Government Officials call Pyrethroids "Safe".  Sound Science Says Otherwise

 

Subject:   Sound Science----
Date:         Tue, 15 Aug 2000 06:29:57 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might find this interesting.

 "Our first concern is public health protection, but based on what we know, we’re not seeing any human health issues in any of this class of synthetic pyrethroids." - Stephen L. Johnson, Environmental Protection Agency. (NY Times, July 26, 2000)

"City Commissioner Neal Cohen said there were no public health risks posed by the pesticides." (NY Post, July 27, 2000).

Breast Cancer and Pesticides: The Facts

The EPA has stated that no pesticide can be considered "safe" and Federal Law specifically prohibits manufacturers of pesticides from labeling their products as "safe, non-poisonous, non-injurious,harmless, or non-toxic" even when accompanied by a qualifying phrase such as "when used as directed"  (see 40 C.F.R. 162.10 (a) (5) (ix).

Both of the pesticides being used in the Tri-State area are scheduled for reassessment  by the EPA for their endocrine disruption and cancer causing potential…in 2002.

1.     Anvil© and Scourge©, the pesticides being used to combat West NileVirus, are from a class of pesticides known as synthetic pyrethroids.  Synthetic pyrethroids contain man-made, or "xeno" estrogens. These chemicals disrupt the body's normal endocrine system function and can increase the amounts of estrogen in the body.

" Many pesticides possess hormonal activity and thus have been classified as endocrine disruptors. Pyrethroids are commonly used insecticides worldwide, but little has been done to characterize their hormone agonist/antagonist potential. We tested four frequently encountered pyrethroids, fenvalerate, sumithrin, d-trans allethrin, and permithrin, for estrogen and progesterone agonist/antagonist activities......Fenvalerate and sumithrin demonstrated significant estrogenicity....."

- "Estrogenic and antiprohestagenic activities of pyrethroid insecticides" Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1998 Oct 29; 251 (3): 855-9

2.     Estrogen has been shown to increase cell reproduction. Sumithrin, the active ingredient in Anvil, has been shown to increase levels of estrogen in breast cancer cells.

"Estrogens, whether natural or synthetic, clearly influence reproductive development, senescence, and carcinogenesis. Pyrethroid insecticides are now the most widely used agents for indoor pest control, providing potential for human exposure. Using the MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cell line, we studied the estrogenic potential of several synthetic pyrethroid compounds in vitro using pS2 mRNA levels as the end point. We tested sumithrin, fenvalerate, d-trans allethrin, and permithrin.  Nanomolar concentrations of either sumithrin or fenvalerate were sufficient to increase pS2 expression to slightly above basal levels. At micromolar concentrations, these two pyrethroid compounds induced pS2 expression to levels comparable to those elicited by 10nM 17ß-estradiol (fivefold). The estrogenic activity of sumithrin was abolished with a co-treatment with an antiestrogen (ICI 164,384)......These findings suggest that pyrethroids should be considered to be hormone disruptors, and their potential to affect endocrine function in humans and wildlife should be investigated."

- "Estrogenic Potential of Certain Pyrethroid Compounds in the MCF-7 Human Breast Carcinoma Cell Line," Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 107, Number 3, March 1999.

3.     Increased estrogen in breast tissue can increase tumor growth.

"Many breast tumors are estrogen dependent, and some breast tumor cell lines are known to produce TGF-alpha, suggesting that the mitogenic pathways controlling early normal mammary growth and the growth of some breast tumors may be similar..... Since increased cell division enhances the chances for the formation of a malignant phenotype in the breast, exogenous [artificial] hormones containing estrogen alone or estrogen and progesterone may increase breast cancer risk. While DES is no longer prescribed to prevent abortions, it demonstrates that high doses of an estrogen during a period of mammary proliferation can affect breast cancer risk."

- "Hormonal and Environmental Factors Affecting Cell Proliferation and Neoplasia in the Mammary Gland." Progress in Clinical & Biological Research" 394:211-53, 1996.

4.     Sumithrin is not the only problem. Many pesticides (including Anvil and Scourge) use a synergist (piperonyl butoxide) to increase effectiveness; the combination can be much more toxic than the active ingredient alone, and piperonyl butoxide itself is being evaluated for its carcinogenic potential by the EPA.

"Since the technical (chemically pure) grade of a pyrethroid is usually formulated (mixed with carriers, solvents, etc.) for use in commercial pest control, the toxicity of these other ingredients must be taken into consideration when assessing the toxicity of a formulated product. For example, fenvalerate is much less toxic to mice than the formulated product, Pydrin. A ten-fold difference in toxicity between formulations with the same active ingredient, but with different carriers, can be seen in some cases."

- Toxicology and Environmental Fate of Synthetic Pyrethroids. Doria Mueller-Beilschmidt. Journal of Pesticide Reform, Volume 10, Number 3, Fall 1990. Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, Eugene, OR.

5.     There is little evidence to support the claim that the pesticide spray is effective against mosquitoes.

"Mr. Guiliani and Dr. Cohen said they were confident the environmentalists fears were unjustified. The spraying, Dr. Cohen said, will kill about 90% of the mosquitoes present." (NY Times, July 25, 2000)

According to one of the nation's foremost experts on pesticide spraying, only a minuscule amount of the pesticide spray actually gets to the target organism.

"Even under ideal conditions, only about 25% of the pesticide actually reaches the target organism" said Dr. David Pimentel of Cornell University.  "In the case of New York's spraying, I would estimate that it's less than one tenth of one percent. Ninety-nine point nine percent goes off into the environment where it can have detrimental effects on public health and ecosystems."

In the 1980s, Dr. Pimentel was asked to prepare an assessment for several US cities regarding the efficacy of spraying to control mosquitoes carrying Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and found no difference in the number of cases of EEE before and after pesticide applications.

"I doubt seriously  if [NY health officials] could actually measure any difference in the mosquito population before and after the spraying" he said.

(David Pimentel, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY 14850. Tel. (607) 255-2212).

Well Mr. Helliker,  I would like to add that over 15 years ago my research on Sanibel Island in Florida determined that there were more female mosquitoes two days after your "registered" POISONS were sprayed than there were two days before they were sprayed.  Not only are your "registered" POISONS dangerous, they are also not as effective as many safe but unregistered alternatives.  When will it be "legal" for licensed and trained Pest control Operators to use unregistered alternatives to actually control pest problems in California?

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