Diazinon - Popular Bug Killer Poses Danger

Subject:    "Sound Science" Or "My Mind is Already Made Up - Don't Confuse Me With the facts--
Date:        Sun, 04 Jun 2000 12:04:16 -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, I thought you might like to read an article on another "registered" POISON located at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/html98/diaz02m_20000602.html - that came out Friday, June 2, 2000, 12:00 a.m. Pacific - entitled: EPA study says popular bug killer poses danger - by Hal Bernton - Seattle Times staff reporter.

Diazinon, a favorite bug killer of Northwest gardeners, poses significant risks to humans, birds and fish, according to a draft study released by the Environmental Protection Agency. For many home uses, it says, these risks are greater than the safety thresholds established by agency scientists.

The study is expected to be finalized later this year, and could prompt the EPA to restrict home use of diazinon.

Diazinon use is widespread in the Puget Sound region, where the chemical ranked as the top-selling insecticide according to a 1997 survey of major pesticide retailers. Homeowners sprinkle canisters of diazinon powders on gardens to combat cutworms. They spread granules on lawns to attack crane flies, and spray indoor baseboards, rug edges and other spots to kill fleas, ants and roaches.

The chemical, which kills insects by overwhelming their nervous systems, belongs to a class of 40 insecticides known as organophosphates that all have similar neurotoxic powers. Over the past half century, these chemicals have emerged as the dominant home, business and farm insecticides with annual sales exceeding $2 billion.

Manufacturers say these chemicals are vital to U.S. agriculture and home pest control, and have proved to be safe unless misused. (How would "they" know, "they" have never bothered to test the entire compound for all possible chronic/acute health effects.)

Company says EPA exaggerates - The major manufacturer of diazinon is the Greensboro, N.C.- based Novartis Crop Protection, a subsidiary of the Switzerland-based Novartis AG. Company officials say the EPA grossly overstates diazinon's risk, and they plan to submit new information to EPA in the weeks ahead as part of a formal response to the report. They expect the EPA's final report will result in a much lower overall risk assessment.

All of the organophosphates are under EPA scrutiny in a wide-ranging review triggered by 1996 congressional legislation intended to improve pesticide safety.

Heavy overexposure to organophosphates through inhalation or skin absorption can damage the human nervous system, and scientists are trying to determine whether low-level exposure through routine use can cause more subtle effects. (See previous e-mail on sheep dip exposure.) Last year, the EPA review resulted in new restrictions on the farm use of two organophosphates. Next Thursday, the agency is expected to ban most home uses of a third compound - chlorpyrifos - and release a final study documenting that chemical's safety risks.

Diazinon and chlorpyrifos (DursBAn and LorsBAN) are the two organophosphates most commonly used by homeowners. Though far weaker than some of the most toxic organophosphates employed in agriculture, their frequent home use creates more possibilities for direct contact with vulnerable young children.

The EPA's diazinon study involved toxicologists and epidemiologists analyzing human risks, and biologists, hydrologists and other specialists examining environmental risks. The draft study is now being circulated for public comment, and is expected to be finalized this fall. At that time, the agency may announce use restrictions, according to Ben Chambliss, an EPA official managing the diazinon review.

Company officials at Novartis say the chemical has been the subject of nearly 2,000 studies that have shown it to be a safe and effective product for indoor and outdoor use. (I thought it was against the federal law to say even the labeled use of any "registered" POISON was "safe"!)

Company officials say that the EPA uses an overly cautious approach to assessing risk rather than other internationally accepted methodology. The EPA methodology typically sets safe limits at 100 to 300 times below the levels that might effect the cholinesterase enzyme in blood plasma in laboratory animals. Even using that standard, the "potential for human exposure is very low," according to a statement released yesterday by Novartis.

Meanwhile, environmentalists are lobbying the EPA to ban home use of diazinon. "We think the study very clearly demonstrates unacceptable risk," said Todd Hettenbach of the Environmental Working Group, an organization based in Washington, D.C.

Diazinon is one of the oldest organophosphate insecticides, introduced in the United States in 1948, and is sold under many brand names including Spectracide, Ortho and Real-kill.

Due to its threat to birds, diazinon use in agriculture has been restricted. Only workers who receive special training in pesticide safety can apply the chemical.

Home use of diazinon requires no such training. Instead, home users are required by federal law to follow manufacturer's application instructions. (But, who bothers to check?)

Those instructions tell homeowners how to minimize the risks to birds. But even when precautions are taken, the label on a 10-pound bag of diazinon Spectracide warns that "birds feeding on treated areas may be killed." And the EPA draft study concludes that the label precautions have not been effective in ending the bird kills.

Fish also are very sensitive to diazinon. And the EPA study concludes that all registered uses of the chemical pose risks to freshwater and estuary life.

In the Puget Sound area, this aquatic life includes young salmon smolt protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The National Marine Fisheries Service is now finishing a study to see if diazinon could damage the salmon's ability to fend off predators, navigate back to spawning streams and reproduce.

Novartis officials say that the diazinon pollution in Puget Sound streams is of short duration and measures less than 1 part per billion. At those levels, it should not pose any problems for salmon, according to the company's press statement.

John Stein, a Seattle-based researcher at the National Marine Fisheries Service, said "there is reason to be concerned that diazinon could be having an effect on salmon." But he cautioned that the agency study is still undergoing professional review prior to publication.

King County officials, concerned about the environmental risks of diazinon, already are urging homeowners to find other ways to control pests. Their campaign was launched two years ago following reports of diazinon duck kills and diazinon stream runoff documented by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Annette Frahm, a King County hazardous-waste official, said many homeowners use diazinon to kill the turf-feeding larvae of crane flies. But she said that the larvae could also be controlled through fertilizers, soil aeration and other techniques. (Imagine that! Of course these safe and effective alternatives are not registered POISONS and would therefore be "illegal" to control California pests!)

Well Lyndon, the POISON "industry" always says that their "registered" POISONS are "safe" and that there is no "sound science" to prove otherwise. So, we, the people, must wait until "enough" birds, fish, pets and/or people sicken and/or die from exposure to your "registered" POISONS before you "regulators" finally begin to decide to "restrict" the use of these terrible toxins - even when there are safe and far more effective alternatives to actually control pest problems. As a scientist and IPM coordinator for the State, does any of this needless contamination and/or death bother you? When do you think you should begin to protect the people and our environment? Wouldn't it be prudent not to "register" these POISONS until you thoroughly test the entire compound? Why are safe and far more effective alternatives "illegal" in California?

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