Pesticides in your home that could make you sick.

...chlordane. It’s a chemical that could cause health problems. Even though chlordane was pulled from the market in 1988, it’s still lurking in millions of homes...   

Before you buy a house, experts say ask whether the house was built before 1988 and whether it was treated for termites between 1950 and 1988.

[ More About Chlordane ] * [ More about pesticides in the home ]

[ Pesticide Poisoning and Kids ] * [ Symptoms of Pesticide Poisoning ]
[ MEMORIAL TO VICTIMS ]

Subject:   More of your "Registered" POISONS in the News-----
Date:        Thu, 10 Feb 2000 10:20:34 -0500
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
          Integrated Pest Management

Lyndon, I thought you might like to read an article that appeared on News 10 a Philadelphia, PA. NBC television station:

Pesticides in your home that could make you sick.

PHILADELPHIA Feb. 8 — A News 10 Consumer Alert about something called chlordane. It’s a chemical that could cause health problems. Even though chlordane was pulled from the market in 1988, it’s still lurking in millions of homes. News 10’s Tracy Davidson has details.

"WE GOT SICK right away," said Anne MacLeod. "I didn't understand at first what it was."

Now, MacLeod blames the pesticide chlordane for her family's health problems, which began soon after she started renting a house in Medford Lakes, New Jersey. "Patrick has experienced toxic brain injury," MacLeod said. "Katie was diagnosed when she was eight with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. My husband had stage 2 metastasized thyroid cancer. Jeffrey has a growth on his eardrum."

The house was treated with chlordane to fight termites. MacLeod says it was misapplied the week before her family moved in. "It leaked through the walls, through the cinder block walls, and into the basement," she said. Tests showed levels of chlordane inside the house were 15 to 20 times higher than what the government considers safe.

Dr. Michael Gochfeld is one of the nation’s leading environmental health doctors and he’s treating 15-year old Patrick MacLeod for what he calls Toxic Brain Syndrome.

"We’ve got really good evidence in Patrick’s case of the high levels of exposure to chlordane and heptachlor, which were misapplied into the house which Ms. MacLeod and her husband moved in the middle of her pregnancy," Gochfeld said.

Patrick suffers from severe learning disabilities and developmental problems.

"I would like to be in the same classes with my friends," he said.

In 1988, the Environmental Protection Agency released a risk report on chlordane. It links the pesticide to several health problems including depression and neurological disorders. There are also links to infertility in mice.

The most serious risk: The EPA says there’s evidence that chlordane causes liver cancer in mice and that it’s a "probable human carcinogen."

In 1987, Velsicol, the manufacturer of chlordane, made an agreement with the EPA to voluntarily pull the pesticide off the market. But the company denies it causes cancer.

So what do you do if you’re worried about possible contamination?

You can check the levels in your home with a testing kit.

"Eighty percent of the samples that I’ve received are above that risk assessment value established by the United States EPA," MacLeod said.

She believes everyone with a home built between 1950 and 1988 should test. MacLeod says she’s speaking out now because she wants other victims of pesticide exposure to know they’re not alone.

"This is such a concern, it’s an everyday thing," MacLeod said. "There are a lot of families sitting out there isolated like us."

Before you buy a house, experts say ask whether the house was built before 1988 and whether it was treated for termites between 1950 and 1988.

If your house does have unsafe levels of chlordane, there are ways of removing it but it may be expensive.

Lyndon, I remember the Velsicol ads that said this "registered" carcinogen was so "safe" you did not need to use gloves or a respirator to apply it. My son, my uncle and many friends died. I almost died. I remember when other "regulators" told me to apply this "registered" crap at the maximum label directions and to "treat" every home that had any sign of infestation (active or inactive - even if it had been previously "treated") because the "regulators would feel "safer"! When I refused I became the only PCO to be indicted for not using enough of this "registered" POISON that still is KILLING people! By the way there is no way to completely remove this "registered" POISON from a contaminated home. Sleep well tonight Lyndon, your "registered" POISONS are STILL "protecting" America!

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten.

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