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Government again proposing to spray Btk pesticides on citizens.
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Inert Ingredients
All B.t. products contain ingredients other than B.t.. These are identified only as "inert" ingredients and are called trade secrets by the manufacturers of the products. The "inert" ingredients are potentially the most toxic components of the formulations. For example, during the 1992 Asian gypsy moth spray program in Oregon, a woman who was exposed to Foray 48B had a preexisting allergy to a carbohydrate that was present as an inert ingredient. Within 45 minutes of exposure, the woman suffered from joint pain and neurological symptoms.
Because "inerts" are called trade secrets, there is little public information about their identity, but the information that is available indicates they could cause health problems. Foray 48B has contained sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, methyl paraben, and potassium phosphate, as "inerts." While these ingredients make up less than 10 percent of Foray 48B, they pose hazards. Sodium hydroxide, more commonly known as lye, causes "severe corrosive damage to the eyes, skin, mucous membranes and digestive system .... Breathing sodium hydroxide dust or mist leads in mild cases to irritation of the mucous membranes of the nose ... and in severe cases to damage of the upper respiratory tract." Sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid are both corrosive. Sulfuric acid can cause severe deep skin burns and permanent loss of vision. When inhaled as a mist, sulfuric acid may cause severe bronchial constriction, and bronchitis. Phosphoric acid is an irritant to skin and mucous membranes, and its vapors may cause coughing and throat irritation. Both methyl paraben and potassium phosphate were once registered by EPA as pesticide active ingredients.
Sodium sulfite has been identified as an inert ingredient of the B.t.k. formulation Dipel 8AF. Up to ten per cent of asthmatics (about one million people in the United States) may react to sulfites, particularly those people who are treated with steroids. Symptoms of exposure in those sensitive to sulfites usually involve the respiratory system, and can also include nausea, diarrhea, lowered blood pressure, hives, shock, and loss of consciousness.
(See: references and full article)
Steve.
Where are you on gypsy moth control? Is there a natural predator situation that can be used? Is Bt that bad? I think with Bt we are getting close to borates as far as toxicity potential to people. The problem may be more aerial than Bt. If plans spray Bt then Bt gets into the general environment. Is a compromise ground or backpack spraying which is more expensive?
Bob Simon
Steve's Respone - His book "The Best Control"
Hi Stephen Tvedten..
I read your letter to Lyndon Hawkins on the group 'The No-Spray Zone' which has come together concerned about the health and environmental effects of spraying Btk...
Our group plus many others in British Columbia have been fighting the same battle... I was wondering if you could pass on the following web sites to them... We have gathered quite a lot of information on Btk that may be helpful to them...
http://www.cow-net.com/unicaOur government is also aware that eradication does not work but is feeling the pressure from Washington to continue this pesticide assault...
Please let me know if you can do this...
Many thanks
MaureenLETTER TO KING-TV's ANN STADLER - 10/19/78
I am in possesion of a letter to Ann dated 10/19/78 from the Washington
Forest Protection Association touting a report prepared by the Council for
Agricultural Science and Technology. This
report - "The Phenoxy Herbicides", requested by Congressman Tom Foley;
extols the virtues of 2,4,5-T (DDT). Included
in this notebook are "scientific" studies that conclude that:
". . .the data permit the conclusion that there is no evidence to implicate 2,4,5-T as a causal factor in human birth defects."
We now know we were misled on this pesticide issue and all the regulatory
agencies that were supposed to protect the public health didn't.
22 years later, the Washington State Department of Agriculture makes the
following statement concerning their proposed 2000 Gypsy Moth Eradication
Project:
". . .the data permit the conclusion that there is no evidence to
implicate Foray 48B as a causal factor in human birth defects."
I know we are being misled on this pesticide issue and all the regulatory
agencies that are supposed to protect the public health are not protecting.
The scientific conclusions the WSDA is making in the proposed Ballard /
Magnolia pesticide spraying are based on the same 'science' as was applied to
DDT. Our regulatory agencies are just as (un)helpful as they were
22 years ago.
This poisoning of America keeps on happening over and over and over
again. Why?
Because it's not a story until people die. This is insanity.
Ben Schoeter
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