( 1 ) What One Woman Achieved

With the eye of an eagle, the fortitude of a falcon and the tenacity of a mother robin protecting her chicks, Ruth Fisher struck a blow for ecological landscaping this year in her beloved Cape May County, New Jersey. It began when she read a routine newspaper notice announcing broadcast spraying with the herbicide glyphosate to kill all vegetation in an area identified only by an address.

She recognized it to be the site where a former flower farm had been designated for conversion into a bird sanctuary. She contacted The Nature Conservancy, the land's new owners and informed them that the planned herbicide spraying could potentially harm applicators, wild plants, soil bacteria and the ecosystem. She told them of a judge in Bogota, Columbia who had banned glyphosate applications after reviewing videotapes of dead animals, ruined food crops and babies with rashes all associated with spraying glyphosate on illegal drug crops.

Her most convincing argument, according to Ruth, was questioning why a prestigious national environmental group would train its young employees as pesticide applicators. Based on the Conservancy's subsequent decision not to spray in response to her effort, Ruth is hoping for "the beginning of a change in policies everywhere."

So do we dear lady: Many thanks from RCC! (See RCC's "Glyphosate: Actions and Reactions" for further information including an association between a glyphosate-containing product and non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma)

~ "Nature Group Ditches Plan for Cape Preserve," The Press of Atlantic City, Sept. 21, 2001

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( 2 ) An IPM/Pesticide Paradox

In 1993 USDA set as a goal the implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) on 75% of the nation's crop acreage by the year 2000 in order to reduce chemical pesticide use and associated risks while at the same time protecting crops.

As of 2000, USDA claimed that under this voluntary program, IPM practices had been adopted on 70% of our nation's crop acreage. During the same period, however, agricultural chemical pesticide usage had increased, not decreased.

At the request of Vermont's Senator Patrick Leahy, the General Accounting Office (GAO) investigated this paradox, finding that USDA's IPM program lacked a requirement to significantly lower chemical pesticide usage. As a result IPM could be considered "implemented" without farmers adopting biologically based alternatives or greatly reducing their chemical pesticide levels.

~ "Agricultural Pesticides: Management improvements needed to further promote integrated pest management," August 2001, GAO-01-815

Many people associate IPM with reduced chemical pesticide use, but this is not true of everyone invoking the term. As a result of the various understandings of it, Dr. David Pimentel, Cornell University professor and Rachel Carson Council President has replaced "IPM" with "Non-Chemical Controls" when referring to agriculture with reduced levels of chemical pesticides.

We hope that USDA's initial failure to bring about lowered chemical pesticide use will be corrected through making this the primary stated goal of any future IPM initiative and through focusing on research, outreach, implementation and oversight strategies to achieve it.

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( 3 ) Fields to Oceans: Monterey Bay Green Watch

Monterey Bay is part of the nation's largest marine sanctuary, extending 400 miles along California's central coast and covering more than 5,000 miles of ocean. It contains 28 species of marine mammals, 94 species of sea birds, 345 species of fish, four species of turtles and over 450 species of marine algae.

Farmers, environmentalists and government officials are participating in a project intended to protect Monterey Bay and surrounding waters from pesticides and other runoff.

For almost two years voluntary conservation practices described as including better control of nutrient runoff, sedimentation and erosion as well as reduced chemical pesticide use are claimed as being implemented by certain farmers in the Monterey Bay watershed. This is an area where agriculture can be of the $3 billion industrial type and where most of the country's lettuce and a variety of other vegetables are grown.

Recently the project has announced that program participants will be using the Fields to Oceans eco-label on produce to indicate that it was grown under conditions intended to protect the aquatic resources of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Could this concept be adopted for other watersheds where agricultural products are sold to the public? We hope so, but first a caution.

Recalling USDA's IPM program as described in the GAO report (see 'Cide Lines, #2) the public needs to be certain that clear goals, careful oversight and accountability have taken place whenever any eco-label appears on produce. Concerned citizens can keep eyes open for news reports of research showing improvements in the wildlife of Monterey Bay to be certain that Fields to Oceans translates into a better future for its precious residents.

~ Contact: Katie Siegler, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, 831-642-9175

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( 4 ) "Toxic Legacies"

Two groups of 4-5 year old Mexican Yaqui children, one from the valley, the other from the foothills were similar in virtually every way except for exposure to pesticides. In the foothills area pesticides had been avoided. In the valley area pesticides had been applied since the late 1940s. In the 1990s high levels of multiple pesticides were found in the cord blood of newborns and in breast milk of valley residents.

In the late 1990s anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth Guillette tested both groups of children and found that the pesticide-exposed children had less stamina, poorer gross and fine eye-hand coordination, poorer 30-minute memory, and a reduced ability to draw a human figure, and in fact drew the human figures upside down.

This breakthrough research by an anthropologist points out the value of cooperation between different disciplines and the need for additional studies on the toxicology of pesticides.

~ Guillette, E., et al, "An anthropological approach to the evaluation of preschool children exposed to pesticide in Mexico, " Environmental Health Perspectives (353) 106-347, 1998

(See announcement of Environmental Film Festival 2002)

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( 5 ) Urban Treaty for Bird Conservation

In 1999 the USFWS (US Fish and Wildlife Service) realized that populations of some of America's most recognized birds, including the blue jay and the wood thrush, continue to decline in urban areas and that pesticide use as well as habitat loss and predation by domestic cats are contributing to this problem.

They initiated the "Urban Treaty for Bird Conservation" as a pilot program involving 2 cities -- New Orleans and Chicago. The FWS serves as a partner with Treaty cities to help with education, habitat restoration and other bird conservation initiatives.

~ Contact: USFWS - phone 703-358-1714

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( 6 ) The Environment in War: Whither Now?

For centuries military leaders have destroyed the environment in order to gain an advantage over their enemies. Isn't it time that the United Nations created a "Declaration of Principles" for environmental protection in times of war which would be voluntary and implemented by the U.N. peace-keeping missions?

Environmental war crimes and "ecocide" (mass destruction of the environment) could be recognized as distinct crimes to be addressed by the International Criminal Court.

What do our readers think?

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( 7 ) A Green Pesticide Filter

Ohio University researchers studied the effectiveness of trees in preventing pesticides from drifting beyond the farm fields where they had been sprayed. Using droplets of dye in wind tunnel experiments, they found that pine trees and other evergreens collected two to four times more droplets than deciduous trees like maples.

They suggested that windbreaks made of evergreens could be useful in limiting the drift of pesticide from agricultural land.

~ "A Pesticide Filter," New York Times, 11-23-99

How encouraging that pesticide drift and the valuable service by living plants in counteracting it have been recognized by University scientists! More information is needed, however, on what percentage of the drifting pesticides are collected and whether long-term pesticide exposure may be detrimental to the trees themselves.

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( 8 ) From Coal Mines to the Kitchen

Just over a year ago, Ron, owner of eight pet birds, started the self-cleaning oven cycle in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner. His windows were open, in compliance with the oven directions. Two hours later, his son noticed that one of the birds was having problems standing (all birds were located in a separate room off the kitchen). Four of the birds died quickly in Ron's hands before anything could be done.

Opening more windows saved the other birds. Microscopic lung findings were consistent with the inhalation of toxic chemical fumes. No warnings about release of a toxic gas were found in the oven's directions, but the source of the fumes was the oven's non-stick coating based on PTFE.

With their very sensitive respiratory systems birds have been protecting us by detecting poison gas since early in the industrial age--the legendary canaries in the coal mines (and the trenches of WW I), frequently with lethal outcomes for the birds themselves. Now, it is our turn to protect them from a modern hazard.

Fumes from cookware with non-stick coatings and other household products made with PTFE (a tetrafluorethylene resin polymer) have been identified as extremely toxic for birds. When PTFE-coated surfaces are heated above 260C (400F) the toxic fumes released can kill a bird in minutes.

PTFE polymer coatings are sold under the following trade names Teflon, Silverstone, Fluoron, Supra and others.

(For more information see RCC's brochure alerting bird owners to this serious problem)

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( 9 ) A Major Victory for the Public Health

In 1988, Jacob B. Berkson, a trial lawyer, was poisoned in his home after exposure to the pesticide Dursban (chlorpyrifos). Seeking medical treatment, he was routinely told, “If Dursban wasn’t safe, they wouldn’t be allowed to use it.” Berkson disagreed. He knew Dursban had not been safe for him; he soon discovered it was not safe for many others.

For the next 8 years, Berkson compiled evidence to prove the link between exposure and adverse health effects. Inspired by the work of Rachel Carson and Silent Spring, he joined RCC.

In 1996, Berkson published A Canary's Tale. It was a wake-up call that helped to heighten the awareness of the public to the danger. Based on all the evidence, the EPA on June 8, 2000, banned Dursban use in the home, effective 12/31/01. RCC, Berkson, and many others helped achieve this victory.

A Canary's Tale, a 480-page book with more than 1,000 references and resources, may be purchased from RCC for $19.95 plus $4.95 s/h.

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( 10 ) A Game Environmentalists Can Play
Match the quote with the source!

Quote:

_____ 1) "Environmentalists have been looked on as the dreamers of the world, when in fact they are the realists."

_____ 2) "Environmental problems are often at the heart of the political and economic challenges we face around the world...We would not be doing our jobs as peacemakers and as democracy-builders, if we were not also good stewards of the global environment."

_____ 3) "Having this number calls people's attention to the fact that ecosystem services are absolutely essential to human life, and that there's no price we could pay that would be enough." (Referring to the $33 trillion/year estimated to replace ecosystem services)

_____ 4) "We are like young children who think that food comes from the refrigerator, and who do not yet understand that what seems free is not."

_____ 5) "If you're not an environmentalist when you're young, you don't have a heart. If you're not an environmentalist when you're old, you don't have a head."

_____ 6) "We are challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery not of nature but of ourselves."

Source:
A. Anonymous
B. Janet Abramovitz, World Watch Institute
C. E.O.Wilson, Professor, Harvard University
D. Madeleine Albright, Former U. S. Secretary of State
E. Rachel Carson
F. Lawrence Goulder, Stanford University
G. Mark Twain

(Reference: Pringle, L., The Environmental Movement: From Its Roots to the Challenges of a New Century, Harper Collins, 2000, p.144, for items #1-4)

Answers: l-C, 2-D, 3-F, 4-B, 5-A, 6-E

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( 11 ) The Falcons' Return

On March 29, 2001 the female of the pair of peregrine falcons nesting on the 15th floor ledge of the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg, PA produced her first egg of the year. Three others followed. They all hatched and three of the four offspring survived (updates: www.dep.state.pa.us).

Due to DDT use from the 1940s through the 1960s peregrine falcons experienced population declines throughout much of their range. Peregrines are sensitive to the adverse reproductive effects of DDE (the DDT metabolite responsible for eggshell thinning and other adverse effects). They are also predisposed to bioaccumulation of organochlorines such as DDE by being at the top of a complex food chain.

Thanks to Silent Spring and efforts by biologist Thomas Cade and others, recent changes in peregrine falcon populations have ranged from small increases to essentially full recovery.

One of the first peregrine falcons to be released into the wild was named for Rachel Carson.

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( 12 ) Herbicide Danger Downwind

In the 2001 growing season, farmers in south-central Idaho suffered damage to their sugar beet and potato crops, after the sulfonylurea herbicide, sulfometuron methyl had been applied to an area near their fields.

The land had been scorched by wildfire in August 2000 and was treated with the herbicide in October 2000 to prevent cheat grass, an undesirable invasive, from growing on the burned out area. At the time of the application the weather had been very dry and soil was seen blowing from the site. Sulfometuron methyl was subsequently detected in the potato and sugar beet fields.

~ Twin Falls Idaho Times News, June 6, 2001

Thousands of acres of crops were damaged apparently by the drifting sulfometuron methyl with estimated losses to farmers as high as $1 billion.

~ Twin Falls Idaho Times News Online, June 27, 2001

In our #91 RCC News we reported that at 1/500th the application level, another sulfonylurea herbicide, chlorsulfuron, inhibited the reproduction of cherry trees. These troubling reports have prompted us to communicate our concerns to the EPA. Please contact RCC for details

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( 13 ) Intensive Farming's Shortfall

Intensive farming has damaged the environment, may cripple the world's ability to feed a growing population and is blamed by many for the spread of mad cow disease. This is according to a report published in January 2001 by the World Resources Institute and the Food Policy Research Institute: "Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems: Agroecosystems"

~ Reuters, 2/15/01

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( 14 ) Reduced Pesticides Accompanied by Reduced Health Risks

"Sweden launched a progressive risk reduction programme in 1986, and over 15 years has succeeded in cutting pesticide use by 68%. While this is short of its 75% target, the Swedish National Chemicals Inspectorate found a reduction in health risks of 77% over the same 15 years."

~ "Pesticides in Swedish Agriculture 1986-2000," Pesticides News 54, December 2001

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( 15 ) Lawn Pesticides Banned in Canada and Elsewhere

A ban on use of residential lawn care pesticides enacted by the town of Hudson, a local authority in Montreal, Canada, was challenged by two lawn care companies. The case went to the highest judicial authority. "In June 2001 the [Canadian Supreme] Court came to a unanimous decision to uphold the ban. Hudson is among 36 other Quebec towns who, along with Halifax, Nova Scotia, enacted similar bans for non-essential pesticide use."

"The restriction of non-essential use pesticide products for purposes such as lawn care treatments is being taken up by many other countries. Sweden is proposing to limit the use of chemical herbicides in gardens... the [Swedish National Chemicals] Inspectorate is concerned about the lack of knowledge surrounding water contamination from the increased use of domestic herbicides."

~ "Canada Supreme Court allows ban on lawn pesticides," Pesticides News 53, September 2001

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( 16 ) Precautionary Principle/Risk Assessment and Pesticides

Originating in Germany, the "precautionary principle" is a way of making decisions about recently developed technologies when there is limited information on ecological and health effects accompanying their use and there are grounds for concern. It is based on the concept that, when data is incomplete, universal protection from harm is virtually impossible to predict due to the natural variability of living organisms and the effects that could be generated when the biosphere and technology interact.

For instance, the effect of certain neurotoxic contaminants on a child's neurological development can have more to do with the timing of the exposure and the individual's metabolic capabilities than with the actual dosage amount. The medical adage "First do no harm" is a form of the precautionary principle.

Currently, the principle recommends that, in the face of scientific uncertainty, "...actions should be taken to prevent harm to the environment and to public health... The European Union's ban on American beef treated with hormones, for example, is based on the precautionary principle." ~ "Precautionary Principle" by Michael Pollan, The New York Times online, Dec. 9, 2001

Risk analysis, an alternative to the precautionary principle, is useful when precise measurements of the properties of man-made materials make possible predicting with confidence; for instance, the conditions under which a suspension bridge would give way. When based on limited data, the reliability of the risk analysis method in anticipating biological effects is less accurate.

To generate data that is sufficiently predictive could be costly, time consuming, and dangerous. "The problem [with a new technology in the marketplace] very often is that long before the science does come in, the harm has already been done." ~ "Precautionary Principle" by Michael Pollan, The New York Times online, Dec. 9, 2001

Our EPA performs risk assessments of new pesticides under two different standards, depending on whether the risk is to human health or to the environment. As an EPA spokesperson explained, the human health risks from pesticides "...must meet an absolute standard of reasonable certainty of no harm, while ecological risks must be balanced against the potential benefits derived from pesticide use." (see Wildlife, Pesticides, and People, Part 2)

In an example of a government using the precautionary approach to chemical pesticides, Denmark has instituted pesticide reduction policies and evaluated switching to organic agriculture. ~ Danish Ministry of Environment

Because it is an unfamiliar term, precautionary principle could be used by those who wish to enhance the "greenness" of their standards. The conditions under which it is used should be specified in order to avoid similar confusion to that which occurred with IPM as described in 'Cide Lines #2.

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( 17 ) Malaria Cases Reduced While Biological Mosquito Controls Used

Biological controls for reducing mosquito populations in Managua, Nicaragua, replaced the routine applications of chemical pesticides starting in 1996. "Malaria cases in Managua dropped from more than 19,000 in 1996 to 1,575 in 2000 while B.t.(i) and B.sphaericus were applied." The program was supported by the European Union and spearheaded by Nicaragua's Ministry of Health.

~ "Zapping mosquitoes with biopesticides," Pesticides News 54, December 2001

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( 18 ) Keeping Pesticides Out of Terrorists' Hands

Since September 11, Americans have contemplated pest control hazards Rachel Carson never foresaw: terrorists commandeering crop duster aircraft to rain down poison upon our earth and suicide bombers mixing pesticides into their explosives. ~ New York Times, Dec. 11, 2001

What she did warn of, however, is still true today: "...anyone may walk into a store and, without questions being asked, buy substances of...death-dealing power." ~ Silent Spring

The need to take action against our present shocking lack of restrictions on the purchase of even the most toxic pesticides has resulted in concern from an EPA official who is quoted as observing, "...we have an opportunity to create a safer system." ~ "Applicators are strongest and weakest link against terrorists," Pesticides and Toxic Chemical News, Dec. 17, 2001

While hoping that this long overdue federal action occurs soon, citizens can call for better pesticide security in local jurisdictions, now. Better training, more complete background checks in place for applicators, and steps to prevent unauthorized individuals from using pesticide spray equipment can be implemented on a state-wide level. Localities should also consider a ban on aerial pesticide applications over urbanized areas.

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Rachel Carson Council, Inc.
PO Box 10779, Silver Spring, Maryland 20914
Phone: (301) 593-7507
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February 4, 2002