-free public land policies are very promising. For more information on organic turf management, please visit Beyond Pesticides' Lawns and Landscapes program page. To find a service provider that practices least- or non-toxic methods, visit the Safety Source for Pest Management.

Study Shows Increased Diabetes Risk from Pesticide Exposure

(Beyond Pesticides, June 6, 2008) A recent study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), finds pesticide applicators with regular exposure to pesticides to be at a greater risk of type-2 diabetes. Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwn028), the study shows specific pesticides produce between a 20 and 200 percent increase in risk. Researchers looked at data from 31,787 pesticide applicators in North Carolina and Iowa over a period of five years. In that period, 1,171, or 3.7 percent, had developed diabetes, particularly for applicators in the highest category of lifetime days of use of any pesticide.

"The results suggest that pesticides may be a contributing factor for diabetes along with known risk factors such as diabetes, lack of exercise and having a family history of diabetes," said Dale Sandler, PhD, chief of the Epidemiology Branch of NIEHS. "Although the amount of diabetes explained by pesticides is small, these new findings may extend beyond the pesticide applicators in the study."

Freya Kamel, PhD, of NIEHS noted that "all of the seven pesticides" associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes are chlorinated compounds: aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, dichlorvos, trichlorfon, alachlor, and cyanazine. "We don't know yet what the implication of that is, but it can't be a coincidence. I think it's an important clue for future research," said Dr. Kamel. Trichlorfon bore the strongest correlation; applicators who used it both frequently and infrequently show an 85 percent increase in risk for diabetes, while those who applied it more than 10 times experience nearly a 250 percent increase in risk.

"This is one of the largest studies looking at the potential effects of pesticides on diabetes incidence in adults," said Dr. Kamel. "It clearly shows that cumulative lifetime exposure is important and not just recent exposure." Weight and fitness also play a roll, researchers reported, as chemicals may be stored in body fat.

This is not the first study to report on the link between organochlorine pesticides and diabetes. Earlier this year, University of Cambridge scientists studied the role that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) play in the risk of adult onset diabetes, as did a study in 2007. The study looked at in this latest research also offer a wealth of connections to other health effects, including cancer, endocrine disruption, developmental effects, neurotoxicity, and others.

To find out how you can manage homes, buildings, lawns and landscapes without using toxic chemicals, visit Beyond Pesticides' alternatives fact sheets. To find a pest control company in your area that uses less- and non-toxic products, visit the Safety Source for Pest Management.

Sources: Science Daily, United Press International, News Inferno, Reuters

Share/Save/Bookmark

May 28, 2008

Common herbicide disrupts human hormone activity

Atrazine affects the endocrine systems of zebrafish at levels lower than U.S. drinking-water standards—and impacts human cells in tissue cultures.

The second most widely used herbicide in the U.S. could cause serious problems for both fish and humans, according to new research. In a paper published May 7 in PLoS ONE (DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0002117 ), scientists from the University of California San Francisco examined atrazine's endocrine-disrupting effects in zebrafish, a commonly used laboratory animal. In parallel studies of cultured human cells, the researchers found indications that some human genes may be more sensitive to atrazine than previously thought.

The team subjected cells and live zebrafish to environmentally relevant doses of atrazine. Fish in the lab had slightly higher female-to-male ratios than populations not exposed to atrazine, indicating some feminization induced by the weed killer.

More clear, however, was the elevated activity of a gene that encodes aromatase, which is linked to estrogen production. Zebrafish have two aromatase genes, one regulated by estrogen and the other by both estrogen and a receptor called NR5A. The researchers found that environmentally relevant concentrations of atrazine increased aromatase expression by activating NR5A receptors. The experiments show definite effects at 2 parts per billion (ppb); the U.S. EPA has set drinking-water limits for humans at 3 ppb for atrazine. The pesticide is currently under review. The researchers also found that atrazine activated NR5A receptors in human cell lines, affecting other genes that are critical to steroid synthesis and development.

"The zebrafish model made it easier to tease out the potential mechanisms," says John Incardona, a research toxicologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center. "They still don't have the exact mechanism," he adds, but the results are a "big step forward in identifying the mechanism of action of atrazine in producing these endocrine effects."

"Freshwater fish like zebrafish are going to be very sensitive to this" herbicide in the environment, says Holly Ingraham, coauthor of the new research. Although the debate about atrazine's environmental impacts has focused on Xenopus frogs, the lab animals may not be the best genetic model organism for understanding wild frog populations and may metabolize the chemical differently.

"The human data provide a brand new framework to look at atrazine," Ingraham continues. Future work should examine other genes, she says, because they may be much more sensitive to atrazine and could be linked to other important systems, such as reproduction and adrenal gland function. —NAOMI LUBICK 

Pet Shampoos Containing Insecticides Linked to Autism

(Beyond Pesticides, May 27, 2008) 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 mothers of healthy children. The strongest association was during the second trimester of pregnancy. According to the researchers, pet shampoos often contain pyrethrins and previous animal research has found that pyrethrins are designed to target the central nervous system in insects, rodents and other species and can cause death of neurons and compromise the blood-brain barrier in early life.Examining participants in the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study, researchers from the University of California, Davis looked at 333 children with ASD and 198 healthy children between the ages of two and five, and their families. In-depth questionnaires and blood and urine samples were collected.

Isaac Pessah, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the study and professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, told the New Scientist, "Autism is associated with an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters within the brain, and one could hypothesize that children with an imbalance in this system may be more sensitive to the effects of pyrethrins."

Autism, which is on the rise in both prevalence and incidence, is a complex developmental disorder that includes problems with social interaction and communication. The symptoms range from mild to very severe, appearing before the age of three and lasting throughout a person's life. Research has shown that people with autism have certain irregularities in several regions of the brain and/or have abnormal levels of serotonin or other neurotransmitters in the brain, suggesting that autism is associated with the disruption of normal brain development early in fetal development. It is increasingly recognized that autism likely is caused by a complex interplay of both genetic and environmental factors.

Many of the most commonly used pesticides are designed specifically as neurotoxins. The transmitter systems and hormone systems of humans are similar to those of the insects those insecticides are targeting, according to a study published in 2004 in Pediatrics. Researchers show that animal studies and residual effects in humans following acute intoxication suggest that organophosphates can be toxic to the developing brain at exposure levels below those inducing overt signs. A study published in 1998 also showed that organochlorine pesticides are a source of developmental neurotoxicity in humans. A study published in the October 2007 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives shows that children born to mothers living near agricultural fields where organochlorine pesticides were applied during their first trimester of pregnancy were six times more likely to have children with autism compared to mothers who did not live near the fields.

Organochlorine Pesticide Linked to Behavioral Deficit in Infants

(Beyond Pesticides, May 29, 2008) 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. Despite the fact that DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972, concentrations of this toxic chemical's major metabolite, DDE, have remained alarmingly high in many ecosystems, including the waters of Los Angeles County, the arctic, and even U.S. national parks. All studies documenting the health effects of DDT and chemicals in the same family, organochlorines, are particularly important not just for understanding the lingering effects of DDT from days past, but because many countries continue to employ DDT as a method in controlling mosquitoes that transmit malaria, despite its toxicity, weakening efficacy, and availability of safer alternatives. Other organochlorines are still registered for use in the U.S.The study looked at 788 mother-infant pairs who met several criteria, which included living in a town adjacent to a Superfund site in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a location with known organochlorine contamination. Cord blood samples were taken at birth from the infants (ill, pre-term, and infants born by Caesarian-section were excluded), and then tested for DDE (dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene), as well as 51 individual congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The researchers then utilized the Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale (NBAS) to measure infants' alertness, consolability, self-quieting activity, hand-to-mouth facility, irritability, elicited and spontaneous activity, and motor maturity. The results show consistent inverse associations between the levels of cord serum of both PCBs and DDE and attention-related outcomes. Thus, the higher the exposure to the organochlorines, the poorer the infant's performance.

Although DDT has historically received the most press of all the organochlorine pesticides, this family encompasses a number of pesticides still registered for use in the U.S.. These chemicals, while inducing various harmful health effects, have in common their persistence in the environment and human bodies. Earlier this year, during the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) comment period for the reregistration of endosulfan, an organochlorine used in the U.S. on cotton, tomatoes and other crops but banned in over 20 countries, many scientists and activists urged the agency to withdraw the registration of this toxic pesticide. Lindane, another organochlorine still registered for use as an anti-lice shampoo in the U.S., has been banned in California and is under consideration for severe restrictions in the Michigan Senate. Pentachlorophenol, an organochlorine used as a wood preservative mainly in utility poles in the U.S., is currently undergoing EPA's reregistration process.

Public health advocates call for a complete phase-out of DDT and other organochlorine chemicals given evidence of their persistence and harmful effects on health and the environment.

Researchers Looking For Alternatives to DEET

(Beyond Pesticides, May 28, 2008) Researchers have begun preliminary work to find suitable and safe alternatives to the widely used mosquito repellent DEET. Several possibilities have been identified, which repel mosquitoes for longer periods of time, but their safety for use on humans still needs to be investigated.Researchers, with funding from the Department of Defense, set out to determine what makes insect repellents work, and then to use that information in finding more effective ways to chase away disease-carrying insects. Insect repellents are used to repel biting insects such as mosquitoes and ticks that spread diseases such as encephalitis, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, malaria and dengue fever.

Ulrich R. Bernier, PhD, co-author of this study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences http://www.pnas.org/ and research chemist at the Agriculture Department's mosquito and fly research unit in Gainesville, Fla., remarked that several of the new chemicals reviewed were "just phenomenal."

Using previous USDA data on hundreds of chemicals collected over 50 years, the researchers rated chemicals from "1″ to "5″ on ability to repel insects, and then focused on what the most effective ones — the 5s — had in common. They were able to narrow the study down to 34 molecules, 23 that had never been tested before and 11 that had been tested, with a focus on a class of chemicals known as N-acylpiperidines.

Tests conducted using cloth treated with the chemicals were very promising. Some of the chemicals repelled mosquitoes for as long as 73 days and many worked for 40 to 50 days, compared to an average of 17.5 days with DEET. The 10 most effective were narrowed down to seven, with eliminations based on concerns about toxicity and high cost to produce. Safety testing to make sure these chemicals are safe to be applied on human skin is expected to begin this summer.

DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) is commonly used as an insect repellent but its use has become highly controversial. Scientists have raised concerns about the use of DEET and seizures among children, even though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims that there is not enough information to implicate DEET with these incidents. DEET is quickly absorbed through the skin and has caused adverse effects including severe skin reactions including large blisters and burning sensations. Laboratory studies have found that DEET can cause neurological damage, including brain damage in children

Its synergistic effect with other insecticides is also a major health concern. DEET, when used in combination with permethrin - a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide, likely facilitates enhanced dermal absorption of permethrin and induces symptoms such as headache, loss of memory, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and ataxia, which causes an inability to coordinate muscular movements. Several studies done by a team of Duke University researchers lead by Mohammed Abou-Donia suggest that DEET in conjunction with permethrin-impregnated clothing may be linked to Gulf War Syndrome. (See Review of Study.) DEET was originally developed for military use in 1946 and was then registered for use on the general public in 1957. According to the EPA, more than one third of the U.S. population uses DEET-containing products every year.

Safer alternatives to DEET include picaridin, citronella and other essential oils, like oil of lemon eucalyptus. For more information on safer methods to protect yourself from mosquitoes and other insects, please visit Beyond Pesticides' fact sheet on mosquito repellents.

Source: Associated Press

Cosmetic Use of Lawn Chemicals Banned in Ontario

(Beyond Pesticides, April 23, 2008) Ontario is moving to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals by banning the sale and cosmetic use of pesticides. Legislation to be introduced today would make Ontario's pesticide rules among the toughest in North America. It would also replace a variety of municipal by-laws in place across the province.Studies by public health experts are showing growing evidence of the potential health risk of pesticides, particularly for children. The ban would likely take effect next spring. It would not affect pesticides used for farming or forestry. Golf courses would still be able to use pesticides, but must meet certain conditions to minimize environmental impacts. Pesticides would still be allowed for control of mosquitoes and other insects determined to represent a health threat.

"Our generation is becoming more and more aware of the potential risks in our environment, not only to our health, but to our children's health. That's why we're taking action on behalf of the next generation of Ontarians, and reducing their exposure to chemicals," said Premier Dalton McGuinty.

"Many municipalities have already shown leadership in banning or restricting cosmetic-use pesticides. We're extending that protection to all families wherever they live," said Environment Minister John Gerretsen.

Over 44 per cent of Ontarians already live in a municipality where the cosmetic use of pesticides is banned. Groups such as the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Canadian Cancer Society have been calling for a ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides as a prudent measure to protect our families' health.

This new legislation, proposed by Premier Dalton McGuinty, comes after years of petitions from local grassroots movements and health groups to ban all cosmetic use of pesticides across the province because of growing concern about the potential harmful effects of these products on human health. (See Daily News of February 28, 2007) The law would prohibit 80 chemicals and 300 products that experts say pose a potential health risk. Similar bans have gone into effect in Toronto and Quebec.

A draft list of outlawed pesticides would soon be released and the final list will be determined by regulation after the province consults on the draft before next spring. The main impact of this action would be to eliminate the residential use of the popular lawn herbicide known as 2,4-D, which kills broad leaf weeds, such as dandelions. 2,4-D is the most widely used lawn chemical but several recent studies show that this pesticide can cause lymphatic cancer in exposed humans, while dogs are twice as likely to contract canine malignant lymphoma when exposed to lawns treated with the chemical. Other lawn chemicals like glyphosate (Round-up) and dicamba have also been linked to serious adverse chronic effects in humans. Health effects of the 36 most commonly used lawn pesticides show that: 14 are probable or possible carcinogens, 15 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 24 with neurotoxicity, 22 with liver or kidney damage, and 34 are sensitizers and/or irritants.

Action: This spring, care for your lawn without putting your health and that of your family's at risk. Least toxic alternatives for lawn care do exist. To find out more information, check out our Lawns and Landscapes program page.

Source: Premier's media office

RETAILERS TO PULL PESTICIDES OFF SHELVES

By Martin Mittelstaedt

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail - April 23, 2008 at 4:54 AM EDT

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080423.wpesticides23/BNStory/National/home

Home Depot, one of Canada's largest retailers, says it will voluntarily stop selling traditional pesticides and herbicides by the end of the year and will replace these products with less environmentally harmful alternatives.

The move coincided with the announcement yesterday that Ontario will join Quebec to become the second province to formally ban the so-called "cosmetic use" of pest control products on residential lawns, gardens and parks.

Public health advocates who have been lobbying for an end to spraying to kill weeds and bugs around homes say the twin moves - by the country's most populous province and by major retailers - hold out a strong likelihood that Canada has reached a kind of tipping point on pesticides, and will eventually become a nation of organic gardeners, at least for residential areas. 

"I would say that now that we have Quebec and Ontario, there is huge pressure on the other provinces," said Gideon Forman, executive director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. "The next obvious one would be British Columbia."

There are also an estimated 140 local communities that have tried to eliminate pesticide use through municipal bylaw restrictions, according to a running count by environmentalists, and PEI has also discussed instituting a ban. 

Canadian Tire, the country's largest garden supplier, also said yesterday it would pull pest control products from its Ontario stores by the end of the summer, a step it has already taken in Quebec, and intends to phase out sales elsewhere in the country where they are not banned.

Retailers say the market is shifting away from these products.  "This is just the next evolution for the Home Depot in terms of always providing our customers and our consumers with environmentally friendly products," said Gino DiGioacchino, the company's vice-president of merchandising.

For much of the past decade, Canada has been the scene of unusual turf wars occurring almost nowhere else in the world over whether homeowners should be allowed to spray their lawns - mainly to kill dandelions for the sake of appearances. The activity had become almost a right of spring in many areas before it became enmeshed in controversy. 

he fight over spraying has pitted environmental and public health advocates against pesticide manufacturers and lawn care companies, and also embroiled the federal government.  Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency says home pesticides "pose no unacceptable health or environmental risks" if label directions are followed, even though two major provinces now disagree, along with a number of the country's most influential public health groups, such as the Canadian Cancer Society.  The PMRA refused to comment yesterday, but it is expected to issue within days a new assessment vouching for the safety of 2,4-D, one of the most commonly used lawn herbicides, and the main chemical affected by the various provincial and municipal bans.

The Ontario College of Family Physicians has also rejected Health Canada's position, and issued an influential study in 2004 linking pesticides to such illnesses as leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, while more recently, other research has associated pesticide exposure with Parkinson's disease.

"There is no health benefit to these products and there is a lot of science that shows they are connected with really serious illness," Mr. Forman said. "In terms of a cost-benefit analysis, there is zero health benefit and the potential risk is enormous."

The actions in Canada are also in stark contrast to the United States, where Home Depot's U.S. parent continues to sell these products nationally, although it does face some local restrictions.

Loblaw Cos. Ltd. food chain was the first retailer to remove the pesticide products from its garden centres, in 2003, but until yesterday, no other chains had followed suit.  Canadian Tire says is trying to discourage pesticide use by promoting gardening and lawn care practices that are less reliant on chemical sprays.   "We actually have been phasing out" the use of traditional pesticides and "introducing a lot of eco-friendly options," said Lisa Gibson, a spokeswoman.

Intersex Frogs More Common in Suburban Areas

(Beyond Pesticides, April 10, 2008) Common frogs that live in suburban areas are more likely than their rural counterparts to develop reproductive abnormalities, according to David Skelly, PhD, professor of ecology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. This phenomenon becomes a serious concern as the frog's mating season begins, leaving researchers to wonder: will frogs be clear on their role in the annual ritual?

Research by Dr. Skelly, soon to be published, focuses on the common green frog, Rana clamitans, within the Connecticut River Valley. A total of 233 frogs were collected from various ponds and landscapes with the river valley and among them 13 percent have abnormalities occurring in their reproductive organs. In urban areas, 18 percent of the collected frogs are intersex, and in suburban areas 21 percent. Frogs collected from agricultural areas have the lowest rate of reproductive problems with just 7 percent classified as intersex. According to Dr. Skelly, the more suburban the land cover, the more likely the abnormalities.

"This is the first evidence that I think anyone has provided that agriculture is doing anything but pushing those rates higher," remarked Dr. Skelly of the intersex phenomena.

In an attempt to explain the higher prevalence of intersex frogs in urban and suburban areas, the study notes that many suburban areas use septic systems that may be leaching chemicals or pharmaceuticals into streams or ponds. These areas also have higher rates of using herbicides and insecticides for lawn care and garden treatments.

Intersex frogs, also called hermaphroditic frogs, refer to frogs, mostly males observed to be producing eggs in their testes. There are many studies documenting this phenomenon, which is also blamed for the decline in many frog populations. Work by Tyrone Hayes, PhD, University of California, Berkeley, has linked the agricultural herbicide atrazine to reproductive disorders in frogs. A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), also suggests a strong link between the abnormalities and agriculture. However, this study is the first to document the relationship with a non-agricultural setting.

Atrazine, which is classified as an endocrine disruptor, interrupts the workings of natural hormones. However, many household products, such as antibacterials and antimicrobials like triclosan and its cousin triclocarban, which are found in detergents, bar soaps, and other personal care products, have been shown to produce the same effects when released into streams and ponds. A recent study found that these antibacterials enhance endocrine disruption and have also been found to have the highest user rates among the wealthy. These antibacterials and other estrogenic chemicals are detected at high concentrations in the effluent discharged in the areas where the abnormalities are found. Lawn care chemicals like 2,4-D, permethrin, and glyphosate (Round-up) also cause damaging endocrine effects, even though the U.S. EPA does not currently evaluate or consider the endocrine disrupting properties of pesticides during registration or re-registration. These chemicals run off from treated lawn surfaces to contaminate nearby streams.

"Looking upstream and downstream from wastewater-treatment plants, we see there's obviously been an impact by some of the chemicals discharged," said Vicki S. Blazer, PhD, fish biologist at USGS.

Recent news reports have brought attention to antibacterials and pharmaceuticals in drinking water. While these chemicals pose serious health concerns to human populations, the harm posed to wildlife species being documented at alarming rates.

Source: New York Times

Swedish Study Finds GMO Seeds Persist 10 Years After Planting

(Beyond Pesticides, April 4, 2008) A study called "Long-term persistence of GM oilseed rape in the seedbank," recently published in the journal Biology Letters, has found a genetically modified (GM) crop to persist in spite of a decade of efforts to remove it from a field. Researchers from Sweden's Lund University and the Danish Technical University found GM oilseed rape (also known as canola) plants still growing ten years after seeds were planted.

According to the study, the result contrasts previous trials: "In general, studies suggest that the majority of seeds disappear from the seedbank within two years." The oilseed rape volunteer (rogue) plants were discovered by their resistance to the herbicide glufosinate. Researchers wrote, "This finding of volunteers, despite labour intensive control for 10 years [including intensive chemical spraying], supports previous suggestions that voulnteer oilseed rape needs to be carefully managed in order for non-GM crops to be planted after GM crops." They added, "These results are important in relation to debating and regulating coexistence of GM and non-GM crops."

The study's findings are consistent with previous research. A larger French study found similar survival of volunteer plants eight years after a GM trial. Swedish researcher Dr. Tina D'Hertefeldt pointed out the commercial implications of these results. "I would expect the same to happen in a commercial field too," she said. "It may even be more prevalent as the trial had very stringent regulations, and higher controls than a farmer would probably carry out." Furthermore, Dr. D'Hertefeldt said, "If you had a high number [of volunteer plants], you could get above the threshold for labeling GM ingredients."

The results have spurred opponents of GM crops to speak out. "Despite the best efforts by the researchers to eliminate GM oilseed rape, it appears that once it is planted, it is virtually impossible to prevent GM contamination of future crops, " said Clare Oxborrow, GM campaigner with Friends of the Earth UK. "The government must now tear up its weak proposals for the ‘coexistence' of GM with organic and conventional crops, and put in place tough rules that protect GM-free food and farming." Mark Westoby, plant ecologist at Macquarie University in Australia, concurred, "This study confirms that GM crops are difficult to confine. We should assume that GM organisms cannot be confined, and ask instead what will become of them when they escape."

In addition to the persistence of GM oilseed rape seeds, the plant has been found to pass on its GM traits to nearby weeds, a side-effect common to GM crops. GM crops are being planted more and more, in spite of the risks at which they put conventional and organic farmers. For more information on GM crops, visit our program page and Daily News archive.

Sources: BBC News, Navigator.com, The Telegraph, TopNews

Pesticide Residues Found in European Wines

(Beyond Pesticides, April 3, 2008) Wines on sale in the European Union (EU), including wines made by world famous vineyards, contain residues of a number of pesticides, according to a new report by Pesticide Action Network Europe. The organization tested 40 bottles of wine purchased inside the EU from Australia, Austria, Chile, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal and South Africa, six of which were organic wines. Every bottle of conventional wine included in the analysis was found to contain pesticides, with one bottle containing 10 different pesticides. On average each wine sample contained over four pesticides.

The analysis revealed 24 different pesticide contaminants, including five classified as being carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic to the reproductive system or endocrine disrupting. The most widespread pesticide contaminant was pyrimethanil, a possible carcinogen, which was detected in 25 bottles of conventional wine – almost 75% of all conventional samples analyzed. While the majority of wines tested were selected from low cost affordable brands, three of the bottles are world famous Bordeaux wines and more expensive, according to PAN Europe.

The discovery of pesticides in samples of wine follows the publication of a report by the French Ministry of Agriculture which identified 15 pesticides as being systematically transferred from grapes into wine during the wine-making process. Grapes are among the most contaminated food products on sale in the EU and receive a higher dose of synthetic pesticides than almost any other crop. The contamination of wines is a direct result of over reliance on pesticides in grape production. In the EU, grapes account for 3% of all cropland, while being responsible for 15% synthetic pesticide applications.

"The presence of pesticides in European wines is a growing problem," said Elliott Cannell of PAN Europe. "Many grape farmers are abandoning traditional methods of pest control in favor of using hazardous synthetic pesticides. This trend has a direct impact on the quality of European wines. In two thirds of cases the pesticide residues identified in this study relate to chemicals only recently adopted into mainstream grape production in the EU. Hazardous pesticides applied to food crops growing in the field can and do end up in food products. Almost half of all fruit and vegetables sold in the EU are contaminated with pesticides, with one item in 20 containing pesticides at concentrations above legal limits."

Of the six bottles of organic wine tested, five contained no detectable pesticide residues. These results provide a clear proof of principle that pesticide free wine production is possible where no synthetic pesticides are applied to grapes. One sample contained a low concentration of pyrimethanil, a possible carcinogen. The presence of pesticide residues in organic wines is a rare but well documented phenomenon. A 2004 study, suggests that small organic wine producers located in areas of intensive conventional grape production may suffer occasional contamination due to the drift of pesticides from neighboring plots affecting front-line organic vines.

The U.S. is second behind EU for global wine consumption. Europe accounts for two thirds of global wine production and consumption. Italy, France, Spain are major exporters selling around 64% of all wine traded internationally. Germany and UK are the world's largest wine importers.

According to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) reported pesticide use statistics, total pesticide use on wine grapes in the state dropped by about 8.5 million pounds in 2006. DPR analysts note that pesticide use varies from year to year based on many factors, including types of crops, economics, acreage planted, and weather conditions. Even under similar conditions, pest problems may vary. For example, cool wet spring weather often prompts increased use of sulfur and other fungicides, as was the case in 2005. But similar weather conditions in 2006 did not produce as much vineyard disease in most areas, so wine grape growers actually used less sulfur.

Back in 1998, a wine industry group acknowledged that some wines produced in France may have been contaminated with polychlorophenols, specifically pentachlorophenol, for the past decade. The wine industry says the contamination causes "no health hazard," according to L'Express news magazine, but that it makes the wine taste bad. This bad taste was often blamed on bad corks.

However, pentachlorophenol is a probable human carcinogen that contains dioxin; it is not registered for food uses and has no "safe" level, according to Beyond Pesticides. The chemical is used to treat wood used for the walls of wine storage facilities, and "trace quantities" seeped into such wines as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Beaujolais and champagnes. Contamination in champagne has been known of since 1982. The industry chose not to inform the public so as not to cause unnecessary alarm. According to L'Express, Sophie Gerard, a spokesperson for the wine industry, says that less than one percent of Bordeaux wine was affected and that the problem has been resolved through replacing the treated wood with solid oak which does not need treatment. She cites a study by the Conseil Interprofessionenel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), also mentioned in Wine Spectator magazine, which found that of 1344 wine samples, only 11 were contaminated with a wood preservative. The scientist, Pascal
Chatonnet, who discovered the contamination, says that about 50% of his samples had been contaminated. According to Wine Spectator, vintners believe it is the humid conditions in wine cellars that cause the polychlorophenol molecules from wood ceilings and walls to evolve into 2,4,6, trichloroanisole (TCE), which is commonly cited as the chemical responsible for making wine taste "corky."

The health impacts of pesticide exposure to vineyard farmworkers is also a concern. According to the PAN-Europe report, "Published scientific analysis suggests that those exposed to pesticides in grape production suffer a higher incidence of allergic rhinitis, respiratory problems, cancers, and chromosomal and nuclear abnormalities, as well as lower neurological capacities."

JAMA  review of book; PESTICIDES: A TOXIC TIME BOMB IN OUR MIDST

JAMA Review -- Pesticides: A Toxic Time Bomb in Our Midst,  April 2, 2008 ... JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, is a highly cited weekly medical journal that publishes peer-reviewed original medical research ... jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/299/13/1613 -
PESTICIDES: A TOXIC TIME BOMB IN OUR MIDST
Rachel's New's Letter says about the book : Levine has written a pragmatic book for physicians, health workers, and the general public.... His own perspective as a health professional with a concern for the public health and a fondness for the "precautionary principle," which assumes that a chemical is harmful unless there is good evidence to the contrary, is not hidden.
By Arnold Schecter
Review of "Pesticides: A Toxic Time Bomb in Our Midst," By Marvin J. Levine (264 pp, $49.95; Wesport, CT, Praeger Press, 2007; ISBN-13: 978-0-2759-9127-2)
This is a well-written and informative book about a relatively little known area of expertise for most physicians -- chemicals in the environment and their impact on health.
The book is devoted to pesticides, which includes herbicides, insecticides, weed killers, rodenticides, bacteriocides, fungicides, and other chemicals frequently called "pesticides." It is reasonably well-referenced text. However, some statements regarding health damage could benefit from more textual references to justify the statements presented.
Levine has written a pragmatic book for physicians, health workers, and the general public. It is relatively easy reading for physicians but demands a bit more attention than a vacation book intended for beach reading. His own perspective as a health professional with a concern for the public health and a fondness for the "precautionary principle," which assumes that a chemical is harmful unless there is good evidence to the contrary, is not hidden. Frequently and throughout this volume, the author attempts to balance industry and environmental points of view and actions. And he notes the eternal conflict between the need for economic productivity and reasonably priced food, with the possible short- and long-term damage to human health from the use or misuse of various chemicals. He favors "integrated pest management," a balanced method of control using far less pesticides than is common at this time.
The book emphasizes farm workers, children, pregnant women, individuals with asthma, and elderly individuals as being more sensitive than the general population to the effects of pesticides. The book also discusses policy issues and political actions sometimes based on lobbying, as well as specific scientific and biological aspects of pesticides. Chapters include those on the presence of pesticides in foods, schools, homes, air, water, and soil; the international trade in pesticides; and suggested remedies. A number of case studies relate to health damage from pesticides or, in one case, to fear of potential but not actual chemical exposure and damage.
The past 60 years are characterized as those when use of synthetic pesticides became common in agriculture, providing a means of producing more crops on a given plot of land than had previously been possible. The author notes that there are more than 17 000 pesticides currently registered in the United States, with more than 800 active ingredients that have contributed to acute and chronic health problems. However, as resistance to pesticides and damage to wildlife and humans was noted, the public and Congress, stimulated by Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, began to see the need for laws and regulations to protect the public and wildlife. Many of these laws are described in some detail and illustrated with respect to a variety of chemicals and a number of US government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency.
While cancer was once the major focus of government regulatory agencies, endocrine disruption -- especially from fetal and nursing exposure -- as well as reproductive and developmental alterations have recently become areas of concern. Brain damage has also been described from in utero exposure to some pesticides, especially the "persistent organic pollutants" (POPs). These include dichloro-diphenyl- trichloroethane (DDT), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and other chemicals. Although the author does not make note of them, some brominated flame retardants are considered POPs with persistence, bioconcentration, and deleterious health effects similar to those of other POPs, especially PCBs, at least in laboratory animals.
Levine states that annual pesticide use in the United States is approximately 8.8 pounds per capita, or 2.2 billion pounds of active ingredients (if wood preservatives and disinfectants are also considered). He notes that some of the chlorinated hydrocarbons or organochlorines such as diledrin, chlordane, aldrin, and heptachlor break down very slowly and can remain in the environment for years or decades. Organophosphates, now common in agriculture, on the other hand, break down much more rapidly but also are more toxic to humans.
Levine also notes that because agricultural workers, including children, are heavily exposed to pesticides and usually have little knowledge of their dangers as well as of how to protect themselves, they are at particularly high risk. Lack of good sanitary conditions and health care likewise contributes to this public health problem. Schoolchildren are also a special group at risk because of the lack of knowledge on the part of those applying pesticides, frequently untrained school employees rather than certified pesticide workers.
State laws and regulations are sometimes more stringent than federal laws, although state laws must set standards at least at the level set by the federal government. With constant lobbying on both sides of the issue, the "how safe is safe" frequently changes over time.
The author notes the high industry costs of bringing a product to market and the myriad regulations that must be followed. But he also points out that just because a product is being produced and sold, it does not necessarily follow that it has been tested sufficiently for possible serious health effects. Also, while the term "inert ingredients" was once commonly used, it simply identified ingredients not meant to do what the product was sold to do, and did not indicate that they were not toxic. This term is no longer considered appropriate, and "other ingredients" is now the preferred term.
This book is an interesting and well-written volume that should be useful in providing an up-to-date introduction to pesticides from a variety of aspects, ranging from objective scientific principles to subjective policy directives. Despite some repetition and the occasional need for more extensive scientific citations, it was enjoyable and informative.
Arnold Schecter, MD, MPH, Reviewer University of Texas School of Public Health Dallas arnold.schecter@utsouthwestern.edu
Copyright 2008 American Medical Association

Chemical Industry's Influence at EPA Probed


By Lyndsey Layton Washington Post Staff Writer
Washington Post - Friday, April 4, 2008
A congressional committee is investigating ties between the chemical industry and expert review panels hired by the Environmental Protection Agency to help it determine safe levels for a variety of chemical compounds.
Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, have demanded documents from the EPA and the American Chemistry Council to probe the roles of nine scientists who are serving on EPA panels or have done so in the past.
The lawmakers sent a letter to the chemical industry Wednesday, expanding a probe that began earlier this month.
"Americans count on sound science to ensure that consumer products are safe," Dingell said through a spokesman yesterday. "If industry has undue influence over this science, then the public's health is endangered."
Dingell and Stupak want to know how much the chemistry council has paid consultants, lawyers, scientists and a scientific journal in efforts to affect public policy.
"I don't remember the last time Congress investigated a trade association like this," said Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group, which contends that the chemical industry has stacked EPA panels. "Maybe for the first time, we might find out the extent of industry influence. It's a landmark investigation and has called into question the ethics of the entire industry."
Tiffany Harrington, a spokeswoman for the chemistry council, said it supports independent scientific research and it will cooperate with the congressional request.
The lawmakers want to know why the EPA allowed the scientists in question to remain on expert panels but removed a public health scientist, Deborah C. Rice, from a panel at the chemistry council's request.
Rice chaired an EPA panel last year that reviewed safe levels for deca-BDE, a polybrominated diphenyl ether used as a fire retardant in television casings and other electronics. Deca has been found to cause cancer in mice and is a suspected human carcinogen.
As a toxicologist for the state of Maine, Rice testified before the Maine legislature about the health risks associated with deca. Maine and several other states -- and this week, the European Union -- have since banned the compound.
After Rice's panel completed its work, Sharon Kneiss, a vice president of the chemistry council, wrote to the EPA and called Rice "a fervent advocate of banning" deca who "has no place in an independent, objective peer review." The agency informed Rice that it was removing her from the panel, and it expunged her comments from the official record, even removing them from the EPA Web site.
The Chemistry Council "seems to argue that scientific expertise with regard to a particular chemical and its human health effects is a basis for disqualification from a peer review board," Dingell and Stupak wrote to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "This does not seem sensible on its face."
At the same time, the EPA has allowed at least nine scientists who have received funding from chemical makers or expressed similar opinions about particular chemical compounds to remain on review panels, Dingell and Stupak wrote.
Among those scientists is Dale Sickles, who serves on a panel reviewing acrylamide. He received $93,000 from the manufacturer of the compound and $230,000 from its marketer. "I've been totally transparent throughout the process," Sickles said yesterday.
Four other scientists reached yesterday said that industry funding never influenced their research. Scientists invited to participate in review panels are asked to disclose any conflicts or perceived conflicts. EPA guidelines say that conflicts do not automatically disqualify an expert but that the agency should make sure the panel has a balance of viewpoints.
Timothy Lyons, an EPA spokesman, said privacy issues prevent the agency from commenting on Rice or the scientists singled out by the congressional investigation. But the agency followed procedures in selecting panel members, he said.
Rice, who has declined to comment, has become a cause celebre among Bush administration critics, who say her case is symbolic of undue industry influence in public health regulation under President Bush.
"This is an administration that has put corporate interests before public health and safety, and ideological zealotry before sound science," Dingell said. "This disturbing pattern extends to EPA's peer review panels."

Pharmaceuticals and Anti-Bacterials in Your Drinking Water

(Beyond Pesticides, March 17, 2008) Not everything that goes down the drain can be removed by water treatment plants, which leaves some alarming contaminants in America's drinking water. A five-month investigation by the Associated Press (AP) finds trace quantities of pharmaceuticals in the drinking water of 41 million Americans. Scientists fear that ingestion of these tiny amounts of drugs may pose health risks to the public, wildlife and aquatic organisms.

The AP investigation surveyed the 50 largest cities in the country and a dozen other major water providers, as well as other small providers in each of the 50 states. A wide range of pharmaceuticals, whether administered to humans or to farm animals, are found in the water of 24 major metropolitan areas, and tests done in the watersheds of 35 major water providers shows 28 testing positive for pharmaceuticals. The levels of pharmaceuticals found in the water are at levels measured in the parts per billion or trillion, far below levels of medical use. The federal government has not set safety limits for drugs in drinking water. In fact, fewer than half of the 62 major water providers could say their water was tested.

Water treatment plants are not designed to remove these types of contaminants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not require utilities to test for these chemicals. The drug residues in tap water join hundreds of other synthetic chemicals Americans are exposed to daily, as contaminants in food, water, air and in common consumer products.

EPA's assistant administrator for water, Benjamin Grumbles, told the AP in a related story, "No Standards to Test for Drugs in Water," that "the EPA has launched a four-pronged approach: to identify the extent of the problem, to ‘identify' what we don't know and close the gap,' to take steps using existing science and regulatory tools, and finally, to increase dialogue and awareness with water providers and state and local agencies." This sounds like business as usual at EPA – a lot of talk and little action, according to advocates.

Sudeep Chandra, an assistant professor at University of Nevada, Reno told the AP, "There's enough global information now to confirm these contaminants are affecting organisms and wildlife." According to the AP article, Drugs in Water Hurt Fish and Wildlife, "More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface waters throughout the world." Several species from algae to fish to vultures have serious reproductive problems as a result from these contaminants. Problems like lower sperm counts, damaged sperm, feminization of males, create androgynous characteristics, increased hormone levels, kidney failure, and inhibited growth.

Philadelphia has the highest number of pharmaceuticals, 56, found in its drinking water. Washington, DC has six different drugs in its drinking water, one of which is triclocarban, an antibacterial compound widely used as an additive to a range of household and personal care products including bar soaps, detergents, body washes, cleansing lotions, and wipes. Triclocarban, like its cousin triclosan, has been linked to numerous health and environmental effects. Researchers from the University of California- Davis and Yale University found triclocarban to have an amplification effect on the activity of natural hormones, which in turn can lead to adverse reproductive and developmental effects. Triclocarban has a synergistic interaction with the sex hormone, testosterone, present in both males and females. Researchers further explained that ovulation and ovarian function in females can be disrupted, while sperm quality can be decreased in males. They also note that since triclocarban has the potential to amplify synthetic compounds, further investigation into its interaction with oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy is needed. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that triclocarban is the fifth most frequent contaminant among 96 pharmaceuticals, personal care products and organic wastewater contaminants evaluated and the levels of triclocarban in water resources nationwide are much higher than previously thought. A recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study finds earthworms in agricultural fields contain chemicals from household products, indicating that such substances are entering the food chain. Chemicals introduced to the environment via land application of biosolids, the solid byproduct of wastewater treatment, and manure as fertilizers are transferred to earthworms. Earthworms continuously ingest soils for nourishment and can accumulate the chemicals present in the soil. Several compounds were detected in earthworms including triclosan and phenol (disinfectants), tributylphosphate (antifoaming agent and flame retardant), benzophenone (fixative), trimethoprim (antibiotic), and galaxolide and tonalide (synthetic fragrances). In previous research, the USGS found several drugs, including triclosan, in Shoal Creek in Missouri back in 1999 and 2002, according to The Joplin Globe.

Additionally, researchers at Virginia Tech have found that triclosan reacts with chlorine in tap water to form significant quantities of chloroform. Chloroform is classified by EPA as a probable human carcinogen. The research also suggests that the reaction of triclosan with chlorine could produce highly chlorinated, and thus dangerous, dioxins in the presence of sunlight.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) of Oakland, California, among others, has already begun doing something about pharmaceuticals in waste water. One EBMUD flyer distributed during the summer of 2007, states, "The [EBMUD] plant, like others around the Bay, cannot remove 100 percent of these chemicals, which then ultimately end up in San Francisco Bay. You can help protect the Bay by reducing the use of antibacterial soap (containing triclosan), finding less-toxic pesticide alternatives and properly disposing of hazardous wastes such as pharmaceuticals and mercury-containing products." EBMUD has also phased-out its own purchases of products containing triclosan and triclocarban.

In 2006, the Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative - Emerging Contaminants Workgroup, which was created to provide a forum to discuss issues related to endocrine disrupting compounds and recycled water, wrote a white paper on the hazards of triclosan. Among other solutions discussed, the heavily cited paper suggests looking into drafting legislation to limit antibacterial products and other emerging watershed contaminants in consumer products.

In response to the AP investigation, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) called on EPA to establish a national taskforce to investigate and make recommendations to Congress on any legislative actions needed. "The Associated Press report raises serious questions about the safety and security of America's water system. I am especially concerned about the lack of information known on the potential for pharmaceuticals in the water to bio-accumulate in humans or potentially decrease the effectiveness of antibiotics or other life-saving medicines," writes Congresswoman Schwartz in a letter to EPA. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Chairman of the Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security and Water Quality Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, announced that they plan to hold a hearing on the issue sometime in early April.

In the wake of the AP investigation, the Governor of Illinois has ordered its state's waterways to be tested for pharmaceuticals and the New York City Council has scheduled an emergency public hearing for April 3rd.

USGS Identifies Contaminants in Potomac River Possibly Linked to Intersex Fish

(Beyond Pesticides, March 24, 2008) Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announced that they have identified ten contaminants, including pesticides, in the Potomac River, which flows through downtown Washington, DC, that could be responsible for the alarming discovery of "intersex fish," male fish producing eggs. The suspected chemicals include: atrazine, a common herbicide used in agriculture and on lawns that is already linked to sexual abnormalities in frogs; insecticides chlorpyrifos and endosulfan; the herbicide metolachlor; and two chemicals used to add fragrance to perfumes, soaps and other products, tonalide and galaxolide.

To collect the samples, USGS scientists suspended a device intended to serve as a facsimile fish in the Potomac River near the Washington, DC's Blue Plains sewage plant. The device had a plastic-coated tube, which simulated a fish's permeable skin, and a layer of simulated fat. According to the Washington Post, the tests on this fake fat revealed a range of potentially worrisome pollutants. Most have been found in other streams around the U.S.

"The types of things we're finding are the types of things that are associated with everyday life," David Alvarez, a U.S. Geological Survey research chemist who analyzed samples from the Potomac told the Washington Post. "The contaminants flow into the river from sewer plants and in rainwater washing off of farm fields and suburban lawns. If it's something we're using, ultimately it's going to end up in the water."

In 2006, USGS discovered in some Potomac tributaries, including the Shenandoah River in Virginia, nearly all of the male smallmouth bass caught were so-called intersex fish, producing immature eggs in their testes. In the Potomac itself, 7 of 13 largemouth bass exhibited female characteristics, including 3 that were producing eggs.

Intersex fish were discovered in the Potomac rivershed in 2003 and have also been found in other parts of the country. But the frequency found by the surveys is much higher than what had been found elsewhere, said Vicki Blazer, a USGS fish pathologist. Female fish caught in the survey did not develop any unusual sex traits, though fish of both sexes exhibited lesions and other problems related to pollution, said Ms. Blazer, who coordinated the initial survey.

Most scientists have suspected endocrine disruptors and synthetic estrogens, such as pesticides and birth control pills, from the beginning. Endocrine disruptors are a diverse group of several thousands of chemicals that are used in everything from pesticides and flame retardants to cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Endocrine disruptors may be mistaken for hormones by the body and thus their presence may alter the function of hormones, either blocking their normal action or interfering with how they are made in the body. Since hormones regulate things like growth and body development, there is great potential for damage. In particular, some endocrine disruptors are mistaken for the female hormone estrogen. These estrogen mimics interfere with the reproductive system, causing infertility, malformed sexual organs, and cancer of sensitive organs.

Disturbingly, there are many commonly used pesticides that are known or suspected endocrine disruptors, such as atrazine, 2,4-D, lindane, and permethrin. A recent study found that the commonly used lawn pesticide formulation Round-up, with the active ingredient glyphosate, causes damaging endocrine effects in fetuses. EPA does not currently evaluate or consider the endocrine disrupting properties of pesticides during registration or reregistration.

The environmental effects of these chemicals has been well-established: pseudo-hermaphrodite polar bears with penis-like stumps, panthers with atrophied testicles, hermaphroditic deformities in frogs, and male trout with eggs growing in their testes have all been documented as the probable result of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment. Many scientists believe that wildlife provides early warnings of effects produced by endocrine disruptors, which may as yet be unobserved in humans.

Health Problems in Persian Gulf War Veterans Higher Due to Chemical Exposure

UCSD researchers warn of potential risk to civilians exposed to pesticides

March 10, 2008

By Kim Edwards

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine shows there is increasing evidence that high rates of illness in Persian Gulf War Veterans can be explained, in part, by exposure to certain chemicals, including pesticides and nerve agents. Veterans from the 1990-91 conflict have a higher rate of chronic, multi-symptom health problems than either non-deployed personnel or those deployed elsewhere. Symptoms routinely reported by these veterans include fatigue, muscle or joint pain, memory problems, trouble sleeping, rash and breathing problems.

"This evidence suggests that exposure to this certain class of chemical may be linked to elevated risk of health problems," said Beatrice Golomb, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, whose study will be published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of March 10.

"Health issues among Gulf War veterans have been a concern for nearly two decades. Now, enough studies have been conducted, and results shared, to be able to say with considerable confidence that there is a link between chemical exposure and chronic, multi-symptom health problems," said Golomb. "Furthermore, the same chemicals affecting Gulf War veterans may be involved in similar cases of unexplained, multi-symptom health problems in the general population."

The study synthesized evidence regarding a class of chemicals known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEis) -- including so-called "organophosphates" and "carbamates." These include nerve gas chemicals such as sarin; some military personnel were exposed when demolishing Iraqi munitions. They include common classes of pesticides which were aggressively used in the Gulf to control sand flies and other insects. And they include the nerve gas protection pill "pyridostigmine bromide" or PB. (Note: As a result of an earlier RAND Corporation report by Golomb detailing concerns about using such pills preventatively, military policy has been changed in the US and elsewhere.)

The study linked exposure to each of these chemicals with the chronic, multi-symptom health problems in 25 to 33 percent of returning Gulf War veterans.

"There is evidence that genetics have something to do with how a body handles exposure to these chemicals," said Golomb. "Some people are genetically less able to withstand these toxins and evidence shows that these individuals have higher chance of suffering the effects of exposure." Specifically, illness is linked to lower activity of enzymes that detoxify AChEis, due to genetic variants The enzymes known to be involved are paraoxonase (PON) for OPs, including sarin, and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) for PB.

Among those service members given PB pills as a preventive measure, those with the mutations that reduced their ability to detoxify the pills were at significantly higher risk of illness, according to Golomb.

Previous studies have shown genetic variants of these enzymes are also associated with increased rates of some neurological diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease. Golomb says this may explain the elevated levels of ALS seen in Gulf War veterans.

Some of the chemicals linked to these multi-symptom illnesses continue to be used in agriculture, and at homes and offices for pest control in the United States and around the globe. Studies not related to the Gulf War showed that agricultural workers exposed to organophosphate pesticides had 10 times the number of health symptoms as those not exposed.

"Again, genetic variants that hamper defense against these chemicals were linked to higher risk of health problems. These findings carry important implications for current members of the armed forces as well as the general public, suggesting that exposure to these pesticides in any setting may increase risk for impaired neuropsychological function and poor health" said Golomb.

 

Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Public Health Table of Contents

Pesticides and Degradates Widely Detected in USGS Chesapeake Bay Study

(Beyond Pesticides, March 3, 2008) In a five-year study of the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that, "Synthetic organic pesticides and their degradation products have been widely detected at low levels in the watershed, including emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and hormones." The report finds that concentrations of DDT, while still present, have declined since the 1970s when it was phased out. The findings are contained in a report entitled Synthesis of U.S. Geological Survey Science for the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem and Implications for Environmental Management. The study is a part of the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP), which is a multi-agency partnership working to restore the Bay ecosystem. According to the report introduction, "In 2005, which represented the mid-point of the Chesapeake 2000 agreement, there was growing concern at all levels of government and by the public that ecological conditions in the Bay and its watershed had not significantly improved. The slow rate of improvement, coupled with the projected human-population increase in the Bay watershed, implied that many desired ecological conditions will not be achieved by 2010. The Government Accountability Office (2005) recommended that the CBP complete efforts for an integrated assessment approach of ecosystem conditions and develop a comprehensive, coordinated implementation strategy. To address these challenges, the CBP partners are writing a strategic implementation plan (SIP) to more accurately define the degree to which restoration goals can be achieved by 2010, and the most effective approach to achieve the goals. The USGS findings and their implications provide critical information that will be used by the CBP partners to prepare the SIP and develop improved management strategies. A major CBP restoration goal is to "Have a "toxics free" Bay to improve conditions for aquatic-dependent wildlife." As a part of this effort, the study seeks to define the occurrence of contaminants in the Bay watershed. Some of the findings include:

- Pesticides are present year round in streams of the Bay watershed. - Changes in pesticide concentration over time generally reflect changes in application rates, as well as physical and chemical properties that control the movement of compounds. - The following pesticides and degradation products were found in one or a combination of headwater streams during spring base flow, shallow ground water in agricultural areas, ground water used for domestic supply and ground water used for public supply: acetachlor, acetochlor ESA, acetochlor DA, alachlor, alachlor ESA, alachlor DA, atrazine, deethylatrazine, desiopropylatrazine, bromacil, carbofuran, cyanazine, dieldrin, flumetsulam, glyphosate, imazaquin, imazethapyr, lindane, metalachlor, metolachlor ESA, metolachlor DA, pendimethalin, prometon, simzaine, tebuthiuron.- Pesticide occurrence is closely tied with nutrient land practices on agricultural and urban lands. In a national study of emerging contaminants which included the Bay (2002), at least one of 95 different emerging contaminants (including human and veterinary drugs, hormones, detergents, disinfectants, insecticides, and fire retardants) were found in 80 percent of the nation's streams, "with mixtures of the chemicals occurring at 75 percent of the sites." In 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released Pesticides in the Nation's Streams and Ground Water, 1992-2001, a ten-year survey of the contamination caused by pesticide use in agricultural and urbanized areas. Every year, nearly one billion pounds of pesticides, many of which are linked to cancer, birth defects, neurological disorders, and environmental impacts, are used in the U.S, much of it ending up in our nation's waterways. The report is summarized in Beyond Pesticides' Daily News Blog.

Two year earlier, according to Water Quality in the Nation's Streams and Aquifers-Overview of Selected Findings, 1991-2001, released in 2004 as a compendium of 51 USGS reports on the health of major river basins across the country, insecticides such as diazinon and malathion were found in nearly all of the streams that were sampled in urban areas. Streams in agricultural areas were more likely to contain herbicides-especially atrazine, metolachlor, alachlor, and cyanazine.

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Environment Table of Contents

Researcher Shows Chemicals Alter Male Reproductive System

(Beyond Pesticides, February 19, 2008) Common household chemicals and widespread pollutants are changing male reproductive health and impacting sexual function, development and cancer rates of today's generations and possibly their offspring, according to more than 15 years of research by a Colorado State University expert. For example, one study looking at sperm counts globally from 1940, when chemicals first began to be widely produced, to the 1990s, indicates a 1.15 percent per year decline in sperm counts. These declines may be linked to chemical exposure. Rao Veeramachaneni, BVSc, MScVet, PhD, a biomedical sciences professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has found that chemicals including pesticides, common pollutants in ground water, and chemicals in plastics, make-up and nail polish are on a growing list of culprits causing developmental abnormalities such as impaired sperm quality and impotence. Reproductive health can be compromised if males are exposed at various times in life spanning from in utero up to adulthood.Dr. Veeramachaneni's findings span the globe and are across species lines, from humans to horses, wildlife to frogs. His research, coupled with the collective findings of other experts in the field, indicates a strong link related to pollutants, and incidence of such impacts continues to increase from year to year as chemicals infiltrate the modern world.

"Exposure to these chemicals, particularly during certain windows of time during fetal development, in newborns or as adolescents, can do permanent damage," said Dr. Veeramachaneni, who works in the university's internationally-known Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory. "It's been a difficult task to trace the impact of these chemicals because an exposure as a fetus may not be manifested until that fetus becomes an adult. Once exposed, many males develop a condition for life. But when we look at the big picture — at trends over time — research shows lasting effects of chemicals since their popularity after World War II." 

Some of these chemicals can survive in the environment for 30 to 40 years, and the chances for exposure are high because the chemicals have permeated our world. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that about one-third of the nation's lakes and one quarter of its rivers are polluted. There is also evidence that exposure today to some of these chemicals can affect the reproductive health of this generation as well as the future health of offspring of those exposed. The incidence of testicular cancer in young men 15 to 35 years old has increased three to four fold over the past 50 years, particularly in the Western world.

These chemicals affect the body through several channels. They attach to receptors in the body that help hormones carry out their functions and either block actual hormones from attaching or mimic the expression of the real hormones, causing confusion in the male body. In addition, some interfere with the body's natural production of hormones.

A pattern emerges when comparing the explosion of the world's use of chemicals, including pesticides and herbicides, and the steadily increasing incidence of testicular cancer, reproductive system abnormalities and impotence.

Phthalates, which are used in a variety of products including cosmetics, upholstery, pharmaceuticals and medical tubing, and also are found in drinking water and air. The chemicals can be found in body fluids of people who have been exposed, including in urine, blood and breast milk. Presence in breast milk can pass exposure on to an infant.

In a series of studies funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Veeramachaneni's laboratory found that exposing tadpoles to dibutyl phthalate, one form of phthalate, drastically slows their growth and reproductive development. At varying doses, tadpoles lagged weeks behind non-exposed frogs in developing legs and entering adulthood. More significant, however, was the impact on their ability to reproduce; one effect of the chemicals is particularly notable on their mating calls. Those exposed to chemicals had calls that were weaker and shorter. Images of the larynx, the voice box, showed that it was significantly underdeveloped.  Without a competitive mating call, the frogs will not be able to reproduce successfully.

DDT and other pesticides have been linked to testicular cancer in humans and animals. Reflecting human trends in the U.S. and abroad, in collaboration with medical scientists at University of Pretoria, South Africa, Dr. Veeramachaneni has found instances of testicular cancer in wildlife in Africa, potentially tied to the increasing renewed use of DDT to fight malaria-carrying mosquitoes. His research showed that DDT causes precancerous lesions in the testis. Dr. Veeramachaneni also documented cancerous lesions in the testes of infertile domestic horses and wild deer, and is working on a possible connection to ubiquitous pollutants.

The incidences of hypospadias and cryptorchidism are increasing. While figures indicating the increase vary by population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites a marked twofold increase in the last 25 to 30 years, now impacting almost one per 100 males born. Hypospadias can affect urination and sexual function. Dr. Veeramachaneni's laboratory has found that exposure to some chemicals such as phthalates causes hypospadias and cryptorchidism.

Historical studies show that the quality of sperm in humans has decreased rapidly in the last 50 years. With the assistance of research associate Carol Moeller, Dr. Veeramachaneni's electron microscopic studies show that sperm quality is affected by malformations of structures that are needed for fertilization of the egg or two or more sperm attached to each other following exposure to a variety of so-called innocuous chemicals.

Erectile dysfunction is reported in one-third of the U.S. male population. It also is being linked to chemicals in the environment. Vinclozolin, a fungicide commonly used in agriculture, can contaminate food and water supplies. In laboratory tests, Veeramachaneni and his research associate, Jennifer Palmer, found that some male offspring of animals exposed to vinclozolin during pregnancy displayed a complete lack of interest in females.

Other researchers have made similar findings. For instance, Cecilia Berg, Ph.D., a researcher in environmental toxicology, found frogs to be more sensitive to hormone-disturbing environmental pollutants. Recent studies by Tyrone Hayes, Ph.D. at the University of California have demonstrated that atrazine is an endocrine disruptor that chemically castrates and feminizes male amphibians. In addition to hermaphroditic deformities in frogs, pseudo-hermaphrodite polar bears with penis-like stumps, panthers with atrophied testicles, and intersex fish have all been documented as the probable result of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment. Many scientists believe that wildlife provides early warnings of effects produced by endocrine disruptors, which may as yet be unobserved in humans.

Source: Colorado State University

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Public Health Table of Contents

Pesticide Mixtures Have Greater Effect on Salmon

(Beyond Pesticides, February 20, 2008) Pesticides that run off agricultural land and mix in rivers and streams combine to have a greater than expected toxic effect on the salmon nervous system, according to researcher Nathaniel Scholz, PhD, a zoologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Seattle.

Dr. Scholz, who presented his findings at the symposium entitled From Kitchen Sinks to Ocean Basins: Emerging Chemical Contaminants and Human Health, which was organized by NOAA and hosted at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, had previously looked at the effects of individual pesticides. However, to get a more realistic idea of exposure, combinations of several pesticides were used and juvenile salmon exposed to them two at a time. The results surprised Dr. Scholz and his team. The total impact observed from combined pesticides was greater than the sum of the individual pesticides, demonstrating a synergistic effect. Some pesticides that were not deadly when tested in individual trials killed all salmon exposed to combinations. A mixture of the pesticides diazinon and malathion, exhibited the greatest synergistic effect and killed all the salmon exposed to them, even at the lowest concentrations.

"It was eye opening," Dr. Scholz said. "We're seeing relatively dramatic departures" from what happens with each pesticide by itself. "The real world is usually more complex, and exposures to mixtures of chemicals can be more of the rule than the exception."

Dr. Scholz said the findings, which are in review for publication, mean that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be underestimating the hazards pesticides pose to salmon. It also indicates that combinations of pesticides found on fruits and vegetables may also pose an unknown and unexpected risk for people.

Pesticides sprayed on agricultural crops are widespread in streams in the Northwest and half of the waters sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey contain six or more pesticides. Pesticides found in salmon watersheds were at concentrations at or above levels set to protect fish and other aquatic life. The pesticides used in Dr. Scholz's study include the organophosphates malathion, chlopyrifos and diazion, among others. Organophosphates are neurotoxic and kill cells by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that helps neurons communicate. This in turn harms the ability of salmon to feed. Diazinon also reduces sperm production in male salmon even at extremely low levels.

In a 2002 order, a U.S. District Court in Seattle found that the federal government had failed to protect threatened species of salmon and 26 other endangered species from toxic pesticides. The judge ordered EPA to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to identify permanent measures needed to protect the salmon and others from pesticides. Despite the ruling, federal agencies have been negligent in their efforts to protect declining salmon populations. In November 2007, fishing and environmental groups seeking to force the federal government to uphold the five-year-old rule once again filed a lawsuit (See Daily News Blog of November 7, 2007).

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Environment Table of Contents

Hazardous Pesticides Found in Children Who Eat Chemically-Treated Foods

(Beyond Pesticides, January 31, 2008) A study to be published in the February 2008 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives finds that children who eat a conventional diet of food produced with chemical-intensive practices carry residues of organophosate pesticides that are reduced or eliminated when they switch to an organic diet. The study is entitled "Dietary Intake and Its Contribution to Longitudinal Organophosphorus Pesticide Exposure in Urban/Suburban Children" (Chensheng Lu, Dana B. Barr, Melanie A. Pearson, and Lance A. Waller) and includes authors from Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, and the National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.According to the authors, "The objective of this article is to present the data of assessing young urban/suburban children's longitudinal exposure to OP [organophosphate] pesticides in a group [of] young children participating in the Children Pesticide Exposure Study (CPES). The results from this study identify not only the predominant source of OP pesticide exposure but also the profile of exposures in children that are vital in formulating the strategies, both from the regulatory policy and personal behavior change perspectives, in reducing children's exposures to OP pesticides."

The study design included 23 children, male and female, from the Seattle area, ages 3-11 years who only consumed conventional diets and were recruited for a one-year study conducted in 2003-2004. Of the 23, 19 completed the study. Children switched to organic diets for five consecutive days in the summer and fall sampling seasons. The authors measured specific urinary metabolites for malathion, chlorpyrifos and other OP pesticides in urine samples collected twice daily for a period of 7, 12, or 15 consecutive days during each of the four seasons. According to the authors, "By substituting organic fresh fruits and vegetables for corresponding conventional food items, the median urinary metabolite concentrations were reduced to non-detected or close to non-detected levels for malathion and chlorpyrifos at the end of 5-day organic diet intervention period in both summer and fall seasons. We also observed a seasonal effect on the OP urinary metabolite concentrations, and this seasonality is correspondent to the consumption of fresh produce throughout the year." And, "Considering the lack of residential use of OP pesticides among the families of CPES-WA children, consumption of conventional diets is likely to be the sole contributing factor to the seasonality effect of pesticide exposures."

The authors point out that few studies evaluate the longitudinal exposure to pesticides that all children experience. According to the authors, "Most of the studies published in the literature have either targeted children living in agricultural environments or have used a cross-sectional design with spot sample collection."

The authors raise concerns about inadequate attention being given by regulators to chronic low-level exposures to pesticides, such as those found in their study. They point out that, "Using spot biomarkers [one-time measurement of urinary metabolites] of OP pesticide exposure to examine the link between adverse health outcomes and cumulative OP pesticide exposure is obviously an inadequate approach."

Corresponding author: Chensheng Lu, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30322, (404)727-2131, (404)727-8744 (fax), clu2@sph.emory.edu.

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Public Health Table of Contents

Pesticide Residues Exceed Limit on Strawberries

(Beyond Pesticides, January 30, 2008) A survey of 31 Australian strawberry growers conducted by a consumer watchdog revealed that almost all conventionally grown strawberries contained residues of pesticides. Several samples of the strawberries tested contained pesticide residues that exceeded the legal limit, and some even tested positive for pesticides banned for use on strawberries.Tests revealed that that 17 of the 27 samples of conventionally grown strawberries registered residues of at least two types of pesticide or fungicide. Four samples had traces of four different chemicals on the skin that had penetrated the fruit's flesh as well.

Choice, the chemical watchdog group that commissioned the survey, described the findings as alarming and calls on the Australian Government to remedy years of neglect over pesticide regulation, and to require independent, mandatory testing of all fruits and vegetables.

"Analysis shows strawberries are more likely to have pesticide residues than other fresh fruit, and washing does not necessarily remove them," said Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn.
"Strawberries contain lots of nutrients but unfortunately they also tend to contain residues of pesticide… [T]here are some concerns about long-term exposure to a mixture of different pesticides."

Jo Immig, the coordinator of National Toxics Network Inc, said the findings showed that the regulation of pesticides in Australia had fallen woefully behind. "The results … should alarm customers, and in particular parents of small children, who are at far greater risk of damage from pesticide exposures," she said.

Australian strawberries are not the only ones to have recorded significant amounts of pesticide residues. In 2007, the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Pesticide Data Program released its latest annual summary detailing pesticide residues in the U.S. food supply. In fruits and vegetables, 73 percent of fresh and 61 percent of processed produce had detectable residues. On strawberries, at least 30 different pesticide resides were detected, along with 31 in grapes, 36 in apples, and 43 in lettuce. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) also reported 2006 pesticide use statistics, which showed strawberry growers had increased their reliance on the highly toxic, ozone depleting fumigant methyl bromide (See Daily News http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=239)

Studies have shown pesticide residues are higher in children that are fed conventional versus organic foods, and that an effective way to reduce a child's exposure to pesticide residues on food is to change their diet to organic. Children with organic diets contain significantly less metabolites of toxic pesticides in their blood and urine.

TAKE ACTION: Buy organic foods for yourself and your family whenever possible. If organic foods are not easily accessible to you due to cost or distribution, consider buying organic for the foods you eat the most. To make sure your food is organic, look for the USDA Organic label.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Public Health Table of Contents

Harmful pesticides found in everyday food products

Mercer Island children tested in yearlong study

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Last updated 12:59 a.m.

By ANDREW SCHNEIDER
P-I SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
Seattle Post Intelligencer

Government promises to rid the nation's food supply of brain-damaging pesticides aren't doing the job, according to the results of a yearlong study that carefully monitored the diets of a group of local children.

The peer-reviewed study found that the urine and saliva of children eating a variety of conventional foods from area groceries contained biological markers of organophosphates, the family of pesticides spawned by the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II.

When the same children ate organic fruits, vegetables and juices, signs of pesticides were not found.

"The transformation is extremely rapid," said Chensheng Lu, the principal author of the study published online in the current issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Once you switch from conventional food to organic, the pesticides (malathion and chlorpyrifos) that we can measure in the urine disappears. The level returns immediately when you go back to the conventional diets," said Lu, a professor at Emory University's School of Public Health and a leading authority on pesticides and children.

Within eight to 36 hours of the children switching to organic food,

The subjects for his testing were 21 children, ages 3 to 11, from two elementary schools and a Montessori preschool on Mercer Island.

The community has double the median national income, but the wealth of Mercer Island made no difference in the outcome, he said.

"We are confident that if we did the same study in poor communities, we would get the same results," he said. The study is being repeated in Georgia.

The study has not yet linked the pesticide levels to specific foods, but other studies have shown peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, nectarines, strawberries and cherries are among those that most frequently have detectable levels of pesticides.

Measuring the harm

Lu is quick to point out that there is no certainty that the pesticides measured in this group of children would cause any adverse health outcomes. However, he added that a recent animal study demonstrated that persistent cognitive impairment occurred in rats after chronic dietary exposure to chlorpyrifos.

Death or serious health problems have been documented in thousands of cases in which there were high-level exposures to malathion and chlorpyrifos. But a link between neurological impairments and repeated low-level exposure is far more difficult to determine.

"There's a large underpinning of animal research for organophosphate pesticides, and particularly for chlorpyrifos, that points to bad outcomes in terms of effects on brain development and behavior," Dr. Theodore Slotkin, a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University in North Carolina, said in the April 2006 Environmental Health Perspectives.

Lu says more research must be done into the harm these pesticides may do to children, even at the low levels found on food.

"In animal and a few human studies, we know chlorpyrifos inhibits an enzyme that transmits a signal in the brain so the body can function properly. Unfortunately, that's all we know."

Not many chemicals, including pharmaceutical products, were designed specifically to kill mammals, which was genesis of organophosphates.

"It is appropriate to assume that if we -- human beings -- are exposed to (this class of) pesticides, even though it's a low-level exposure on a daily basis, there are going to be some health concerns down the road," said Lu, who is on the Environmental Protection Agency's pesticide advisory panel.

The EPA says it eliminated the use of organophosphates on many crops and imposed numerous restrictions on the remaining organophosphate pesticide uses.

Congressional concern that children were being harmed by excessive to pesticides led to the unanimous passage of the Food Quality Act. At its heart was a requirement that by 2006, the EPA complete comprehensive reassessment of the 9,721 pesticides permitted for use determine the safe level of pesticide residues permitted for all

"As a result, the amount of these pesticides used on undergone) a 57 percent reduction," said Jonathan Shradar, spokesman.

But that's not nearly enough to prevent birth defects and neurological problems, said Chuck Benbrook, chief scientist of the Organic Center, a nationwide, nonprofit, food research organization.

"The pesticide limits that EPA permits are far, far too high to say they're safe. And, the reduction that EPA cites in the U.S. has been accompanied by a steady increase in pesticide-contaminated imported foods, which are capturing a growing share of the market," he said.

Yet the EPA continues to insist that "dietary exposures from eating crops treated with chlorpyrifos are below the level of concern for the

That statement is "not supported by science," Benbrook said.

"Given the almost daily reminders that children are suffering from an array of behavioral, learning, neurological problems, doesn't it make sense to eliminate exposures to chemicals known to trigger such outcomes like chlorpyrifos?" he asked.

What to do

While the gut reaction of some parents might be to limit the consumption of fresh produce or switch completely to organic food, Lu cautions not to make the wrong decision.

"It is vital for children to consume significantly more fresh fruits and vegetables than is commonly the case today," he says, citing such problems as juvenile diabetes and obesity.

"Nor is our purpose to promote the consumption of organic food, although our data clearly demonstrate that food grown organically contains far less pesticide residues."

Lu says an all-organic diet is not necessary. He has two sons, 10 and 13, and he estimates that about 60 percent of his family's diet is organic.

"Consumers," he says, "should be encouraged to buy produce direct from the farmers they know. These need not be just organic farmers, but conventional growers who minimize their use of pesticides."

Understanding how fruits and vegetables grow can help guide the consumer, he says.

For example, organic strawberries probably are worth the money because they are a tender-fleshed fruit grown close to the dirt, so more pesticides are needed to fight insects and bugs from the soil. He adds apples and spinach to his list.

"It may also be money-smart to choose conventionally grown broccoli because it has a web of leaves surrounding the florets, resulting in lower levels of pesticide residue," Lu says.

He is greatly concerned about one finding from the study.

"Overall pesticide (marker) levels in urine samples were even higher in the winter months, suggesting children may have consumed fruits and vegetables that are imported. The government needs to ensure that imported food comply with the standards we impose on domestic produce," he said.

Dangerous science

Chlorpyrifos, made by Dow Chemical Co., is one of the most widely used organophosphate insecticides in the United States and, many believe, the world.

For years, millions of pounds of the chemical insecticide were used in schools, homes, day care centers and public housing, and studies show that children were often exposed to enormously high doses. Just as the EPA was ready to ban the product, which analysts said would have damaged Dow's overseas sales, the company "voluntarily" removed it from the home market. Yet, with few exceptions, the agricultural uses continued.

The EPA's Web site is a study in contradictions when it comes to chlorpyrifos.

At one section, it "acknowledged the special susceptibility and sensitivity of children to developmental and neurological effects from exposure to chlorpyrifos."

But in another section, the agency reports that infants and children face no risk from eating food crops treated with chlorpyrifos. However, the agency doesn't say how it reached that conclusion. There is no agreement of how much of the neurotoxin is too much.

Benbrook said the EPA has refused orders from Congress to study the cumulative developmental risk to children from low-dose exposures.

"Perhaps we can rest assured that EPA has protected us adults from acute insecticide poisoning risk, but our kids are on their own," Benbrook said.

chart

ABOUT THE STUDY

Chensheng Lu's study was published this month in Environmental Health Perspectives (ehponline.org), a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science. It was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and used federal laboratories to confirm the accuracy of his findings.

Unlike many previous studies, Lu's team focused on children living in an urban/suburban area who were tested for multiple days in each of the four seasons with urine and saliva sampled twice a day.

The organic produce was sent to the Department of Agriculture lab in Yakima to be tested for pesticides. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested the urine samples and the Food and Drug Administration laboratory is completing its quantification of pesticide residues in samples of the conventional food the children consumed.

The team included scientists from Emory University, the CDC and the University of Washington.

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Public Health Table of Contents

Scientists Say Pesticides and Other Pollutants May Be Linked to Diabetes

(Beyond Pesticides, January 29, 2008) University of Cambridge scientists say there may be a link between persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including pesticides, and Type 2 Diabetes. The Cambridge scientists are advocating additional research into the little understood links between environmental pollution and adult onset diabetes.

In the most recent edition of the journal Lancet, Oliver Jones, Ph.D., and Julian Griffin, Ph.D., highlight the need to research the possible link between persistent organic pollutants (POPs, a group which includes many pesticides) and insulin resistance, which can lead to adult onset diabetes.

In their commentary, Dr. Jones and Dr. Griffin cite peer reviewed research including that of D. Lee, et al, which demonstrated a very strong relationship between the levels of POPs in blood, particularly organochlorine compounds, and the risk of type 2 diabetes.

"Of course correlation does not automatically imply causation," says Dr. Jones. "But if there is indeed a link, the health implications could be tremendous. At present there is very limited information. Research into adult onset diabetes currently focuses on genetics and obesity; there has been almost no consideration for the possible influence of environmental factors such as pollution."

Interestingly, in the Lee study an association between obesity and diabetes was absent in people with low concentrations of POPs in their blood. In other words, individuals were more at risk of diabetes if they were thin with high levels of POPs in their blood than if they were overweight but with low levels of POPs.

Dr. Jones said, "I think research should be carried out to first test the hypothesis that POPs exposure can cause diabetes, perhaps using cell or tissue cultures, so we know for sure if this can occur. Assuming POPs can have this effect, the next step would be to try and develop a method of treatment for those people who might be affected."

POPs came into prominence as effective pesticides with the introduction of DDT in the 1940s. However, many of these chemicals, including DDT, fell out of favor after they were blamed for the declining number of wild birds and other animals and negative human health effects. As the compounds biodegrade slowly, they continue to find their way into the food chain and ultimately into the blood streams of individuals even though many of these toxins were banned many years ago. Additionally, these compounds can persist in body fat for very long periods of time following exposure.

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Public Health Table of Contents

Study Finds That Antibacterial Enhances Endocrine Disruption

(Beyond Pesticides, January 9, 2008) Triclocarban, an antibacterial compound widely used as an additive to a range of household and personal care products including bar soaps, detergents, body washes, cleansing lotions, and wipes, has been found to have an amplification effect on the activity of natural hormones, which in turn can lead to adverse reproductive and developmental effects.

In the study, published online November 29, 2007 in Endocrinology, researchers from University of California- Davis and Yale University investigated the endocrine disrupting properties of triclocarban and other polychlorinated diphenyl urea compounds by exposing human cells and rats to levels similar to those found in people. Triclocarban was found to have a synergistic interaction with the sex hormone, testosterone- present in both males and females. This interaction produced a positive, amplified biological effect, which is likely to hyperstimulate native sex hormones. This amplification of sex hormone activity occurs at the target cell and can result in developmental defects or decreased reproductive function. Researchers further explained that ovulation and ovarian function in females can be disrupted, while sperm quality can be decreased in males.

The researchers also point out that the results of their study create a new category for endocrine disruptive substances to include "hormone amplifiers or enhancers" rather than simple agonists or antagonists in order to accommodate the synergistic property demonstrated by triclocarban. They also note that since triclocarban has the potential to amplify synthetic compounds, further investigation into its interaction with oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy is needed.

Triclocarban, like its cousin triclosan, has been linked to numerous health and environmental effects. When disposed into residential drains and carried to streams and rivers, it kills beneficial organisms in soil and water. Both of these chemicals have been found in breast milk and fish. Triclocarban, along with triclosan, survives treatment at sewage plants and most ends up in waterways and sludge spread on agricultural fields, and may end up on produce. Researchers at the John's Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that triclocarban was the fifth most frequent contaminant among 96 pharmaceuticals, personal care products and organic wastewater contaminants evaluated and that levels of triclocarban in water resources nationwide are much higher than previously thought.

In 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration led a panel of experts and industry representatives to weigh and analyze different germ killing methods. The panel found "no firm scientific evidence that the flood of antimicrobial products we observe has any discernible benefit over the use of regular soap and water."

TAKE ACTION: You can stay healthy and put pressure on manufacturers to phase out antibacterials by not using products with triclosan or triclocarban. Stay hygienic the most effective way, by using plain soap and water.

Source: Environmental Science and Technology

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Public Health Table of Contents

Study Finds Pesticide Exposure Increases Risk of Asthma

(Beyond Pesticides, January 4, 2008) A study appearing in the January 2, 2008 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine has found a correlation between women's exposure to farm pesticides and allergic asthma. The study's lead author, Jane Hoppin, Sc.D., of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, cited the lack of information on the risks incurred when women apply pesticides, saying, "Farm women are an understudied occupational group."

The study evaluated data on 25,814 farm women who are participating in the Agricultural Health Study in Iowa and North Carolina. "This is the largest study of farmers and their families in the world, so it gives us an opportunity to look at diseases that haven't been well characterized," said Dr. Hoppin. The women self-reported their doctor-diagnosed asthma, and the team separated them into subgroups of allergic and non-allergic asthmatics. They also found that more than half of the responders had used or been exposed to pesticides, while 61 percent grew up on a farm.

The resulting data found that use of pesticides increased risk of allergic asthma by almost 50 percent, but not of non-allergic. Where a woman grew up also affected her likelihood to develop allergic asthma. Women who were raised on farms and did not handle pesticides had the lowest risk of asthma. Women who who grew up on a farm and did work with pesticides were more likely to be asthmatic. Women who did not grow up on farms, however, were most likely to develop asthma, due to a little-studied protective affect of growing up in an agricultural setting, which provides an overall reduction in risk.

"Growing up on a farm is such a huge protective effect it's pretty hard to overwhelm it," said Dr. Hoppin. "[But] about 40 percent of women who work on farms don't report spending their childhoods there. It is likely that the association with pesticides is masked in the general population due to a higher baseline rate of asthma."

The study also divided out the different pesticides used by respondents and their correlation to the asthma rate. Malathion, for example, was associated with a 60 percent increase in incidence of allergic asthma. According to the report, "A total of 7 of 16 insecticides, 2 of 11 herbicides, and 1 of 4 fungicides were significantly associated with atopic [allergic] asthma; only permethrin use on crops was associated with nonatopic [non-allergic] asthma," in spite of non-allergic asthma's higher occurrence in adults.

A follow-up study has been planned to better evaluate the link between pesticides and asthma. "We want to characterize the clinical aspects of the disease, as well as lifetime exposures to agents that may either protect against asthma or increase risk," said Dr. Hoppin. "We hope to start the study in 2008."

Sources: Science Daily, U.S. News & World Report, Environmental News Service

Back to Recent News Table of Contents

Back to News: Public Health Table of Contents