Dear Lyndon, I thought you might be interested in an
e-mail I just received from Joyce Shepard. The reclassification of malathion
has been going on since 1986. I think we have to start putting on more
pressure. The article that follows is from
the Monday, February 2, 1998, issue of the Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Florida.
Urban application of malathion questionable - JAN
HOLLINGSWORTH
TAMPA - New health concerns and more stringent
federal rules jeopardize the future use of malathion in urban areas.
Agriculture officials didn't require an act of Congress to declare aerial war
on the Mediterranean fruit fly last summer. But they did need a special
federal permit to spray 31,000 gallons of malathion over 400 square miles of
urban landscape. That permit was already in place. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has renewed it every three years for two decades. In
November 1997, it expired. Whether
malathion will return to the fly fighters' arsenal for future wars is
uncertain in the face of mounting public opposition, new health concerns and
more stringent pesticide regulations. "It's not a foregone conclusion
that this [permit] will be reissued by any means," said James Jones,
director of EPA's registration division.
Among the major stumbling blocks:
-
After years of internal debate, the agency may be
poised to classify malathion as a possible cancer-causing agent.
-
A new law requires EPA to consider the risk of
malathion in combination with exposure to other pesticides in the same
chemical family.
-
Malathion is part of a chemical class that has been
identified by the agency as one of the riskiest classes of
chemicals," said Steve Johnson, an EPA pesticide administrator.
The pesticide is used on more than 140 food crops. EPA
moved to revoke its use on some 50 of those crops in July, saying research
does not support application in those cases. Malathion's manufacturer,
Cheminova, has appealed most of the proposed revocations. The pesticide's
status as a possible cancer-causing agent - long the subject of EPA scrutiny -
may be resolved in the coming weeks, said Jones. A 1978 study by the National
Cancer Institute that indicated the pesticide produced tumors in laboratory
mice was deemed flawed and inconclusive. But two subsequent studies under
agency review also showed malathion produced "significant" tumors in
mice, according to EPA memos. The pesticide and its chemical cousins - used in
homes and schools and on lawns and food crops - act on the central nervous
system. The 1996 Food Quality Protection Act requires the EPA to consider the
cumulative effect of exposure from all these sources. "It's a significant
change in the way the agency has been doing business," Johnson said. Last
summer's Medfly eradication campaign, which blanketed most of Hillsborough and
portions of Polk, Orange, Manatee and Sarasota counties with malathion, was
based on a 1991 risk assessment that took into account only the estimated 2.8
ounces per acre dispensed by fly fighters' helicopters and DC-3s.
Even so, the California health officials who prepared the
risk assessment recommended "that the aerial application of malathion
bait in urban areas to eradicate agricultural pests be reconsidered."
Because malathion is not approved for this use, agriculture officials relied
on a 25-year-old law that allows the EPA to grant emergency permits to control
pests that present a threat to public health, the environment or - in the case
of the Medfly - the economy. "No one ever envisioned that this [permit]
would be used to spray pesticides over residential areas as justification for
protecting an agricultural crop," said Jay Feldman of the National
Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides. Nor was continuous renewal of
emergency permits supposed to serve as a loophole for the indefinite use of a
pesticide in a manner for which it has not been approved, he said. "The
whole point of not allowing more than three years is that the permitting
process is not the equivalent of a regulatory review of human health and
safety issues," said Feldman.
In December, EPA officials asked the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to withdraw its application to renew the emergency permit,
suggesting the Medfly program relied too heavily on chemical remedies.
"My staff and I are ready to work with you to ensure that any new request
can be developed in a manner that is consistent with EPA's legal obligation to
protect the public and the environment from unreasonable adverse effects posed
by pesticides," wrote Jones in a Dec. 18 letter to agriculture officials.
Malathion opponents have inundated both agencies with
requests that nontoxic alternatives - such as the release of sterile Medflies
- replace malathion as the agriculture department's weapon of choice.
"The permit is not supposed to be granted if feasible alternatives are
available and we believe sterile release is a feasible alternative," said
Susan McMillan, a member of a Sarasota-based opposition group. Agriculture
officials say sterile flies alone do not deliver the swift knockout punch
needed to protect agricultural interests. "Malathion is the one tool that
will kill 100 percent of the Medflies," said Teung Chin, who is preparing
the agriculture department's application to renew the permit. Nonetheless, the
agency expects to submit a significantly revised emergency permit renewal
request in March. "We are aggressively looking to fine-tune it,"
said Chin.
In 1997, Tampa Bay area residents lived with swarms of
planes and helicopters overhead spraying malathion to kill Mediterranean fruit
flies in a battle to save citrus and other susceptible crops. Controversy
arose and the spray program's future is now uncertain.
A Timeline:
-
May 28, 1997. A Medfly is trapped in a Seminole
Heights kumquat tree.
-
June 5. Aerial spraying begins in Hillsborough County
and eventually spreads to Polk and Orange counties. Later applications in
Manatee and Sarasota counties are limited to ground spraying.
-
June 26. High levels of malathion are detected in
Hillsborough waters.
-
July 11. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
tightens spray restrictions around bodies of water.
-
July 14. Malathion is detected in Tampa's drinking
reservoir.
-
Sept. 26. Aerial spraying ends in Polk County.
-
Nov. 10. The U.S. Department of Agriculture applies
to renew its emergency Medfly permit.
-
Nov. 30. The emergency Medfly permit expires.
-
Dec. 18. The EPA asks the Agriculture Department to
withdraw its application to renew the permit.
AI: Jan Hollingsworth reports on environmental issues.
She can be reached at (813) 259-7607. IT: (C) A DC-3 sprays malathion during a
Medfly campaign in June involving Hillsborough, Polk and Orange counties.
Well Lyndon, the data that proves your "registered" POISONS are not
truly registered or worth the RISK - keeps on coming - when will it be
"legal" (in your opinion) to use safe and far more effective
alternatives to control pest problems in California?
Respectfully, Stephen
L. Tvedten
