Banned pesticides found in
dead birds
Some birds initially suspected of carrying West Nile virus
in Connecticut are laced with insecticides and DDT byproducts, a pesticide the
federal government banned about 30 years ago.
Whether or not the level of DDT or
diazinon, a common
pesticide used to protect lawns from insect infestation, killed them remains to
be seen.
[ Warning
Signs of Danger ]
Subject: What is Actually Killing the Birds. West Nile Virus and/or Your "Registered" POISONS
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 08:08:45 -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 like to read an article entitled: Banned pesticides found in
dead birds . It came out Monday,
September 18, 2000, By MARIAN GAIL BROWN.
MariAn.Brown@Thomnews.com
Some birds initially suspected of carrying West Nile virus
in Connecticut are laced with insecticides and DDT byproducts, a pesticide the
federal government banned about 30 years ago.
Whether or not the level of DDT or diazinon, a common
pesticide used to protect lawns from insect infestation, killed them remains to
be seen.
"We are finding pesticides in these birds that were
applied 30 and 40 years ago. They stay in the ground for decades," said
John Anderson, director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
Initial research by Anderson and his colleagues, Walter
Krol and Mary Jane Mattina, both analytical chemists, show high concentrations
of the banned and licensed pesticides.
"They have significant pesticides in their
systems," Anderson said.
The birds, most of which are not crows, were submitted by
health directors in lower Fairfield County anxious to see whether the West Nile
virus killed them.
"I'm surprised at the variety and quantity of the
pesticides we are finding. None of
the birds had any signs of resmethrin, [sumethrin or malathion] in its system.
Right now, this research is a sideline of ours," Anderson said. "We
still have so many, many birds to test [for West Nile] that it may be a while
before we can concentrate on what else may be killing birds."
So far, 6,949 dead birds have been reported throughout
Connecticut since the state asked the public to report them. Only a fraction of
those birds ultimately were suitable for testing. Altogether, 279 were infected
by and ultimately died from West Nile fever.
"Those are the number of avian deaths that people have
reported so far," Greenwich Health Director Caroline Baisely said. "In
the backcountry part of Greenwich, where people have 5 acres of property or
more, who knows how many of these birds are out there. Perhaps these dead birds
are just the tip of something much bigger killing birds. We really don't
know."
In conference calls between state officials, both the Ag
Station and the University of Connecticut indicated a desire to continue
studying the avian mortalities, said Department of Environmental Protection
Commissioner Arthur J. Rocque Jr.
The discussions are still in the "preliminary
stage" right now, Rocque said. "Beyond the public health threat, there
are issues about our scientific knowledge of [avian] disease that they feel
should be explored."
Meredith Sampson, who has nurtured sick and wounded birds
back to health for Wild Wings Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Stamford and
Greenwich, has watched the avian death toll mount with increasing alarm and
frustration.
A sharp-shinned hawk now in Sampson's care arrived with a
fracture to a bone equivalent to that of a human's collarbone. Whether the break
is the result of an accident, chronic disease or other illness, she has no idea.
The calls that come into Sampson's office are constant and
persistent.
"They'll say 'I see this bird out there that's really
sick looking, can you come get it?' " she said.
Given all of the bird carcasses sitting in refrigerators at
the University of Connecticut's Pathobiology Lab and at the Ag Station, Sampson
says it makes sense to examine what's killing the birds besides West Nile virus.
"They should check for other viruses, other
possibilities, such as pesticide poisoning and other illnesses," Sampson
said. "Putting aside the crows, looking at song birds and other birds of
prey, I think it's still too high a die-off."
To put the known avian fatalities in perspective, Stamford
- a hotbed foravian West Nile cases this year - logged 620 dead bird reports.
The cause of death is unknown for most of those birds. Greenwich and Westport
had 471 and 212, respectively. To the east, Fairfield had 357. Milford reported
finding 339 dead birds.
Nationally, avian surveillance has identified 1,471 West
Nile-infected birds from 70 counties in six states, including Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
New York state alone found more than 15,000 birds dead for
unknown reasons. Seven thousand of those birds were ultimately tested by the
state's Department of Environmental Conservation. West Nile killed 536 of those
birds. What killed the rest is an ongoing focus of wildlife pathologist Ward
Stone's research.
While West Nile testing is a priority, Stone says his
department has to be selective.
"I don't want to lose the opportunity when I have
these birds in hand to determine what they've died of," Stone said.
Once West Nile is ruled out, wildlife pathologists in New
York are examining their birds for Type E botulism, avian pox, influenza and a
host of other diseases, some of which can be transmitted to people.
"There are so many animals coming in that I don't
think any state will have the money needed to pursue all of these diagnostic
avenues," Stone said. "What's out there now in terms of federal funds
is not enough by far to cover the huge number of birds and mammals coming in
with suspected West Nile cases."
Nicholas Komar, a research biologist at the CDC's Arbovirus
Diseases Branch in Fort Collins, Colo., believes avian mortality research would
have value.
"From a scientific point of view, if there is a lot of
bird mortality, our society should want to know what's causing those bird
deaths," Komar said. "Right now, the researchers are using their
resources to document the West Nile virus."
Nevertheless, Komar conceded that, if some new disease is
attacking migratory birds, it might take some time to identify it unless there
was an epidemic caseload or a corresponding human health threat.
At the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health
Center in Madison, Wis., scientists have analyzed about 13,000 dead birds this
year from 25 states.
"There have been a lot that are West Nile-negative,
and we could probably guess at what's killing them. But that wouldn't prove
anything," said Bob McLean, director of the U.S. Geological Survey.
"We have the capability to determine the cause of this
mortality. We could learn what's killing these birds - whether it's pesticide
poisoning, Type E avian botulism or something else," he said.
"If you know some of the causes of this mortality, you
can make recommendations to avoid certain pesticides, some agriculture products
and maybe assist in changing the situation for the better."
MariAn Gail Brown, who covers regional issues, can be
reached at 330-6288.
Connecticut Post
410 State Street
Bridgeport, CT 06604
203-330-6456
Well Mr. Helliker, I would like to add that your
"registered" POISONS can weaken and/or destroy the immune system in
man and beast and are therefore capable of triggering death from viral diseases.
Your "registered" POISONS are obviously also capable of destroying man
and beast all on their own for years and years and years after a "labeled
application'. One day
"someone" is going to sue those who created all of this unnecessary
"registered" contamination and death!
Respectfully, Stephen
L. Tvedten |
