E.P.A. Recommends Limits on Thousands of Uses of Pesticides

The Treasonous NY Times ^ | August 4, 2006 | MICHAEL JANOFSKY

[neverdem]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 — The Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that it was recommending new restrictions on thousands of uses of pesticides because of their adverse effects on public health.

“Whether planting crops, de-bugging a home, working in the garden or just sitting down at the dinner table, Americans can now be assured the pesticides used in the U.S. meet the highest health standards in the world,” Stephen L. Johnson, the agency administrator, said in a statement announcing the completion of a 10-year review, ordered by Congress, of pesticide chemicals.

The study, which focused on more than 230 chemicals known as organophosphates and carbamates, could lead to the elimination of 3,200 uses and the modification in use of 1,200 others, like chlorpyrifos, diazinon and methyl parathion, which have been long been controversial for their role in causing illnesses.

Environmental groups applauded the recommendation to cancel most uses of carbofuran, a common insecticide used on corn, rice, tobacco and other crops that has had particularly deadly effects on birds.

“Removal of this pesticide will save tens of thousands of birds, including bald eagles, hawks and migratory songbirds,” said George Fenwick, president of the American Bird Conservancy. “Carbofuran’s toxicity to wildlife made it one of America’s most harmful licensed products.”

Others complained that the agency had not gone far enough, especially in agricultural settings where children might be exposed at home. Margaret Reeves, a scientist with the Pesticide Action Network, an advocacy group, said the agency studied the effects of many agricultural pesticides in food and water but ignored them in residential settings.

Ms. Reeves also said the agency had done an inadequate job of measuring effects on brain development in fetuses, infants and young children, echoing a written complaint made public this week by leaders of a union of agency...

[The Red Zone]

Environmental groups applauded the recommendation to cancel most uses of carbofuran, a common insecticide used on corn, rice, tobacco and other crops that has had particularly deadly effects on birds.

Are corn, rice, tobacco fields filling with dead birds?

[DakotaRed]

Ordinarily, this would bother me, knowing how people tend to misuse products they buy.

However, seeing that Scotts Company, the fertilizer and lawn care company and pesticide manufacturer, decided it was in the best interest of their employees health to mandate no one working for them may smoke tobacco at any time, even after work hours, away from the Scotts company campus, maybe a look into the health effects of the public use of their products might be in order.

If they are really so concerned about public health, shouldn't they start at home and maybe place warnings on their legal products, as well as pay outrageous taxes to cover the ill effects society might suffer from using them?

I was taught turnabout was always fair play.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

Are the cost / benefit analysis related to all of these studies?

Realistically nearly all poisons will have a unintended detrimental effects. Otherwise it wouldn't be poison.

The real question is whether the economic costs of the negatives outwiegh the costs of a cessation of use or the cost of employing (and sometimes developing) an alternative.

The other trick is to actually place a value on nature, which is not terribly easy and quite subjective.

[bruinbirdman]

" an inadequate job of measuring effects on brain development in fetuses, infants and young children, "

Yeah ! ! Where are those tests on babies and little kids? Line em up and stuff it into em in megadoses and let's see what happens.

yitbos

[bruinbirdman]

"The real question is whether the economic costs of the negatives outwiegh the costs of a cessation of use "

As in saving some pelican at the expense of 1,000,000+ dead people every year from malaria?

yitbos

[The Red Zone]

I am curious if the reason DDT harmed birds was that it killed off most of the bugs they used to eat.

[freekitty]

What bs artists these people are. Why don't we put them on an island somewhere with nothing but preditors of all varities and see how they do. They know they are killing more and more of the population by restriction but hey isn't that their agenda. I also understand that way too friendly face on the Ford TV commercial, Bill Ford, who advertises the hybrid car is big time zero population. In other words, he wants to get rid of you and your future generations because he is a god and thinks just that he has a few bucks he can dictate. I can't stand these people.

[backhoe]

West Nile Virus- Bring Back DDT?

[MaDeuce]

Once again the Enviro Nazis have killed off some very effective stuff. I have used Diazinon for years to keep the bugs out of the house and out of my wood piles.
Now Diazinon is banned and me and my neighbors have had one of the worst ant infestations this summer in years because the "new and improved" crap from Ortho or who ever, SUCKS!!! All the new "bug killer" stuff is junk. Hopfully we can smuggle in some good stuff from Mexico before next ant season.

[sergeantdave]

We routinely wrote scare stories about the hazards of chemicals, employing words like “cancer,” and “birth defects” to splash a little cold water in reporters' faces... Our press reports were more or less true... Few handouts, however, can be completely honest, and ours were no exception... We were out to whip the public into a frenzy about the environment.

- Jim Sibbison, former Environmental Protection Agency press officer

[ClaireSolt]

What are the health dangers of having unrestrained bird poop everywhere?

[GladesGuru]

"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind" - and being deposited on decks, marine markers, bouys, docks, and everywhere else where those of G*D's critters known to sailors as 'sh*tbirds' live.

Fortunately, our urban Libroid friends have the multitudinous blessings of pigeons, starlings and sparrows. After all, sailors can't be allowed to have all the fun, can they.

Bring back DDT ! ! ! ! !

And, let's give the coastal dwellers a break and bring back bounties on seals.

[bert]

I agree. Scott's is poisioing the world one lawn at a time. By eliminating sod webworms they kill everything.

Clover is ok..... it is not a weed.

[MaDeuce]

"What are the health dangers of having unrestrained bird poop everywhere?"

It can't be good, thats all I can tell ya. Play a round of golf and your shoes are covered with those miserable Canada Goose crap. Almost makes you want to toss the shoes away.

Once again with the EPA rulings, you'll see smaller crop yields, higher prices on the market, and lower quality of foods that do make it to the market.

The EPA themselves are a terrorist organization within this country and should be dealt with as such.

[ClaireSolt]

I agree.

[neverdem]

What are the health dangers of having unrestrained bird poop everywhere?

HEALTH HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH BIRD AND BAT DROPPINGS

IMHO, mainly Histoplasmosis & Cryptococcosis

[neverdem]

Stung Lung: Volatile Chemical May Cut Respiratory Capacity

DRUG HELPS RESTORE SIGHT: Relief for wet macular degeneration (miracle alert!)

Drug approved to combat elderly blindness

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[mysterio]

I am curious if the reason DDT harmed birds was that it killed off most of the bugs they used to eat.

No. Birds consumed the bugs carrying low levels of the DDT. The DDT built up in the birds bodies. DDT messed up the ability of the birds to produce eggs with hard shells. The birds began producing soft shelled eggs which were inadequate to protect the developing baby birds. Several birds of prey almost went extinct, as they eat other birds which ate DDT carrying bugs.

If I remember correctly, DDT was also showing up in human breast milk.

It's hard to weigh the benefits of banning DDT. The bird populations have almost completely recovered, but there is a greater risk of malaria.

[COEXERJ145]

The ghost of Rachel Carson is still haunting the world.