Insidious poisons aimed at females
To the editor:

  This letter is in response to the "Viewpoint" column by Ms. Lori Oneal on March 25, 2000, "Spring Is Here; So Is Poison In The Air" published, in The South Whidbey Record.

  I am writing as a medical doctor, a beekeeper and a biodynamic/organic gardener who is highly critical of the outdated, short-sighted, toxic chemical approach to weed & pest control which involves unnesessary spraying of poison into our environment.

  We in the scientific community as well as those in the chemical manufacturing community recognize the error of this way quite clearly.  We see all too well the poisoning of our earth.  Reflect for a moment on our human track record - Love Canal, nuclear spills, reports of six-legged frogs, skyrocketing rates of cancers, global warming and closer to home, your own second thoughts about eating Northwest salmon fished from polluted waters.

  I enjoy sushi.  In days past, the saying of my grace before my raw fish was aimed at protecting me from seaborn parasites.  Now I am more concerned about the mercury exposure in the fish.

  Here on Whidbey, let's look inland away from our polluted waters to our polluted back yards,  Exposure at varying degrees of herbicides and pesticides can insidiously poison/injure the human immune system resulting in gradual but irreversible damage to multiple organs of the body.

  Inhalation from spray drift, skin absorption or ingestion can lead to environmental disease, irreversible ecological damage and even death.  The elderly are quite vulnerable.

  However, consider this little appreciated fact:  Most pesticides are designed to kill FEMALE bugs.  Think about it.  The male insect doesn't amount to much but the female insect is immortal.  Pest control, after all, is essentially female bug control.  These sprays are often pseudoestrogens (chemical that partially mimic female hormones) are half-truths or near-misses which kill by infiltrating the female bugs reproductive biochemistry far enough to be toxic before gumming up the works.

Pseudoestrogens also share significant blame for the epidemic of femal cancers.  Your daughters are the most vulnerable to these toxic sprays. That is why my wonderful wife feeds our four young daughters only organic food.  (As a medical doctor, I know that organic food is worth the extra cost.  Hurrah for the Pay-Less in Freeland leading the way in offering organic produce on the Island!)

  For those who like to minimize this concern about roadside sprays, let's consider glyphosate, which is found in Rodeo/Roundup and is being sprayed on our roads, neighborhoods, parks and beaches this spring.    Did you know that Washington State Department of Agriculture applied 775 gallons of glyphosate to Puget Sound in 1999 for the eradication of the Spartina Weed?

  Yup.  Whidbey got its fair share, and glyphosate has been linked to non-Hodgkins lymphoma, the fastest growing cancer in this country and the world (published in American Cancer Society journals 1999).  Usage of this chemical in Puget Sound may be a contributing factor to the decrease in our whale and salmon population.

  In my medical opinion, usage of these chemicals or any other herbicide or pesticide, poses an inexcusable risk to injury, irreversible disease as well as constituting an irresponsible threat to the health of our future generations.  The reason this nonsensical spraying continues is simply due to human apathy and human laziness to appreciate the facts before our noses.

There is NO LONGER any scientific debate about the toxic effect of roadside spraying.  All that stands before us now is the challenge to act responsibly.

Isn't Whidbey too nice an island to intoxicate further?

       BRADFORD S. WEEKS, M.D.

       Clinton, Wa.

(above submitted by Don Paladin)

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