(Note: Malathion is a registered pesticide poison. Just
in case there was a doubt.)
******************************************
Here is what Dr. Dillenberg wrote to Steve:
Steve:
I have received a copy of your email requesting folks to call me re: the purchase of Ovide. You have been mis-informed I am
not purchasing or recommending the purchase of Ovide by LA County. There was consideration of some product being donated - but that will not occur. Thanks to you and your colleagues I have received many emails and calls. Please be assured
that I have received plenty of supporting information relative to your concerns.
I believe that over the counter products, such as Not Nice to Lice and others, should be the first line of intervention.
Please advise your "friends" that they do not have to "make the call". Thanks and best wishes for the new year.
jack
*****************************************
Subject: Feel like making a call?
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 07:39:14 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Dear Friends,
Jack Dillenberg, D.D.S., M.P.H. and an Area Health Officer of the Los Angeles County Health Dept. will be recommending
the purchase of the malathion based Ovide for use on Los Angeles County Children for head lice.
( I believe this is because
he knows the lice are already resistant to the other pediculicide poisons.)
The Director of Community Health is who may be ultimately responsible for this decision is:
James G. Haughton, M.D., M.P.H. - Director
Dillenberg feels that this pesticide poison has been "scrutinized and approved" by the FDA and he wants to help children not
harm them. Would any of you contact him with the proper information he needs to re-examine this POISON and its far more
dangerous transformation by-products of iso-malathion and maloxon so that he might reconsider his recommendation?
Thank you,
Stephen L. Tvedten
Dear Mr. Dillenberg,
My name is Barbara Rubin and I am writing to you having
heard that you are considering endorsing the use of organophosphate pesticides
such as malathion in the treatment of head lice for students in the L.A. area.
As a person who has been permanently disabled from repeat exposures to
organophosphate pesticides, I strongly urge you to reconsider your options in
this area.
You may or may not be aware that organophosphate
pesticides have all but disappeared from the marketplace recently in terms of
their indoor uses. They have also been restricted to a greater extent in
agriculture as well. This
represents a loss of billions of dollars to manufacturers, who have chosen not
to litigate the matter, in recognition of the terrible health risks to
children.
You should consider, for instance, that approximately 17%
of the population is lacking in an enzyme called paroxonase which is critical
to the detoxification of these forms of pesticides once introduced into the
body. Children under one year of
age do not appear to have this enzyme at all!
Furthermore, as organophosphate pesticides are neurotoxic, children
prone to seizure disorders, those with soft signs of neurological dysfunction
like ADHD, autism and other problems are also at great risk for further damage
from these chemicals. There is
also no evidence that otherwise healthy youngsters, still in various stages of
neurological maturation, are not harmed by such exposures. When so many good
alternative treatments exist which are non-toxic, why make chemical poisons
with well publicized health effects the items of choice?
Sincerely,
Barbara Rubin
P.O. Box 224
Locust Valley, N.Y. 11560
Raisyl@webtv.net
Dear Mr. Dillenberg:
I read that you are proposing to purchase the malathion based product Ovide for use on Los Angeles County Children for Head
Lice. If this is correct, I wish to point out that that malathion is a nerve poison and as such, in or opinion, would not be appropriate
for use on or around children. Children's nervous systems are still developing and are much more susceptible to health problems
and cognative dysfunction caused by such substances than are adults. If the child upon whom this substance is used happened to
be chemically sensitive, there could be life-threatening (or at least very uncomfortable) results.
I wonder that any public agency would be willing to take the risk of applying or even promoting the use of such a substance on
children, especially low income children who are already at a disadvantage in learning opportunities and whose parents are least
able to recognize negative side effects or chemical sensitivity problems.
Daily shampooing and combing with a nit comb (for 2 weeks) will successfully control head lice on children, with far less risk to
them. It will also keep the lice from spreading. It also helps to teach the children not to share combs and caps. Another important
tool is making sure the areas where affected children are located are vacuumed daily to remove any eggs which may possibly drop
from an infected child's head.)
I am sure you are aware that spraying (places other than on the children) with insecticide for headlice is unnecessary. In fact, in the
state of Texas, it is not allowed under the State's mandatory Integrated Pest Management for Schools program. The lice cannot
survive for more than a few hours (in rare circumstances more than a few days) off of a host.
- Susan Pitman
Hello Steve Tvedten:
I just read your statement concerning a recommendation
for malathion use for head lice in Los Angeles. Not good, but it could be worse. If an insecticide is to be
used for lice, the alternatives to OPs at this time are pyrethroids.
The pyrethroid most likely to be used for lice is permethrin.
It has the phenoxybenzyl structure which can react with the thyroid
hormone receptor and lead to long term health problems.
Malathion lacks this structure. While
neither is totally safe, I think the long term health possible problems with
permethrin are worse than are problems with malathion.
It is treatment of uniforms with permethrin which is, I think, the
basis for Gulf War Illness problems. The
alternative if an insecticide is to be used is natural pyrethrum or the older
biodegradable synthetic pyrethroids such as resmethrin and tetramethrin. Both
insecticides can react with the PON-1 esterase which is also involved in
chronic poisoning, most usually in combination with exposure to drugs which
act on the thyroid receptor. So what do I recommend?
Soap, hot water, and combing. The
alternative is to shave heads. That's
ok for little boys now, but not for their sisters.
Bill Plapp, retired insecticide toxicologist
Response
from Steve:
Dear Bill, Not Nice To Lice is a non-toxic enzyme shampoo that is not sold as a pediulicide
but has never failed to safely and effectively remove the lice and nits on every person I
used it on (over 50,000) there an be no survivors of even resistant lice. The same enzymes
are used as a chemical "zipper" so that every insect can shed its exoskeleton. Because
every louse dies in 5 minutes at a temperature of 124.5 degrees F. - any sauna would also
quickly control any lice infestation. Lastly no louse can survive salt water - so a simple
swim in the ocean will also safely and far more effectively control them - in fact one
alternative lice treatment sells a Natrum Muriaticum shampoo for about twenty bucks - Natrum
Muriaticum is Latin for sodium chloride or table salt. Have you ever visited my web site at
http://www.getipm.com ? Have a great day! And help save the children from being POISONED!
Thanks! Steve
December 15, 2000
Dear Mr. Dillenberg:
I understand that you will be recommending the purchase
of the malathion-based Ovide for use on Los Angeles County Children for head
lice. I am writing to implore you
not to do this. As a person who
has been chemically injured by pesticides deemed "safe,"
I can say to you from personal experience, no pesticide is
"safe" for all people, even when used as directed.
What I learned the hard way is that we are all quite
genetically different. Whether a
pesticide exposure damages us is determined by many factors, of which the
following are but a few:
1.
One's biochemical status at the time of the exposure, i. e. whether
there is there a sufficient intake of nutrients and a sufficiency of reserves
to assist the body in its detoxification process (nutritional studies of
American children suggest that their diets are quite deficient of vital
nutrients).
2.
One's estrogen level is an important factor, as recent studies have
shown that higher estrogen levels lead to a stronger susceptibility to damage
from pesticides. (Many young persons are taking birth control pills loaded
with estrogen.)
3.
One's age is also an important factor.
Children below the age of eighteen are said to have an incompletely
formed detoxification pathway. They
are thus more susceptible to pesticide poisoning from doses that would not
harm an adult.
4.
The medications one is taking are very important also, as many common
medications compete for the same detoxification pathways in the liver that are
necessary for detoxifying foreign chemicals such as malathion. Common medications that utilize the P-450 enzyme system
include Axid, Tagamet, Theophylline (in asthma medications), and commonly
prescribed antibiotics. (1)
With respect to Ovide, the following information is
available:
"Malathion is available as a prescription-only lice
remedy called Ovide which was recently relaunched after having been
discontinued in the early 1990s.
The malathion contained in a single Ovide treatment can
be up to 30 times the recognized safe one-time dose for a young child. Yet
according to the product's label, no tests have been done to measure how much
of the malathion is absorbed through the scalp, nor is it known whether Ovide
is safe for children under 6. (2)
Malathion has been known to cause the following problems
in supposedly "safe" doses (even the EPA admits that there is no
such thing as a 'safe' dose of pesticides): intestinal disorders, leukemia,
kidney damage, brain damage, chromosome defects, gene loss lung damage, and
immune system weakening. (3)
Additionally, many of malathion's impurities and
degradant chemicals are even more highly toxic than malathion is.
"Malathion undergoes a chemical reaction in sunlight called "photolysis"
which results in increasing the formation of the highly toxic trimethyl
impurities." (4)
Malathion is readily absorbed through the skin, and Ovide
is used on the scalp. As noted
above, it can be up to 30 times the recommended dose for a young child.
Malathione is a cholinesterase inhibitor.
Cholinesterases are the target enzymes for the actions of
malathion in the body. Organophosphates like malathion irreversibly inactivate
cholinesterases which are essential in breaking down acetylcholine in nerves,
thus prolonging action potentials in nerves, causing spasms, incoordination,
convulsions, paralysis, and ultimately death. Many esterase inhibitors
potentiate the toxicity of malathion by inhibiting its breakdown. Many of the
byproducts of the production of malathion act synergistically to increase its
toxicity. Carbamate insecticides, Diazinon, and other insecticides can
increase malathion's toxicity as well.
Malathion has also been shown to be mutagenic, causing
chromosome breaks and aberrations, and sister-chromatid exchanges. It is
possibly carcinogenic. It can also inhibit liver enzymes that affect
biological membrane function. (5)
Additionally, "the available evidence indicates that
technical grade or other than pure malathion has the potential to produce
genotoxic effects in mammalian systems." (6) There is also some evidence to suggest that exposure to
malathion can also affect the progeny of those exposed, so the legacy left by
the use of Ovide can impair future generations of children also.
There is much more information I could provide, but I am
sure, as a medical person yourself, you understand what I am saying.
Malathion has been around so long that there is a wealth of information
available on its toxicity.
You have the unenviable position of needing to take steps
to curtail a problem (lice). However,
there are several less toxic alternatives available that will have much less
of a negative impact on not only the students in your school district, but
their progeny.
A little knowledge of human physiology can go far to
answer some of the problems in today's schools.
ADHD is thought to be a byproduct of pesticide use.
In our 'modern living through chemistry' mindset, our society has
created and fulfilled a need for synthetic fragrances in all the products we
use. These fragrances are created from petrochemicals, which the human body
has a difficult time detoxifying. Thanks to the wonderful work of scientists like Warren
Porter, we are now learning that the synergistic effects of these
petrochemical and pesticides at low levels are quite harmful.
The list of neurotoxins contained even in perfumes (such
as Calvin Klein's Eternity) is staggering.
Add neurotoxic, genotoxic, endocrine-disrupting,
cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides to this mix, and my question to you
becomes: "How could children not shoot each other, fight with their
teachers, and vandalize property when their brains are under siege daily from
foreign chemicals that their livers cannot detoxify?"
Again, I implore you to find a less toxic way to treat
the lice.
Sincerely,
S. Suzanne Fisher
1. Fluoroquinolones affect the metabolism of theophylline by cytochrome P-450 either by induction or by inhibition of enzyme activity. Which is it?
Inhibition of enzyme activity. When given concurrently with theophylline, ciprofloxacin decreases the clearance of theophylline. Theophylline is metabolized by the CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 enzymes (enzymes of the cytochrome P-450 system). It appears that the fluoroquinolones, such as ciprofloxacin, inhibit demethylation of theophylline via CYP1A2. When cimetidine, also a selective inhibitor of CYP1A2, is combined with ciprofloxacin and theophylline, the result is an even greater inhibition of theophylline metabolism than occurs with either drug alone.
Source: Meyer JM, Rodvold KA: Drug biotransformation by the cytochrome P-450 enzyme system. Infect Med 13(6):452, 459, 463-464, 523, 1996. (http://pediatrics.medscape.com/SCP/IIM/1996/v13.n06/m1739.rodvold/m1739.rodvold.html)
2. Dangers of Pesticide Lice Treatments (http://www.licesolution.com/pesticides.html)
3. http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/research/
4. MALATHION UNDERGOES DANGEROUS REACTION IN SUNLIGHT,
Journal of Agricultural Food & Chemistry, 27(6):1423
(http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/research/#sunlight)
5. Malathione and the Environment by Shawn Baskin, (http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/Biology/4S03/MALATHIO.HTM)
6. Genetic Toxicity of Malathion: A Review by Dr. Peter Flessel, California Department of Health Services
(http://unix.adept.net/~mcsinfo/genetic.htm)
hi, sent him not nice to lice web page. asked him not poison the kids with malthion.
Kenn - Environmenal Sensitive Products
Dear Mr. Dillenburg,
RE: Malathion for Lice treatment.
I just want you to know that in my last conversation with
Dr. Jerome Blondell, Pesticide Health Statician of the EPA, he told me he was
working on banning Malathion. I
wonder how the people of LA would feel if you were not aware of this, and
prescribed a dangerous chemical that later was banned.
Knowing the neurotoxic qualities of that product, you are taking a
serious risk. People should get neuropsychological testing before and after
the product is applied, with accompanying brain spect scans to possibly win a
lawsuit. I wonder what the affect
of that chemical will have on children with Attention Deficit or other
learning disabilities.
I suggest you look into non-toxic alternatives and avoid
making recommendations of pesticide use. I could help you look for non-toxic
alternatives after Christmas. My
school district stopped recommending pesticide lice treatments because of the
risks. I will sue the school if
my son suffers an asthma attack from a kid with Malathion on his head. HIs doctor prescribed a portable spirometer so I can monitor
my son since he has life threatening reactions to pesticides. Seems that
Round-up is a serious respriatory irritant.
Please read the EPA Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisoning.
People with chemical intolerances are extremely at risk, page 37. It is
a medical consensus that chemical intolerances can be caused by pesiticides.
For your information Pesticides are not fully tested they
usually leave out the toxic inert half or more of the product.
Therefore no one can say they are safe for anyone. The EPA also has no
standards for sick people including asthma, neurotoxic conditions, liver
conditions, cancer, AIDS, or chemical sensitivity. etc.
I believe you could be held personally liable if someone is hurt.
I think it is time for public health officials to take a
stand against "Junk pesticide Science" and demand that there be full
product testing and that new testing models be created for specific illnesses
such as chemical sensitivity, asthma, cancer that would indicate that people
already with these medical conditions would be safe when exposed. It's immoral
to recommend a product that has unknown and untested toxic chemicals in it for
children. No spray, no
acceptable risk, no junk pesticide science.
Sincerely,
Linda J. McElver
GWSS Environmental Task Force- non governmental public
health representative
Central Coast Canaries- a support group for chemically
injured/sensitive individuals
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