Healing Our World Commentary: Your Neighbors - Unwilling Victims of Pesticide Misuse

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

Your Neighbors - Unwilling Victims of Pesticide Misuse

Enough about science and art,
Close up these barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
-- William Wordsworth

Each day, millions of tons of pesticides are applied to crops, freeway medians, homes and lawns nationwide. Until now, neither private individuals nor companies have been required to notify people surrounding the application site. Finally, the stage has been set for that to change with New York State's new law.

New York has passed one of the nation's strongest laws which, beginning March 1, 2001, allows counties in the state to choose to require all companies, schools and private individuals to give 48 hour written notification of any pesticide use to property owners within 150 feet of the planned application. New York Governor George Pataki said that "Every neighbor will now know to take in the wash, close the windows, and not have the kids roll around in the yard."

Worker spraying trees and shrubs - and the neighbors (Photo courtesy Long Island Neighborhood Network)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 50 million people in the United States drink water from groundwater that is potentially contaminated by pesticides and other agricultural chemicals. A 1995 survey of 76 jars of baby food from grocery stores around the country found 16 pesticides in eight brand-name products.

With this constant onslaught of chemicals challenging our immune systems and making us more susceptible to disease, the added toxic load from airborne pesticide applications is extremely dangerous.

The National Home and Garden Pesticide Use Survey conducted by the EPA in 1992 found that 82 percent of U.S. households used an average of three to four different pesticide products. Sixty-six percent of households treated the primary living space one or more times in a year while thirty-seven percent of the households surveyed reported having insecticide treatments when there was no real insect problem.

Research over the last 20 years clearly shows that pesticides cause cancer, sterility, birth defects, and neurological disorders.

Casual pesticide use is rampant all over the U.S. In Seattle, Washington, known for its beautiful forests and waterways, residents use large amounts of pesticides regularly to kill many insects and to control invasive plants.

A gas masked worker pours pesticide into a mechanical sprayer (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Unsuspecting neighbors would never know that a rain of poison from a neighbor spraying a wasp nest could have caused their illness. The New York law would require users of products such as that to notify their neighbors first.

Some groundskeeping crews in the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation use the toxic wasp killing poison as well in city parks, even though it has recently been added to the city's list of banned products. A couple of months ago, while I was managing Discovery Park, the city's largest park, one of the Department's Crew Chiefs told me that even though the city had banned the product, she had recently bought a large quantity and intended to have her crews continue to use it.

Large amounts of pesticides are applied to the city's golf courses as well. And even though pesticides are supposedly forbidden in Discovery Park, crews admitted to using them for invasive plant control and I was continually pressured to use them. I refused.

It is believed that 75 percent of American households use some kind of pesticide. There are more than 20,000 different household pesticide products containing over 300 active ingredients and 1,700 inert ingredients, the effects of which are mostly undocumented. The advertising campaigns of the chemical manufacturers are so slick and effective that it is easy to forget that these are toxic pesticides and herbicides. Think for a moment about all the sources of pesticides and herbicides in the average home or apartment dweller's life:

• Flea and tick sprays, powders, shampoos and collars for pets
• Hanging pest strips
• Ant sprays and powders
• Wasp killers
• Cockroach sprays and powders
• Head lice treatments
• Snail killers
• Rodent killers
• Bug "bombs" and "foggers"
• Lawn treatments
• Weed killers
• Mildew removers
• Termite control

Children are particularly susceptible to the dangers of these pesticides. Since they spend so much time on carpets, on the ground and around pets, children are more likely to come into contact with higher concentrations of pesticides than adults. Since their bodies are growing fast, they absorb toxins into their system faster than adults.

Although approved for use in the home, we must not consider these products without hazard. But if you choose to use them and accept the risk, that is your right. However, none of us has the right to subject our neighbors and wildlife to health risks from our choices to kill insects, weeds or fumigate our home.

Don't wait for the New York law to be copied by your state's government. Before you use any pesticide or herbicide, do the right thing and notify your neighbors. Or better yet, don't use them at all and explore the many alternatives to these deadly poisons. Your children's lives - and your own - may depend on it.

RESOURCES

1. Check out a comprehensive report on the dangers of household pesticide products at http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1995/103-6/focus.html

2. See a very comprehensive collection of pesticide links at http://users.lanminds.com/~wilworks/ehnlinx/pestcide.htm

3. When a pesticide is applied, much of it becomes airborne. Learn about pesticide drift at http://entweb.clemson.edu/pesticid/saftyed/drift.htm

4. A comprehensive list of alternatives to pesticides for virtually every pest problem you might have can be found at the Pesticide Action Network at http://www.igc.org/panna/resources/advisor.html#home. They have more information about alternatives at http://www.igc.org/panna/resources/alternatives.html

5. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Demand that they enact legislation like the New York law in your state. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by state at http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html. You can also find your representatives at http://congress.nw.dc.us/innovate/index.html

[Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle. He can be found hiking around the city, looking over his shoulder for clouds of pesticides and afraid to touch any plants or walk on the grass. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his web site at http://www.healingourworld.com]