Big Rise in "Registered" Pesticide Use in California--

Subject:    Big Rise in "Registered" Pesticide Use in California--
Date:      Fri, 05 May 2000 08:35:03 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

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

Dear Lyndon, The following article was sent to me by a friend , it can be found at:

http://www.mdadvice.com/news/2000/05/04/medic/5262-0004-pat_nytimes.html The article is entitled: Study Notes Big Rise In Pesticide Use In California - by Jane Kay, May 04, 2000 - San Francisco Examiner.

SAN FRANCISCO - Despite a nationwide trend toward curbing hazardous waste and industrial air emissions, the use of cancer-causing pesticides more than doubled in California in eight years, according to a study released Wednesday by the nonprofit Pesticide Action Network.

One-third of the 1.5 billion pounds of pesticides used in that time were acutely poisonous or chronically toxic, including carcinogens and nervous and reproductive system toxicants, according to ``Hooked on Poison: Pesticide Use in California, 1991-1998.''

`In an era of progress in protecting air and water from industrial emissions and cleaning up industrial hazardous waste sites, such skyrocketing trends in pesticide use contradict our nation's stated goal of reducing toxic emissions,'' said Susan Kegley, staff scientist for the San Francisco-based Pesticide Action Network and lead author of the study.

Soil fumigants metam sodium, the biocide that poisoned the Sacramento River in 1991 after a train derailed, and Telone, a replacement for metam sodium and methyl bromide, were the most popular carcinogens and reproductive toxicants, the study found.

One-quarter of all pesticides used in the United States are applied in California, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report on the pesticide industry's sales and usage. Nationwide, during the past decade, agricultural pesticides comprised 75 to 80 percent of the total use. The rest were used on buildings, roadsides and forests.

``Critics contend that California is going to use a lot of pesticides because it has a lot of land under cultivation,'' Kegley said. ``But the cultivated acreage in California represents only 2 to 3 percent of the total in the U.S., and we're using nearly a quarter of the pesticides.'' The reason is that the state grows pesticide-intensive crops like fruits, nuts and vegetables, she said.

While government officials often say applying pesticides in accordance with labels is adequate protection, the study said, ``In practice, restrictions are often far too complex to be enforceable and don't take into account the chronic effects of pesticides on human and environmental health.''

Additionally, the label requirements don't work to prevent drift of toxic chemicals into homes and schools, contamination of ground water or poisoning of farm workers, the study said.

Veda Federighi, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Pesticide Regulation, blamed the high use of cancer-causing pesticides on heavy rains. In 1998, the moisture brought diseases that needed to be cured with fungicide, she said. On the other hand, 1991 was a dry year, she added.

Nearly all of the major fungicides ``are probable human carcinogens'' and on the list of regulated chemicals under Proposition 65, an anti-toxins law, Federighi said. ``As regulators, we don't want to ban them. We want to get rid of the pollution from them,'' Federighi said.

Federighi praised the carrot, strawberry, lettuce, walnut, almond, grape and cotton growers, among others, for financing research to find alternatives to pesticides.

The Department of Pesticide Regulation and the University of California have spent millions in grant money on finding safer options to pesticides, Federighi said. (I do not consider another "registered" POISON to be an "alternative"!)

Karen Heisler, the EPA's liaison to California's pesticide program, praised the state's pesticide use reporting system that allowed the environmental group to do the analysis, calling it ``unique in the country'' and a comprehensive data set that can be used to ``identify and evaluate trends'' in pesticide use.

The federal Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 already has weeded out some dangerous chemicals and will phase out more, Heisler said. The EPA also has contributed grants to the state and growers for research on alternatives.

The study presented the following findings based on reports from growers and estimates on sales of pesticides to exterminators for use in buildings, roads and forests:

-- Pesticide use on crops jumped 60 percent between 1991 and 1998, from 14.4 > to 23 pounds per acre. The heaviest doses went on strawberries, dates, sweet potatoes, pears and lemons.

-- Reproductive toxicants rose by 43 percent between 1991 and 1995, from 25.8 million pounds to a high of 37 million pounds. From 1995 to 1998, use dropped by 16 percent to 31 million pounds. Soil fumigants again account for the growth.

-- The neurotoxins, including organophosphates and carbamates, started decreasing in 1995, down 26 percent from 17.5 million pounds to 13 million pounds in 1998. The study credits the EPA's scrutiny under the federal Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 and state programs to reduce insecticide runoff to surface waters. -----

Well Lyndon, your policy of only allowing "registered" POISONS to be used to "control" pests in California is really working!

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